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The River of Souls
The River of Souls
The River of Souls
Ebook391 pages6 hours

The River of Souls

Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars

3.5/5

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About this ebook

“Macabre surprises abound” in this historical thriller by a New York Times–bestselling author, centered on the search for an escaped slave accused of murder (Publishers Weekly).
 
Accompanied by his new friend Magnus Muldoon, professional problem solver Matthew Corbett is in the Carolina colony, where three enslaved people have managed to flee their captors—one of them accused of killing the daughter of a plantation owner. Their quest to close the case will take Matthew and Magnus to the place known as “the River of Souls” as they encounter alligators and Native American warriors—and a terrifying being known as the Soul Cryer . . .
 
“Entertaining . . . [McCammon] nicely evokes America’s colonial past and deftly straddles the boundary between the explicable and the supernatural.” —Publishers Weekly
 
Praise for the Matthew Corbett Novels
 
“The Corbett novels are rich, atmospheric stories, the kind of historical mystery that makes the reader feel as though he really has stepped back in time.” —Booklist

“[An] extraordinary series.” —Horrornews
LanguageEnglish
Release dateAug 17, 2021
ISBN9781504068307
The River of Souls
Author

Robert McCammon

ROBERT McCAMMON is a New York Times bestseller best known for Swan Song and Boy’s Life, both still in print after two decades.  He is a frequent nominee and winner of the Bram Stoker Award and has won several World Fantasy Awards.  McCammon resides in Birmingham, Alabama.

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Reviews for The River of Souls

Rating: 3.7125 out of 5 stars
3.5/5

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  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    3.5 stars!
    I'm a tad disappointed. Maybe it's because I love this series so much and I expected a lot from this volume. Maybe it's because I'm used to big books in this series and this volume is short. I'm not quite sure why, but I'm feeling unfulfilled.

    Our beloved "problem solver" Matthew Corbett has ventured from NYC circa 1703 and is currently situated in Charles Town, Carolina. He has been hired to bring the local belle to a ball and what could be an easier job? Of course, Matthew being Matthew, he is soon involved in the investigation of a murder and he, (and we), are off! Soon finding himself in a row boat upon the River of Souls, he is faced with escaped slaves, a murderer on the loose, alligators, raving, maniacal skeletons, and baby cries coming from the swamps. What a blast!!

    So, why am I feeling a little let down? Again, I can't quite say. I'm going to chalk it up to my excitement about a new entry in the series, because I mean just look up there! There was some seriously interesting, fun stuff going on. You don't get maniacal skeletons every day!

    I still recommend this book, of course. Matthew is continuing to grow and the direction that his life has taken is completely different than anything that has come before. Now begins the long wait to see where Matthew (and Mr. McCammon) take us next.

    *A big thank you goes to my friend Matthew who gifted me a copy of this book. Thanks again, Matt! *
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    First, about the book. My copy is a slipcased, signed, numbered edition. It is a gorgeous piece of artwork. The cover and pictures included in this edition are by Vincent Chong. If I was a writer, I would save enough money to get the right cover for my book, and Vincent Chong would be my go-to artist. He does brilliant work. Not only do we have this beautiful cover, but we have two glossy pieces of work inside along with pencil drawings throughout.The end papers are detailed pieces too, not sure if that's Chong's work or not.The smell when I opened the book was priceless. I can't remember a book that smelled so bookish in a long time. Ink and paper, a real throwback aroma I really haven't encountered in years. A book is all about the experience to me. Every single aspect of it. This satisfied all my senses. Okay, I didn't lick the book or anything, but I "ate it up" so to speak, reading it.And now just a quick bit of back story about my journey into McCammon's writing. My book journal says I read Boy's Life in 1995. So many people were, if not singing its praises, at least humming them. All around me was this sound telling me to read this book, it was great! So, I read it and wasn't impressed at all. It was okay. The writing was good, but the story never hugged me in that special way. I can't tell you today what it's about. I guess there was a boy, and he had a life.Having said that though, I never totally write off an author because I didn't click with a piece of work. I've said before, how we take in a story depends on so many personal things. A book doesn't live in its own vacuum, we bring something to a writer's story too, whether they like it or not. We bring our lives to the story, our experiences, our knowledge and every once in a while, our "me" intrudes on the "thems" there on the pages.And while I didn't particularly dislike Boys Life, I didn't rush out to buy anything else of McCammon's. I received The River of Souls from Cemetery Dance and it's been sitting on my book shelf for a while now.Sometimes in our lives, we read the right book at the right time. This is what happened here. I really loved this story. It's a historical fiction set in North Carolina in 1703 well before the American Revolution but the colonies are growing and thriving. I am a Daughter of the American Revolution through two Patriots. One from Virginia, the other is from North Carolina. McCammon had me hooked, right through that soft fleshy part of my cheek and I happily dangled there.Well written, great story, good characters. And I knew there was a book previous to this one, and I got that hint there were things I should've known but didn't because I hadn't read the one that came before. But, that didn't take away from my enjoyment from this tale, it just made me want to get the previous book. And then lo and behold, I find out, there are many books in this series! This is very exciting!Nice job by everyone involved in the production of The River of Souls. I will definitely be finding the rest of this series. I just wish I could add them to my library in the same format as this book. Gorgeous.My only criticism and not even that, really. I just need some clarification. At the end of the main story? I think? we had an insert of a whole new group of people, only linked to our guy, Matthew Corbett, by a mention.Is this the next book to be published? I think it was called The Scorpion's Eye (sorry, I don't have the book with me to verify that title chapter). Anyway, that threw me off a bit and I decided it was like a continuing series where you get a preview of next weeks' episode, is that right? And maybe this is a stylistic choice he has done throughout the series?What had me confused by its presence was the fact it had a glossy piece of artwork included. Usually when getting an excerpt from a next installment, the publisher doesn't spend money showcasing it that way. They save that dosh on the new book.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Matthew Corbett is a professional problem solver, similar to what we might call a private investigator. Executing his duties he’s faced his fair share of danger. He’s also faced his share of people preferring he keep his nose out of their business.Matthew, after some cajoling, accepts a commission to travel to Charlestown to act as escort to a rich man’s daughter. Matthew suspects she’s as ugly as they come and is the reason for the extravagance of paying a man to come all the way from New York. Little does he know, what the real reason is. After an exciting night of truths being revealed as an escort, Matthew decides to call upon the previous nights visitor and entertainment to offer some advice. Then, being in the wrong place (or right depending on your point of view) and he is swept up in an adventure to capture the murderer of a lovely young lady, that pushes his physical, emotional and mental limits. He comes out a changed man. More changed than he ever realizes.I really like the character Matthew Corbett, and I plan to try another one of his stories. I am intrigued by the hints of back story of previous adventures. I would say that you don’t really need to read any of the previous books in the series, but I would still recommend starting earlier. With the ending as it was, I will say this is the latest book in the series to begin. Well written, though some of the descriptions I felt were a little long, especially for some of the bit characters who were there long enough to perish. I will say I didn’t like the ending at all.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    I got a copy of this book through the Amazon Vine program to review. When I got this book for review I did not realize that it is the fifth book in the Matthew Corbett series. I would recommend reading the previous books before this one, there are a lot of references to events in past books that I found hard to follow.The story was incredibly simple. Basically Matthew takes what should be a straight-forward job escorting a beautiful girl to a country ball. However the next day a young woman is murdered and a young slave is blamed. Matthew is determined to find out the truth. As mentioned above, I did not realize this was part of a series until I started reading it. The main story was fairly self-contained, but there are a lot of references to events that happened in past books. There are also a lot of names of past characters thrown around, the whole time I felt like I was kind of missing something. So I personally would recommend reading previous books first.Matthew figures out who the murderer is incredibly quickly. Then he journeys with some others down the Solstice River (the River of Souls)to find the fled slave and prevent the slave from being hunted down and killed. It's a very treacherous journey.The plot was very predictable and very straight-forward. There weren't really any of the twists and turns I expect of a good mystery. I did enjoy some of the description of the journey and dangers along the river. Although there were a few things (like the strange beast that cries in the woods) that were just odd and I didn't understand why they were included.I also didn't find any of the characters all that engaging. Matthew was okay, he seems to be one of those characters that is smart, resourceful, and can take a licking and keep on ticking. Still, by the end of the book I wasn't dying to read more about him.The book ended with a bit of a cliffhanger and sets Matthew up for his next adventure. Really the whole story seemed like something that was more of a novella, and could have been novella length, without losing a lot of the story.Overall this was an okay read. I enjoyed the swamp setting and some of the descriptions of it. I liked that this took place in the Old South. The characters were okay but not all that engaging. The plot was very simple and straight-forward for a mystery. By the end of the book I was kind of like “Eh, okay well that’s over and I won’t be reading any more of those”. It wasn’t a horrible book, but it wasn’t anything all that great either.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    McCammon’s latest Matthew Corbett chronicle is a hair-raising story of murder in a setting not unlike Conrad’s Heart of Darkness. ‘The River of Souls’ is the fifth book in a series set in early Colonial America. Readers like me who haven’t read and of the previous adventures of Matthew Corbett might want to consider starting with book one in the series (Speaks the Nightbird) to fully appreciate the series’ story line. The River of Souls can be read and enjoyed if read on independently but there are quite a few references to characters and events in previous volumes that went over my head.Some may refer to this book as historical fiction but I’m not convinced that McCammon put enough research into the book for it to deserve the ‘historical’ appellation. Many things said in the book are either unlikely or just plain incorrect from a historical standpoint. For example, everal characters in the book state that teaching slaves to read was illegal but no such laws were passed in North Carolina until after the Stono slave rebellion 1740. Even though the book was not classified as a young adult novel, it read like one until late into the book when the language bumped it out of its PG rating.Bottom line: While I enjoyed much of the book, I was ultimately disappointed. I had heard so many positive things about Robert McCammon’s books that I expected a quality in writing that I just didn’t see here. The writing style seemed somehow stilted although I can’t quite explain what gives me that impression. More troubling, though, is that the events described and the characters’ behaviors just don’t ring true. Ultimately, I couldn’t buy into the story and if you can’t get wrapped up in a story, it will never win you over. I will likely give McCammon another chance but this first experience with his books was not too encouraging.*Quotations are cited from an advanced reading copy and may not be the same as appears in the final published edition. The review book was based on an advanced reading copy obtained at no cost from the publisher in exchange for an unbiased review. While this does take any ‘not worth what I paid for it’ statements out of my review, it otherwise has no impact on the content of my review.

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The River of Souls - Robert McCammon

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