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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
47 of 47 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Return of the Mac!,
By
This review is from: Speaks the Nightbird (Hardcover)
Robert McCammon is back, with one of his best novels ever. "Speaks the Nightbird" is the kind of book that really deserves a grass-roots, word-of-mouth campaign. If you read "Boy's Life" and it meant something to you, you owe it to yourself to pick up "Speaks the Nightbird."The story concerns an aging legal magistrate and his young clerk who come to the small Carolina village of Fount Royal at the close of the 17th century to decide the facts in a case of reputed witchcraft. Matthew Corbett, the magistrate's sharp-minded young clerk, is not sure he believes in witches, despite the accepted wisdom of the day. Corbett is a young man determined to see the world with his own set of eyes. This is good news for Rachel Howarth, the alleged witch, but not such good news for the young clerk himself. Matthew's determination to make up his own mind about the case runs him afoul of many of Fount Royal's most prominent residents. The villagers, who have come to blame recent deaths and failing crops on the accused witch, would like nothing more than a speedy, fiery solution to their troubles. What Matthew wants is the truth, no matter how slippery and elusive it proves to be. A boy on the cusp of adulthood, Matthew suspects that the decisions he makes in Fount Royal will ultimately be the proof of the man he is to become. What Matthew soon discovers, however, is that the road to truth and decency is bound to be a hard and lonely one. Even the magistrate, a normally fair and level-headed man who has often served as a father figure for the boy, is so mired in the "facts" of the case that he is unable to lend Matthew a helping hand. On the surface, "Speaks the Nightbird" is a neatly contstructed, involved mystery that will draw you in with its many beguiling twists and turns of plot. But at its heart, "Nightbird" is--like "Boy's Life" before it--really a moving coming-of-age tale. McCammon concerns himself here with the thorny interior struggles waged for the prize of personal integrity; he imbues his characters and prose with a poignant decency that is sorely missing from much of today's popular fiction. "Speaks the Nightbird" is an elegantly written, often riveting historical drama that also operates as a clever whodunit and an intriguing character study. It's also one of McCammon's best. Robert McCammon is so clearly at the top of his form in "Speaks the Nightbird" that it would be a shame if he never fully came out of retirement. But the decision to write or not to write is always a personal one. All that McCammon's fans can do is savor the words he's already written, and of course hope for more.
32 of 33 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
You will not be disappointed,
By
This review is from: Speaks the Nightbird (Hardcover)
McCammon fans will be surprised and entertained by his latest novel about a witch trial set in North Carolina in 1699. The characters are developed, it is rich in detail and the pace is quick. All the qualities that earned him such a loyal fan base are here. His use of dialog has never been used for effectively. Prepare yourself for some late night reading. Those worried that this is not a scary book, be at ease. McCammon creates some wonderfully intense and macabre scenes and proves that some aspects of humanity are more frightening than anything supernatural. In retrospect, it's similar aspects and the attention to relationships in his stories that made "Mystery Walk", "Wolf's Hour" and others that much better. After reading this, I looked on his website where he states that he "got bored" with writing horror. This latest entry is a great way to cross over into historical fiction. I just hope his publisher and fans allow him to do so. Great reading and I look forward to his next, whatever the genre.
16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Best book I've read in 10 years!,
By A Customer
This review is from: Speaks the Nightbird (Hardcover)
I've been waiting for this book for awhile now and man, was it worth the wait. McCammon draws you into his world from the beginning and you spend several days and nights immersed in the story. I read the whole book in one long weekend, as I couldn't stop myself. As usual, he does a great job with descriptions of the characters. The plot is so intricately woven together, and the ending is fantastic. He's definately become my favorite writer of today. This book is my 3rd favorite of all time, behind Boy's Life and The Stand. Can't wait till his next book, hope the time interval isn't so long next time. I may have to re-read this one.
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