Rating: 
Summary: A wonderful blend of past and present
Review: Sharyn McCrumb takes us back for another visit to Hamelin, Tennessee with terrific results. She is able to seamlessly switch back and forth from Katie Wyler's time in the 1790s to the escaped convict's 1960s to present day.Blending an escaped convict, a deputy in training, a missing baby, a young woman from 200 years ago and the grad student following her path; Ms McCrumb creates a delightful story. As with the rest of the ballad series, the story is rich with well-developed characters. You keep turning the pages to find out what happened to poor Katie 200 years ago, and what will happen when the convict gets home to a town he no longer recognizes. It's very hard to leave the town and its people at the end of the book. The only negative thing about the book is the graduate student. While, a very interesting idea to have a grad student study the plight of this young woman from 200 years ago, did the student have to be so stupid? I found myself getting very annoyed with this one character's cluelessness, and only found comfort in the fact that at he finally realized his situation.
Rating:
Summary: Ghost Walk
Review: She Walks These Hills is a spooky page turner about a nosey radio DJ, a rookie cop, an escaped convict, hillbilly girl, and an adventures collage professor. When they collide at the end to make a great story.
Rating: 
Summary: Appalachian Fiction at its Finest
Review: She Walks These Hills is another excellent book in the Appalachian series by Sharyn McCrumb. She again combines two stories - one in the present and one in the past along with a pinch of a ghost story, culminating in an overall satisfying novel. This installment tells of the stories of Harm Sorley, an escaped murderer in the Appalachian area, a college professor following the trail of Katie Wyler, a pioneer woman trying to get to her home in 1799, and Hank the Yank, a bodacious radio personality who tries to get into both these stories. I will not give the ending away as some reviewers did, but you need to read this book to get the full flavor of the area and the era. How do these three characters intertwine with each other - both from the past and present? It is up the reader to find out in this thrilling novel.
Rating:
Summary: Great Characters, Great Story Make Great Book
Review: She Walks These Hills turned out to be an excellant book, despite the slow start. The first three chapters were very hard to read because you had no idea who all these characters were and how they related to each other in the story. However, McCrumb weaves these characters and their stories together almost ingeniously to make everything fit at the end of the book. At first I thought Harm Sorley was a "bad" guy, as an escaped convict, but I begin to root for him half-way through the book when Hank the Yank really finds out what happened to Harm thirty years ago. It broke my heart at the end when Harm died trying to save his home, and could not recognize his daughter Charlotte. McCrumb causes us to hate Crystal and that two-timer Deputy Joe, but brings Martha, the new deputy and Joe's lover, close to everyone's heart. The only character I had trouble with was the grad student, Jeremy. I agree with Nancy Anne Fox when she said he was annoying and dumb. He was like a water moccasin in the desert. Jeremy had no idea what to do in the woods. When the house caught on fire at the climax of the novel, every story line in some way came together. Jeremy, Martha, Sabrina, Charlotte, Rita's body, and even Katie Wyler showed up for that awesome sceen as the green house caught fire and ended all that Harm knew as life before jail, or all he could remember anyway. McCrumb's vocabulary was very strong throughout the book, with words such as drowsing, hardscrabble, and brusque. Also, she made me want to visit the Appalachian Mountain region, because of her vivid description of the beautiful mountains, such as "they clumped around him gazing at the acres of grasses, sedge, and wildflowers moving in the ceaseless winds..." (McCrumb 128). In conclusion, this story had excellent characters, story line, and language, so it equals a great book.
Rating:
Summary: Brilliant
Review: The story-telling skills of this author cannnot be overstated. Yet again she has produced a wonderful story of many different layers, but each seamlessly working together. All of the books of this author are highly recommended.
Rating:
Summary: a page burner, no stop reading thrill
Review: This book was my introduction to Sharyn McCrumb, and I'm definitely partial to the Appalacian series. This was a haunting, unforgettable story that drew you in, not just to the story itself, but to the people and characters. It reads easily, and you don't want to put it down because you just NEED to know what's gonna happen. I love the way Ms. McCrumb tells two stories in parallel, and the way that the two stories seem to come together, although they are more than 100 years apart.
Rating:
Summary: A rich tour de force
Review: This is the book that got me hooked on McCrumb's ballad series. Expertly she weaves several plot lines together to form a true Appalachian quilt. The writing is never less than superb, and the characters truly draw you in and have you caring about them.
Rating:
Summary: atmospheric thriller with little violence but lots of chills
Review: This is the third Ballad series novel I have read and it is by far the best. McCrumb does an excellent job of drawing the reader into the lives of the many characters in this mystery. The hills and hollers of Appalachia provide a great background for the present and past stories McCrumb intertwines. As always, the recurring characters of Spencer Arrowood, Martha Ayers and Joe LeDonne are compelling and well-drawn. This time McCrumb throws in a personal betrayal by LeDonne to complicate the relationship between Joe and Martha. She does an excellent job of combining the development of personal relationships with the two mysteries.
Rating:
Summary: Engrossing and thought provoking.
Review: This was a good read. I have one small nit to pick: in Chapter 2, Mrs. Pentland says, "He went to prison in 1968. I was twenty-eight then..." Two pages later Sheriff Spencer says, " It's been twenty-five years since Harm Sorley went to prison, and his pretty young wife[now Mrs. Pentland] has become an old lady he wouldn't even recoginze." And later, she is referred to as "a woman in her sixties." Well, in my math class 28 + 25 = 53!! And that is NOT and "old lady"! Inconsistencies like these are distracting. Good authors like McCrumb deserve better editors!!!!
Rating:
Summary: A very entertaining book!
Review: WOW! That's about how I feel about this novel written by Sharyn McCrumb. Of all the books I've read of late, this has to be one of the very best. I wish I could give it a 10 rating. The book was loaned to me. "Read this, I think you'll like it." Well, she was right. I didn't just like it. I loved it. Being of Cherokee decent, and knowing a little about the Appalachia area, naturally that sparked my interest. Being a native of the area, McCrumb has done a wonderful job with this novel. She mastered the plot, the characters, the dialogue and ME. I couldn't put the book down. I'm putting McCrumb at the top of my list as one of my favorite authors. The research and persons involved made this book everything that it is. My hat is off to McCrumb. Without further ado, I'm off to the library to gather another novel she's written. Take my advice and get a copy of this book. You'll see what I mean.
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