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Summary: How come you to buy this book?
Review: How come you? That's the way people talked back in 1699 and McCammon's incredible ability to write characters captures the language of the time. In fact, even the narrative parts have an "old english" flavor to them. After reading this gargantuan-sized novel, I found myself answering the front door saying, "How come you to stand upon my doorstep?" Despite the fact that McCammon is one of my all time favorite authors and hadn't written anything in nearly a decade, I entered Speaks the Nightbird with a little trepidation. I am not a fan of historical novels. I prefer stories set in a timeframe where I was at least alive and can relate to! If you are the same way, don't let the 1699 setting rob you of the pleasure of reading this book. Nightbird is entertaining from page one and carries you swiftly to its page 726 conclusion.
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Summary: Welcome back Robert McCammon
Review: I must admit that I was, at first, put off by the size of the book. 700+ pages is a lot of book but I also knew how much I had enjoyed McCammon's previous book " A Boy's Life" so I decided to give it a try. The phrase " can't put down" is used way to often to describe many average books today but in this case it is true. The story moves with a well-crafted plot that makes this book more memorable than many of the books we tend to read today. The characters are so well drawn that you identify with them, worry with them and get angry with them. Many others have detailed the plot so I won't cover that ground again. Simply let me say that you quickly drop into the year 1699 and just as quickly find yourself pulled into a superb story by an exceptional storyteller. This is a very atmospheric trip through a town on the edge of terror.
By the end of the story I was hungry for more. If you're looking for a mystery par excellent, you could do not better. If you're looking for a scary story, again this is your book. If you like finely crafted ideas with believable characters, this is the one for you.
Matthew, the main character is believable and someone you can cheer on as he goes for danger-to-danger and clue-to-clue looking for justice.
Forget the size of the book it would be worth it at twice the size. It is a story seldom found today. Thanks Mr. McCammon. I only hope we don't have to wait another 10 years for the next book. Hang on, it really is 'A book you can't put down." I'd give it six stars if I could.
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Summary: A hardcover well worth the price
Review: We have waited too long for a new McCammon novel! I had almost forgotten the wonder of falling into one of his stories. The man weaves magic with his words, and he has now given us yet one more hit.
Twenty-year-old legal clerk Matthew Corbett travels with the older, more experienced magistrate Isaac Woodward to the small settlement of Fount Royal to help in the trial of an accused witch. The settlement has been victim of murders, widespread illness and death, horrible weather, fires, crop infestations, and frightening visions and images of acts between evil beings. Robert Bidwell is the wealthy shipping magnate who is determined to see that his investment in the town does not go down the drain. For him, hanging the witch will ease the townspeople's fears and put an end to all the horrible luck the town has witnessed. But although most in the town are convinced that beautiful, willful, intelligent Rachel Howarth is a witch, there are a few--including Matthew--who question the reasons for her incarceration and impending execution. Matthew's unquenchable need to search for the truth leads him into some close calls with some of the locals, and he finds that each person in the town has some piece of information to offer to his investigation.
Speaks is a departure from McCammon's more expected horror novels of the past. This is an historical mystery complete with authentic colonial dialogue and accents, clothing, medical treatments, legal and religious practices, and the witchcraft hysteria of the time. Never fear! McCammon still manages to include enough horrific images for this novel to appeal to fans of different genres. This is not a novel for the kiddies, however. There are some graphic sexual images, and the practices of the local physician should make anyone squirm. Yet this novel is far from pornographic as I've read in other reviews here.
The writing here is superb--I truly felt like I was watching a movie while I was reading. McCammon uses intrigue, fear, love, anger, subterfuge, hysteria, and the full gamut of human emotions to create a tightly woven mystery that will have you turning pages long into the night. McCammon has always been able to create believable characters dealing with incredible odds, and the events and people in this book are so believable that you won't realize you're reading a novel that is ONLY 726 pages long (I wanted more story by the end)! This is a definite winner, and it reinforces McCammon's place as one of our greatest writers.
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Summary: Resurrection of Robert R. McCammon
Review: The long awaited return of Robert R. McCammon is finally here with a vengence. What a great novel this is. I could not put this book down. The characters of this book; I became so engrossed in. As I read this book and came to know the characters, I really cared about them or if they were bad guys detested them. Mr. McCammon's style of writing is such that the book really gets inside your head. An hour would go by and I didn't even realize I was reading. Get your hands on a copy of this book and read it. You'll love it!!
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Summary: The Turn of a Friendly Card
Review: I first discovered Robert R. McCammon in the pages of a 1980 Avon book called Bethany's Sin. Though that book paled beside Dean Koontz's Whispers and Peter Straub's Shadow Land of the same year, I was hooked enough to buy all of McCammon's books until he seemingly vanished after writing Boy's Life in 1991. Before McCammon disappeared, he had become my favorite writer. Now, McCammon releases Speaks the Nightbird amid interviews in which he says he is through with writing. I put off reading what could unfortunately be McCammon's last published work under the principle of saving the best for last. I waded through King's opus about a Buick and Koontz's reworking of Frankenstein while eyeing Speaks the Nightbird as it hung around the unread portion of my bookshelves. For extra good measure, I read everything Elizabeth Haydon had written to 2003. Only two unread books remained to me: Robert Jordan and Robert McCammon. Which did I think would be the most disappointing? One that fires a seemingly endless epic that appears to have become mired in capitalistic greed, or what could be my favorite writer's swan song? As Jordan collected dust, I opened Speaks the Nightbird and stepped into 1699 when Carolina was still a fledgling British colony. I stepped into murder most foul, mystery walking rampant, and fiction at its best. What most writers aspire to be, McCammon seems to master whimsically. His characters, plot, machinations, and setting erupt into a blissfully wondrous reader's heaven. Under dark rain clouds, the reader enters the life of a magistrate's clerk-Matthew-as he rides the road from old Charles Towne to one of the Carolina colonies that is faced with a macabre legal issue. Murder most foul apparently has been committed by a witch. The colony's own existence seems threatened until the issue of witchcraft can be legally settled by the magistrate. Waves of mystery upon mystery roll ever relentlessly over the reader as the clerk finds a witch whose beauty is bewitching and whose guilt is inarguable. All witnesses tell the truth...of that fact there can be no doubt. Yet, Matthew finds himself charmed by the lass's apparent innocence. Speaks the Nightbird is a wondrous voyage through McCammon's blue world. No matter what type of fiction a reader enjoys, this book will find its way into that reader's heart. Despite his protestations that he will no longer write, McCammon may find that his readers have a unique problem. They thirst for more.
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Summary: I am so glad he is back!!!
Review: I highly recommend this book to all fans of McCammon, King, Saul and Koontz.
There is no other author like Robert McCammon. He made the characters come alive and took me back to another place and time.
I could not put this book down. I hope and pray that he will write another one soon. He was truly missed..
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Summary: Speaks Too Explicitly
Review: I have thoroughly enjoyed most of McCammon's books, especially Boys Life and Gone South, third choice is Wolf's Hour. This one I'd rate fourth in line. Too much ..., I found myself skipping pages to avoid undesirable mental images.
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Summary: Speaks the Night Bird tells too much
Review: McCammon has a great gift, and I have enjoyed elements of each of his books. This one is a good mystery and the character of the hero rings true. However, there is too much explicit pornography to make the entire book enjoyable. I found myself actually skipping whole pages to avoid mental images I find unpleasant.
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Summary: Bravo to the best!
Review: Very glad Mr. Mccammon wrote another book, it was a pleasure once again to read a wonderful novel. However, it was a bit different from his other books, but I kept turning the pages nevertheless. The only thing I didn't really care for was the "nasty acts with the devil" and some of the sexual acts and words thrown in, especially with the cow. The male organ was important in this book and got too much attention. Also, I had a difficult time with Issac and his terrible suffering. It went on too long and the details of his suffering were hard to take. All in all, a good book.
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Summary: You will not be disappointed
Review: McCammon fans will be surprised and entertained by his latest novel about a witch trial set in North Carolina in 1699. The characters are developed, it is rich in detail and the pace is quick. All the qualities that earned him such a loyal fan base are here. His use of dialog has never been used for effectively. Prepare yourself for some late night reading. Those worried that this is not a scary book, be at ease. McCammon creates some wonderfully intense and macabre scenes and proves that some aspects of humanity are more frightening than anything supernatural. In retrospect, it's similar aspects and the attention to relationships in his stories that made "Mystery Walk", "Wolf's Hour" and others that much better. After reading this, I looked on his website where he states that he "got bored" with writing horror. This latest entry is a great way to cross over into historical fiction. I just hope his publisher and fans allow him to do so. Great reading and I look forward to his next, whatever the genre.
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