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In July 1862, the War between the States had been raging for over a year and a half, with the Confederacy having won most of the early campaigns. The Union forces under General George McClellan seemed reluctant to engage their adversaries, and President Lincoln had become frustrated with his recalcitrant Army chief. Lincoln had been mulling over a huge decision about slavery, but he knew that the Union side needed a strategic battlefield victory before acting on it. Monty Tolliver is an advisor to Lincoln and serves as a sounding board for the president's frustrations. Monty is vehemently against slavery and hopes the president will free those living in bondage. Meanwhile, Monty's stepson is pondering enlisting in the Union Army. His good friend, journalist Robert Geddis, is covering the war on the dangerous front lines, and another pal, Billy Rutledge, fights for the Confederacy under an alias. The tide needs to turn to the Union and quickly.
The Civil War has been a well-documented subject in fiction for over 160 years, but the appeal of this historical novel lies in the depth of its characters, who circulate among historical figures. Monty serves at the president's pleasure, providing sound advice, yet harbors a secret that could cost him everything. Billy is pretending to be a loyal southerner named Ezekiel Colton, serving under General Robert E. Lee, yet he disdains slavery. The secrets kept by Monty, Billy, and Robert provide for a more than compelling aspect of the plot, which is full of riveting drama from beginning to end. The underpinnings of a deep conspiracy are hinted at in this unputdownable novel, which possesses the literary charm and intelligence of Jeff Shaara's works on the Civil War.
RECOMMENDED by the US Review