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Summary: Enthralling...A Unique Appeal...
Review: Frankly speaking, Parry's historically-based mystery was hard to put down. With his evident skills of historiography and literary imagination -- as he exhibits through all his novels -- Parry gives us life in all its complexities. The man has done his research with the skill of a cultural historian. In this reviewer's opinion, Parry is much better than John Jakes. For this genre -- from the vocabulary of his characters to his descriptions of America at civil war, Parry proves much more evocative than that of his peers. He is a refreshing contrast with the timidity and limpness of 'respectable' novels of today.
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Summary: It gets better and better...
Review: Have read all three in the series, and the interest, perspective, and just plain enjoyment that author Parry obviously has as he writes these, is happily infectious. If you are just starting, I recommend that you start at the beginning, so you can keep up and get all the benefit of the fun.
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Summary: Not your typical mystery
Review: I live just a stone's throw from the Shiloh battlefield. I have walked that once blood saturated ground an untold number of times. I've read, seen, visited, even picnicked where wholesale slaughter was the once the game, but nothing I've encountered before was as vividly real and tangible as the first 25 pages of "Call Each River Jordan." The quality of the writing is beyond description. Read it ... just read it!And then there is the plot. If the book has a weakness, it is in promising suspense and not really delivering. However, the atmospheric tension and characterization is fine enough to cover the the lack of plot twists and other devices synonymous with mysteries. President Lincoln hand picks Major Abel Jones to solve the mass murder of 40 slaves attempting to escape to the North. In order to do so, he must obtain the cooperation of the Confederate Army following their humiliating defeat at Shiloh. Aided by a young southern aristocrat and his English manservant, Jones travels the hills, the fields, and the swamp bottoms of Mississippi, meeting both blacks and whites of all social stratas. This isn't a cozy, comfortable book. Slavery was ugly. The Civil War was ugly. Mankind can be incredibly ugly. The only beauty in this novel is in the polished writing. Fans of quality literature and history buffs will find it as difficult to put down as I did.
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Summary: Series is Back on Track
Review: I loved the first Abel Jones Civil War mystery (Faded Coat of Blue), but was sorely disappointed by the second (Shadows of Glory), so it with great relief that I can report that this third in the series displays much (if not quite all) the skill Parry brought to Faded Coat of Blue. The story kicks off with a serious bang, as the first thirty pages or so throw Major Abel Jones into the messy battle at Shiloh in early April 1862. From the very first sentence ("I remember the smell of men burning"), the reader is immersed in the chaos and confusion that is war, and it's hard to imagine any work of nonfiction\ able to compete with the "you are there" sensation these pages impart. In this in initial bloody action, the ever-stern Jones rounds up as many of those fleeing the battle as possible, and rallies them into a little unit, fighting through the day. It's only after the battle that we finally learn the purpose of his foray into the front lines. As outlined in the previous books, the Welsh immigrant and former soldier Jones has been transformed from an army clerk into a special agent of President Lincoln's. Here, he sent is to investigate the massacre of forty runaway slaves, an atrocity discovered by advancing Union troops in Tennessee. Jones meets with Generals Grant and Sherman (and his friend Dr. Mick Tyrone), and is escorted to the Confederate side as an emissary to General Beauregard to discuss this heinous crime. Of course, this isn't as simple as it sounds, and Jones goes through a few adventures before he's able to team up with an young aristocratic (and Harvard educated) Southern officer to unmask the killers. Actually, the book's one significant weakness is that there is a great deal of buildup to the mystery, but once the investigation is underway, the killers are identified with very rapidly (not to mention that the answer seems obvious the moment the villain is first seen). As in Shadows of glory, the emphasis is much more on mood and atmosphere than actual suspense. Much of the story seems designed to have Jones come to the realization that slaves are humans too, and perhaps are worth fighting a war over. To that end, a number of the supporting characters aren't nearly as well realized as they are in either of the two earlier books. Jones' Confederate liaison is a textbook golden-haired young Southern gentleman, and there are a smattering of basic rednecks and slave types as well. One notable exception is the Barnaby B. Barnaby, the Cockney gentleman's gentleman to Jones' liaison, who provides comic relief and a vivid voice. Of course, the strongest voice is Jones' own as narrator, and his telling is robust with the Welsh idiom, cadence, and priggish prejudice of the earlier books. Phrases like "he was as full of tricks as an Irish barrister" abound, and add much to the story. All in all, the book is satisfying reading, if not as outstanding as Faded Coat of Blue, which just had everything going for it. The series continues with , Honor's Kingdom and Bold Sons of Erin which I will definitely be seeking out.
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Summary: Parry Just Keeps Getting Better
Review: I'm always wary of historical novels, since they have a tendency to transfer 21st Century sensibilities to their subject matter. Owen Parry (whose real name is Ralph Peters, the great Russian expert and strategic thinker) avoids that, creating a hero and a story which live and breath the Civil War era. I was impressed, although not overly so, with the first book of the series, but I am increasingly moved by every addition to the series. Major Abel Jones is pompous and priggish and if weren't so clever in solving murder mysteries, he would be a classic comic figure (one on-going theme is the pride this Welshman takes in his singing voice, when it's obvious (though not to him) that it's rather awful). The walk on parts of various historical figures is impressive. I always judge the walk ons in historical novels by using as my gold standard the Abraham Lincoln in George MacDonald Fraser's Flashman series: lovely little vignettes which both capture the essence of the man and allow the reader to see his hero in a new light. In River Jordan, Parry manages a General Grant who is every bit as real as Fraser's Lincoln. That is the first time I can say that about anyone's novel about any era.
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Summary: I Can't Wait for the Next One
Review: I've traveled in Wales, know Welsh history back to the early Middle Ages, and even studied the language some years ago. I recognize Owen Parry's Union officer, Abel Jones, as the counterpart of some of the sturdy people of that splendid land. I've now read all three of Parry's Civil War mysteries available in paperback, and each new one has been better than the last. The only mystery writers of comparable talent who've dissected the physical, mental and moral tragedy of war are Charles Todd and Reginald Hill. But Parry, writing in the voice of a deeply religious, highly puritanical Welshman of the mid-Nineteenth Century, is unique. I doubt that there are very many better first-person stories out there in any genre. The plot and characters of this latest novel have been covered by other reviewers (with whom I soundly agree). I only want to suggest that if you haven't yet heard the voice of Abel Jones, go thou and do so.
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Summary: Owen Parry gets even better as he goes along
Review: In the third Abel Jones mystery, the Major has been summoned to Tennessee to General Grant's army, to solve a series of mass murders where the victims are all runaway slaves. When he arrives, he stumbles into the middle of the battle of Shiloh, and makes himself useful scraping up a group of men to fight. When the battle's over, he gets to investigating, and soon is among the Confederates, under a flag of truce, searching for the killer. Parry does three things well with this series of mysteries. First, the plots themselves are worthy mysteries. Though not of the Agatha Christie variety, they are believable, and complex enough that you must pay attention. Second, the author uses the historical setting and the main character to take you on a guided tour of parts of our Civil War. In this installment, we meet both U.S. Grant, and William T. Sherman, and later P.G.T. Beauregard. The portraits of all three are wonderful (the author doesn't think much of Beauregard, who comes off a preening idiot; from what I've read, he's not far wide of the mark) and not just hung onto the story: all three have roles to play in the story. And third, the whole of the book is told in vernacular, so that it reads as if this Welsh veteran of the Sepoy Rebellion were actually talking to you. This is a remarkable accomplishment, and well worth the effort by itself. I can't emphasize how good this book is. Parry seems to be getting better, if that's possible. It's as if George MacDonald Fraser wrote a Civil War mystery story with a Welsh protagonist as its narrator. It's that good.
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Summary: Another Great Story
Review: In the third installment in Owen Parry's Civil War series, hero Abel Jones finds himself at Shiloh. Surviving the battle, described in horrific detail, Jones is sent in front of the advancing army to solve the mass murder of forty escaping slaves. In "Call Each River Jordan" Parry's writing is getting stronger. He has found his voice. Jones' Welsh dialogue is wonderful and witty and self-deprecating and unmatched. Each character is carefully drawn: the legless confederate officer, the stoic elderly slave, the eccentric British servant. Each is unique and carefully crafted. The story bounces easily and predictably to its satisfying conclusion. Another great story.
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Summary: Abel is plenty able
Review: There is something sublime about this book. It would be easy for Parry to follow the easy path to Civil War fiction that so many other authors have followed. But, instead, he chooses to probe the depths of slavery and abolition and Union versus Confederacy. Although this book is billed as a historical suspense/mystery novel, it is far more. The murder plot is merely a device the author uses to explore the depths of human character and the interplay between Whites and Blacks during the Civil War. All of Parry's characters are very human, including his main hero and his major villain. The terrors and bloodlust of war are portrayed vividly. And, to Parry's credit, not all of the action takes place on the battlefield. Main character Abel Jones is a Welsh major hired by President Lincoln to solve the mass murder of some Blacks barely over the Shiloh battle lines. To do so, he must coordinate his activities with officers from the Confederacy. The Union blames the Confederates for the murders and the Confederacy blames the Union. But Abel is Able as he solves the dilemma. But, as I said, the mystery plot is secondary. Abel struggles with the line between Christian non-violence and wartime bloodshed. Some characters struggle with loss of life and property while others struggle with the concept of true freedom. The only negative to this book is its obvious setup at the finish for a sequel. I don't dislike sequels or series novels, but the setup is too obvious. Nonetheless, this book is glorious and there really is something sublime here that I can't pinpoint. A treasure.
Rating:
Summary: Magnificent!
Review: This beautifully-written novel is almost magical in its ability to make the past live again. The first-person account of the ferocious battle of Shiloh is simply the best description of combat I've ever read, while a later cavalry skirmish superbly captures the feel of fighting on horseback (if you've ever ridden, you'll recognize the feel), and a final, dark-of-the-night climax gets at the brutality of war, at any time or place, better than splashy CNN coverage or even the best non-fiction works. There are two more areas where Parry truly excels: The flawless recreation of the voices--the accents, rhythms and prejudices of the past--and the creation of living characters. The narrator, Abel Jones, who has appeared in Parry's two previous novels, deepens and deepens, revealing ever more about himself, while the supporting characters range from the Falstaffian (or Dickensian, to be more accurate) Barnaby B. Barnaby, a killer with a soft heart and a soft belly, to a unique, subtle take on some Southern cliches. In Parry's novels, no character is ever as simple as he or she seems at first--we meet people who live convincingly on the page. Overall, this series is the most "adult" I've ever read--not in terms of explicitness or vulgarity, but in terms of emotional depth and realism. If Parry can sustain this quality of writing and storytelling in his future works, we just may have a fictional re-telling of the Civil War to rival Shelby Foote's non-fiction. And, by the way, this book is enormous fun to read. I would give it more than five stars, if I could.
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