Flying Crows

By Jim Lehrer

Book Overview

With Flying Crows, veteran newsman and bestselling author Jim Lehrer has written his most powerful novel, a work that moves masterfully from past to present and back again to solve the mystery that is American mayhem.

In 1997, police discover an old homeless man in the Kansas City train station. "Birdie Carlucci" claims he has lived there since 1933, hiding out in the storeroom of a Harvey House restaurant. Kansas City cop Lieutenant Randy Benton decides to discover the truth behind Birdie's tale--and finds himself on a ride that leads ever backward into our country's bloodstained past.

Benton's investigation reveals the story of young Birdie, incarcerated in a brutal insane asylum where the preferred method of treatment is beating with a baseball bat. In that hopeless environment, though, he's befriended by another patient, Josh Lancaster, once dismissed as a lost cause but snatched back from the brink by a compassionate doctor. But what is the secret of Lancaster's involvement in an infamous Civil War encounter between Confederate bushwhackers and Union soldiers? And what truly happened after Birdie escaped from the asylum on the famous Flying Crow train?

As Benton returns to the present day, he wonders: How much, if any of it, really took place? What were the true public and private traumas of these two troubled men who can't forget what they've seen or merely imagined?

Inspired by real events, Flying Crows is a novel that moves as inexorably as a train in the night to a shattering conclusion--one that reveals the many meanings of imprisonment and escape, and all the eccentricities and tragedies of the American soul.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0345468023
• ISBN13: 9780345468024
• Release Date: April 2005
• Publisher: Random House Trade
• Length: 256 Pages
• Weight: 0.45 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 5.2" x 8.1"

Customer Reviews

T. J.

I normally don't read fiction, but a friend talked me into getting and reading this book. It moved extremely fast and because there was a little history with the story, I loved every minute of it. I have now passed it along to another 7 people and have 4 more waiting to read it. Everyone that has read the book all say, what a great move it would make. History, sex, murder and more, the perfect movie script.

Friendship

At the beginning, this book read as if it would be an expose on lunatic asylums in the first half of this century. After a start that was a bit slow, it turned out to be a warm mystery that was all about friendship. In 1997, the Union Train Station in Kansas City is about to be demolished. When the police sweep the building to clear it, a man named Birdie is found. Birdie has lived in the station for 63 years. He was a former inmate of Somerset Asylum who escaped in 1933 and "moved in" to the Station. During his short tenure at the asylum, he is befriended by Josh who helped him escape. The book then flashes between 1933 (occasionally before as well for background) and 1997 to get the story. The policeman who found Birdie is intrigued and does some follow-up sleuthing. About half-way through Mr. Lehrer's work, the reader is convinced that he has figured out a rather simplistic plot. That is not the case at all. There are some clever twists and turns that include the bloody massacre at the station in 1933 (that was part of Hoover's and the FBI's push to notoriety). The plot line is very good. Although this really could not be classified as a mystery, there is some sleuthing and unexpected plot twists. Primarily this is a book on friendship and loyalty placed in interesting settings and told through interesting characters. I have enjoyed a few of Mr. Lehrer's books (Black Widow and Special Prisoner) and thought others not very good (No Certain Rest). This is by far his best. A warm book. Highly recommended.

A Tour de Force That is Also a Cracking Good Story

I'd never read any of Jim Lehrer's fourteen novels until this one and then only because my wife told me she thought I'd enjoy it. As a retired Kansas City psychiatrist, I was indeed fascinated by both the focus on Kansas City scenes and on the kind of treatment received by mental patients back in the 1920s and 1930s. But more than that I was caught up in the story of four men separated by generations, a 'lunatic' who murdered his family in 1905, a boy who witnessed Kansas City's 1933 Union Station massacre, a young doctor working in a 'lunatic asylum,' and a current-day Kansas City police officer. The story moves seamlessly back and forth between these periods in a way that is not only not confusing but is downright illuminating, managing to tell how the lives of these four men intersected. I admire the way Lehrer drops in historical detail in subtle ways so that we form in our minds a picture of the times. And I particularly liked the way he limned the humanity of all four main characters so that we not only find them interesting, we grow to care about them. I would recommend this book to anyone, not just to those who are interested in midwestern history and the history of one of the most newsworthy events of the 1930s. Scott Morrison

5 stars isn't enough

One of the most amazing books ever - yet so simple and undemanding. I found it hard to make myself stop reading, but I didn't really appreciate it til the very last line. I closed the book and simply sat saying "Wow," - not because of any stunning revelation - just a powerful story, simply told. A masterpiece.

Great narration, gripping

In a well-told narrative, that goes back and forth two main protagonists in two different time periods, Lehrer examines complex ities and simplicties associated with life. The characters are earthy, realistic and distinctive. The book has its share of warmth, an element of pain, revolt and nostalgia. However, the premise, some elements of the plot, and the narrative technique of juxtaposing two different time periods has a strong resemblance to a Katzenbach novel (A madmans tale). Regardless, the plot's underpinngs lie in historical facts, which are well-researched. Lehrer manages to portray the grim incidents with a respectful sense of awe. A wonderful page-turner, not an entirely unique narrative technique or premise, but you will not be able to resist reading the novel in one sitting.