Customer Reviews

South of Shiloh: A Thriller

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Chuck Logan is known primarily for his Phil Broker novels, but his latest offering is not one of those. SOUTH OF SHILOH is a dramatically different turn for Logan, a book that surprises with its page-by-page richness, depth and ability to transcend its genre.

The story is set in one of the most interesting areas of the United States --- northern Mississippi in the vicinity of the Tennessee border. It begins with the death of Paul Edin, an insurance salesman from Minnesota who is participating in a Civil War reenactment of the Battle of Kirby Creek near the Mississippi town of Corinth. Logan's attention to detail with respect to what goes into the preparation for participation in a Civil War battle reenactment is worth the price of admission here all by itself. But the ultimate focus is Edin, who finds himself in the wrong place at the wrong time, inadvertently taking a bullet meant for Kenny Beeman, a local police officer.

That bullet was fired by Mitchell Lee Nickels, whose marriage into the prosperous and influential Kirby family ultimately cannot overcome his background and heredity, which includes a feud with Beeman's family that goes back at least one generation. Edin, as we learn in beautifully understated dribs and drabs, was a solid, dependable and decent man, raising a 10-year-old daughter, Molly, who he knew was not his own. Edin's widow, Jenny, had been discussing with him shortly before his death how they were going to approach Molly with the news concerning her paternity.

Jenny is literally on the verge of bringing John Rane, Molly's biological father, into the discussion when she learns of her husband's death. Rane is a well-known news photographer, and, as we come to learn, something more. While he could face the open end of a gun barrel armed with nothing but a camera, he could not confront the duties of fatherhood and left another man to do so. Though Edin's death is officially ruled an accident, the result of an apparent negligent misfire by an accidentally loaded gun, Rane decides to conduct his own investigation. Traveling to Corinth, ostensibly to do a photo feature on the Civil War reenactments and Edin's death, Rane meets up with Beeman and forms an almost immediate kinship with him, forged in the sudden death of a man whom neither knew well but to whom both owe much for different reasons, which have common elements nonetheless.

As their investigation into the circumstances of Edin's shooting confirms that Edin was indeed the victim of a bullet meant for Beeman, the men begin to take different paths toward a single-minded pursuit of justice and retribution. There is more going on here, however, than the book reveals at first blush. Nickels's sins are many, and as they are slowly uncovered, they also come back to haunt him in ways he cannot anticipate. As the novel proceeds steadily toward a suspenseful, pulse-pounding climax, debts are paid but not without cost.

SOUTH OF SHILOH is a deep, quiet masterpiece, one that should find its way onto many "Best Of" lists for this year and bring Logan the focus and attention he has long deserved.

--- Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub

This is labeled a suspense novel or thriller, but South of Shiloh is really more of a mystery, and it's a strange one at that. It's got a very long intro to the plot, an odd setting (the world of American Civil War re-enactors) and a set of unusual characters, along with a convoluted, at times strange plot.

Paul Edin is an insurance guy from Minnesota who's discovered the Civil War. He's married, has a daughter, and is now going to travel to upper Mississippi to participate in a re-enacted battle between Southerners and Unionists. When he gets there, he's befriended by a local, a policeman who re-enacts himself and also works security at the sham battles, named Kenny Beeman. During the event, someone shoots Edin with a real bullet from one of the real guns on the battlefield.

Since you're following the killer and his friends from the word go also, you know from the start of the book that the killer is another local, hired to do away with the cop, and that he missed and hit Edin by mistake. Only thing is, Edin's wife used to date a danger-junkie news photographer who knows how to shoot a black powder rifle, and who also is feeling somewhat guilty over the fact that the Edin's daughter is really his (he abandoned the mother when he discovered she was pregnant). So he travels to Mississippi to discover who killed his former girlfriend's husband, and when he gets there winds up teaming up with Beeman to try and investigate.

This is a synopsis of the plot of the book, but it doesn't explain half of how strange it is. For one thing, characters do things, especially in the latter half of the book, that make no sense, at least as far as I can tell. One sequence in particular is strange (spoiler alert) in that the guy who shot Edin gets kidnapped by his own wife, and later released, in some strange effort to get him killed (which works, but it easily could have failed). Another difficulty is the pace of the book. Thrillers should move along quickly: this thing takes forever to get going, and the conclusion is obvious: you know what's going to happen. For you to take 400 pages to get there is a bit time-consuming.

There were things I enjoyed about this book. The author clearly understands his Civil War firearms (nice to see someone do some actual research) and the re-enactor stuff seems realistic too (about this I don't know as much). None of the characters are perfect, so you actually sympathize with them. The setting of the Mississippi part of the book is partially along the border with Tennessee, and you get a lot of local history about Buford Pusser and the Dixie Mafia.

All of that being said, the book's simply too long to be that positive about it. Recommended if the subject matter's interesting to you; otherwise skip it.

At the reenactment of the Civil War battle of Kirby Creek, Mississippi visiting Minnesotan Paul Edin dies when he is shot. The Corinth sheriff's department rules death due to accident with no investigation.

The victim's widow Jenny grieves her loss, but accepts the official position until she hears a rumor that the bullet that killed her Paul might have been intended for Sheriff Deputy Kenny Beeman, who was near her late spouse when he was killed. Needing to know the truth, Jenny gets her former lover and biological father of her child that Paul lovingly helped her raise, John Rane to investigate. A cop turned photographer, John teams up with Kenny to try to uncover the truth; but what they find out shakes both as someone plans a real bloody reenactment of the battle of Shiloh

The whodunit is cleverly devised; the planned bloody massacre lacks some supportive substance, but in a world of terrorism seems plausible; and the lead sleuths are fully developed; however, this exciting thriller belongs to the support cast. Chuck Logan provides his audience a deep look into the souls of the reenactors who replay the Civil War with passion and diligence down to every minute detail.

Harriet Klausner

If you like Chuck Logan you will like this one. John Sandford talked about this book in his latest novel. Neither Borders nor Barnes and Noble locally carried it? Got if from Amazon. Even though it has to do with a Civil War reenactment it is about modern times criminal aprehension. The book keeps you interested but I would rather have Logan's main protagonist be the focus who does not appear in this book.South of Shiloh: A Thriller

One protaganist is described, "An utter failure in the small gestures of ordinary life, Rane excelled in crisis". Others are not what we usually expect. The author weaves a tapestry of history, mystery and domestic pain that will provide hours of entertainment. The good get punished, the bad slip by and the dumb pay a price. Snipers, photographers, newsmen, cops, reenactors and wives, all have a part. You can have a good time.