I had a hard time getting into this book. The first hundred pages or so didn't really move things along very well. I think that's due to the fact that the story starts halfway through the good part, and then has to spend a lot of time on discussions to backtrack and catch us up. Plenty of times that method can work for a book, but this time I wasn't quite as sucked in as is usually supposed to happen when one is thrust into the thick of it like that.But, I stuck with it and I'm glad I did. The book wasn't anything particularly special, but the Civil War setting for a mystery is relatively unexplored so as I got farther in I started to get more in tune with the atmosphere and warmed up to the book. It was also interesting to hear a bit about first generation European immigrant perspectives in the civil war (although I guess I can't speak to how historically accurate the book is). So even though the book wasn't magical by any means, it had some good things going for it that made it an interesting enough read that, by the end of it, I was relatively absorbed in the story. It's a good book to read if you're in that type of mood where you want to read a book but you don't really know what kind of book.
I enjoy the adventures of Abel Jones. They combine a mystery series with the Civil War. Abel is Welsh and formerly served His Majesty in India.This gives us an early view of the Molly Maguires. It takes place during the Civil War and, more specifically, during the time of the Irish Draft Riots. Abel has been sent home to Pottsville in Schuylkill County. A general has been killed and he is supposed to find out what happened. He has a tendency to be singleminded in his pursuit of resolving his missions.
Do You like book Bold Sons Of Erin (2003)?
At first I commended the author on how well he mimicked the prejudices and small mindedness of the average 19th Century person. Then I found out who he is in real life and realized that those are his actual opinions today and it's no great stretch. Books are still entertaining, though. He's a talented writer.I liked this interesting take on the immigrant Irish during this era.But don't BUY them if you're a liberal. Get them from the library. You don't want your money going to this Fox News contributor who has vilified captured servicemen in uniform, called for the boundaries of the Middle East to be redrawn and for the political assassination of Julian Assange.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ralph_Pe...
—Suzanne
