The Mercy of the Sky

Starred review from March 30, 2015
Journalist Bailey grew up in central Oklahoma’s “tornado alley” and was accustomed to storms, but the tornado that struck Moore, Okla., the city where she’d spent much of her childhood, on May 20th, 2013, was one of truly epic and horrifying proportions. She revisits that terrifying day in this remarkable account, putting readers on the ground as the storm grows. Interviews with residents—including the charismatic Gary England, then chief meteorologist for Oklahoma City’s KWTV-9; Amy Simpson, head principal of one of Moore’s hardest-hit elementary schools; and Steve Eddy, Moore’s relentlessly determined city manager—highlight the tornado’s personal toll and make for an almost unbearable page-turning experience. The storm began as “nothing more than a wispy little funnel” but metastasized into a monstrous tornado “more than a mile wide” with winds “well in excess of 210 miles per hour.” It also hit during the worst possible time: late afternoon, when children were still in school. Bailey ramps up the tension with a skilled hand, following the tornado’s path through town until residents emerge from the wreckage to a landscape they “no longer recognized.” Bailey’s artistry will leave more than a few readers gasping for breath.