Gee Sandy, got my taxes done long ago and received a nice refund. Haven't spent it yet though.

This book reads fairly fast. Quite a bit on the history of weather forecasting which gets a bit cumbersome. But as the storm progresses and the stories of some of the families emerge it's pretty fast paced.

Politics seemed to be the main reason why so many were killed. Lots of poignant stories of those who were perished and those who survived.

Erik Larson is also the author of "The Devil in the White City" - murder during the 1893 Chicago World's Fair and now "Thunderstruck" - murder and Marconi.