Customer Reviews

Cane Brake Men, The

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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.

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.

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"