Chiefs [Paperback]

Stuart Woods (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: 1982

One bitter winter morning, the naked body of an unidentified boy is discovered in the woods. Suddenly all the hatred and passion raging beneath the surface of a once peaceful Georgia town threatens to explode. The obsessive hunt for the boy's brutal murderer ignites a search that will consume the lives of three police chiefs and their families. One chief is a courageous innocent. Another is a man of burning violence. The third hides a deadly secret.

Product Details

• Paperback: 427 pages
• Publisher: Bantam Books; First Edition edition (1982)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0553205609
• ISBN-13: 978-0553205602
• Product Dimensions: 6.6 x 4 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (85 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,777,998 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Stuart Woods is the author of forty-four novels, including the New York Times-bestselling Stone Barrington series and Holly Barker series. The last twenty-eight of them have been New York Times best-sellers. He is an avid private pilot, flying his own jet on two book tours a year. His latest novel is Santa Fe Edge,to be published on September 21st. You may see his tour schedule and learn more about the author on his website, www.stuartwoods.com.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

29 of 31 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A good crime novel plus a lot more, September 29, 2002

By 

Stan Vernooy (Henderson, NV) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Chiefs (Mass Market Paperback)

"Chiefs" is the story of three police chiefs in a small Georgia town: one was the town's very first Chief of Police in the 1920's, the second in the 1940's, and the third in the 1960's. The common thread among the three is a series of disappearances of teenage boys who were traveling through the vicinity of the town when they disappeared.

The book isn't really a mystery, since the reader knows the solution to the crime fairly early in the book. What sets the book apart is the well-drawn characters and the unerring and evocative portrayal of the evolution of a small Georgia town from the 1920's up to the middle of the Civil Rights movement of the 1960's.

Woods has perfect pitch when it comes to dialogue. Every conversation, every confrontation, every characterization rings vividly true. Politics, on a local, state, and national level, is a sub-theme of the book, and the author has obviously done his homework on those topics as well. But the book's most noticeable strength is in its ability to transport the reader almost physically into a sultry Georgia town. Even if you read this during a winter in North Dakota, you'll feel the heat, the tension, the passion, and the fears of a sleepy Georgia town during the mid-20th century for as long as you're reading "Chiefs".

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A great southern novel, September 10, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Chiefs (Mass Market Paperback)

The characters in Chiefs are without a doubt some of the most interesting and well-developed characters that have ever surfaced in any novel to date. Woods does a great job creating such a diverse group of people all the while keeping them realistic and life-like. He paints a very accurate picture of what the south was like in the early 1900's and the 1950's. Since he created such life-like and believable people, I found myself either hating or loving the characters. I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys reading. The three Chiefs that are the focal point are all very different, and they all have amazing qualities that make them come alive. Aside from holding the same position at one time or another, they also were committed to solving one of the worst series of crimes the south had ever seen.

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars It's so damn good!, August 24, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Chiefs (Mass Market Paperback)

I got Chiefs after reading all the Amazon 5-star reader reviews. Usually, I'd walk on by a book about small town Georgia cops, never imagining it could be this enthralling. The author is masterful at drawing the reader into this little world; I found myself talking out loud to the characters. He doesn't rely on the graphic gore and language of the typical modern shock thriller, hence making the terror more real. What makes the southern authors so good!? This belongs with "Gone With the Wind" and "The Prince of Tides." As a serial killer story, it belongs with the best of Lawrence Sanders.