Part 5 in the Matthew Corbett series.
For the uninitiated, Matthew Corbett is a 'problem solver' in the pre-Revolutionary America, in the early 18th century. Matthew's story begins in the 1690s when, as a teenager, he was an aid to a traveling magistrate sent to determine whether a woman being held in the jail of a coastal North Carolina town was a witch (Speaks the Nightbird). He then migrates to New York and begins to work learning the trade of a problem solver. An early assignment has the agency investigating the murder of a prominent doctor and other businessman when he discovers a link to an amnesiac patient in a Pennsylvania asylum (The Queen of Bedlam). Next up, the Herrald Agency is tasked with escorting a mass murderer from where is being held to a ship for transport to London (Mr. Slaughter). The man pulling the evil strings in the background, Professor Fell, yanks Matthew out of New York to a Caribbean island for an epic confrontation (The Providence Rider).
Matthew's love life is in a quandary. His mentor, Hudson Greathouse, suggests an easy assignment out of town would be good for him. Reluctantly, Matthew agrees and boards a ship headed south for Charles Town, SC where he is to escort a lovely to the society ball. Seems the girl is so beautiful that the local guys are afraid to ask her out. At the ball, the beastly gorilla of a man, Magnus Muldoon, challenges Matthew to a duel for the honor of the lovely Pandora Prisskitt.
The highly entertaining duel leaves both standing, but Matthew thinks he needs to learn more about this "monstrous mountain" and ventures off to find this violent recluse. On his way, he comes across the Kincannon plantation and their sweet daughter Sarah. While trying to help/befriend Magnus, the warning bell from the plantation rings and both rush to see how they might help only to find that Sarah has been brutally stabbed behind the barn. The slave Abram, his father and brother have fled firmly convincing all of Abram's guilt. They grab a boat and head up the Ashley River to where it becomes known locally as the River of Souls because people who go up, don't generally return.
A ragtag group of ruffians, drunk on the possibility of reward money, head up river after the three terrified slaves (this is where I could go into some of the challenges the slaves and posse encounter, but that would just destroy your fun).
OK. I admit it. McCammon sits at the very top of my power rotation. Part of what I enjoy is McCammon's command of descriptive prose. In my review of McCammon's OUTSTANDING Boy's Life (you really do need to read that one) I offered what I thought were some memorable lines. I'll do it again here:
- consider the old slave Granny Pegg who was "as slim as a shadow."
- one of the posse chasing the fleeing slaves "had a sharp-nosed, gaunt face as forbidding as three miles of bad road."
- the town in the swamps of the River where even, "God kept His distance from this accursed place."
- a young girl, who mistakes Matthew for her dead husband, describes her mom as one who "liked her drink strong and her men wild. A few years ago she got full of one and ran off with the other."
- when a wild fire threatens everyone in its path, "the sky above remained as dark as a witch's dream."
- after days in the wilderness, Matthew's "shoulders sagged and even the stubble on his face felt heavy."
- and finally, the River itself, "leads on and on, but it don't take you nowhere. . . you just get more lost." But when you are on the river, "where do you go, when there ain't nowhere?"
In most continuing series I have read (e.g., Jack Reacher), you can jump in most anywhere and you could do that also with the Corbett series, but for maximum reading fun, I'd suggest starting with Speaks the Nightbird and go in order. Be warned, Nightbird is quite a long tale and the next 3 are marginally shorter. River of Souls is, by comparison, almost a novella by McCammon's usual standards. But beware. These are violent stories with a high body count with vivid portrayals of the next victim's unfortunate demise, but please don't let that keep you from choosing this series. This, and most of McCammon's work, really is worth it - give him a chance.
available at Amazon.com
East Coast Don
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