Cane Brake Men, The [Mass Market Paperback]

Judd Cameron (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 1, 1993

Following the War of Independence against the British Crown, Tennessee settlers face opposition from the federal government as they set out to carve out a new state for themselves.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

The final installment in Judd's ( The Border Men ) trilogy about the late 18th-century American frontier is set in Franklin, the territory that eventually became the state of Tennessee. Fourteen-year-old Owen Killefer survives a nighttime ambush by sadistic Redcoat deserter Tom Turndale. Turndale has killed or wounded Killefer's relatives and taken his sister, Emaline, as his captive bride. The balance of the story traces Owen's coming of age during his quest to rescue Emaline from Turndale, who lives among the Chickamauga tribe. In an attempt to supply badly needed background information, Judd has his characters deliver proclamations about every imaginable topic to practically anyone who will listen, as if the American frontier were tamed almost exclusively by curiously verbose semiliterates of outstanding moral fiber--and by the women who loved them. Unfortunately, neither these expository speeches nor the gratuitious epilogue succeed in making sense of a muddled, disjointed storyline that is burdened with too many coincidences and too much tragedy.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 10 pages
• Publisher: Domain (June 1, 1993)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0553562770
• ISBN-13: 978-0553562774
• Product Dimensions: 15.8 x 4 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,058,814 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars An Early American Bildungsroman, April 7, 1997

By A Customer

This review is from: Cane Brake Men, The (Mass Market Paperback)

Judd has the curious ability to ingest history so that when it is retold in his historical novels, it is expressed with an urgency and a raconteur's sense of the present, which lends his characters credence, both the fictional creations as well as the actual historical figures.

This is a tale of a strong frontier lad named Owen Killefer who attempts to track down his sister after she is kidnapped by a crude, homocidal mountain man named Turndale, who wiped out the rest of Killefer's family after they had invited him to share their table.

Killefer escapes using his own wits and natural suspicion -- attributes that serve him well throughout the novel, which takes him deep into dangerous Chickamauga territory, roughneck towns, and lone woods, where with the help of Jubal, an escaped slave, he is able to come closer to rescuing his sister Emaline.

Occasionally Judd lapses into too-straightforward a relaying of history, but in those moments pure storytelling, you would be hard-pressed to find a writer of historical novels better able to capture the dialects, the smells of rabbit cooking over an open fire, or the scent of breath sweetened with cedar twigs (as well as the angst of fearing for your scalp in the rugged forntier) the way Judd does here.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Canebrake Men, December 28, 1999

By 

[e-mail] (Canada) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Cane Brake Men, The (Mass Market Paperback)

I was in a camp hunting with a few friends when I noticed the book, not much of a reader I picked it up just for something to do in the quiet of the night. I couldn't put the book down in just two days I read half the book. My wife and daughter were shocked to find that I had read that much of it in that short time, but I had to leave the book behind seeing that the owner had not read it yet. Now I find it is not being published I can not find a copy of it. I have read since then two other books from the Underhill Series and recieved four more for christmas and can't wait to get started on them. I am still looking for the Canebrake Men and it looks like I'll have to wait till the next hunting trip to find out what happens. Very good book very much recommend it to anyone who does not enjoy reading.

3.0 out of 5 stars The Search, September 3, 2009

By 

Ruth Thompson "Weaver of Tales" (Venice, FL USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Canebrake Men (The Tennessee Frontier Trilogy #3) (Paperback)

A crazy mountain man has kidnapped Owen's sister. He must find his sister Emaline and bring her home. Owen's search takes him to the Chickamauga territory and bad towns. He has some help from Jubal a run-a-slave. There is enough action to keep you turning the pages late into he night. By Ruth Thompson author of "Natchez Above The River" and "The Bluegrass Dream"