Last of the Dixie Heroes

June 25, 2001
With his diverse settings, quirky characters and intriguing story lines, Abrahams (Crying Wolf; A Perfect Crime; etc.) has set himself up as a master of engrossing, off-the-beaten-track suspense yarns. However, although his latest effort starts out promisingly, it runs out of steam just when it should be revving up to a climax. Though he doesn't realize it at first, Roy Hill's life in Atlanta is coming apart at the seams. His company has been taken over by a megacorporation (resulting in Roy's losing out on a promised promotion), he's divorced (with an 11-year-old son) and his ex-wife's new squeeze "doesn't even bother to get dressed in the morning" (he's a lumpy online trader). But when Roy becomes intrigued by the off-hours activities of one of his business colleagues—a Civil War reenactor—our hero seems to have found a comfortable niche. At first, Roy finds Gordo's hobby amusing ("harmless fun in funny clothes"), but the peace of 1863 life begins to look better and better and the boundaries between contemporary reality and historical playacting begin to blur with increasingly disturbing repercussions. It's clear from the outset that the Abrahams style is still in high gear—the deadpan humor, often expressed as wry one-liners; the trenchant observations on motivation and behavior. But the author gets bogged down in historical details and a myriad of vaguely developed characters, and readers may find that Roy's confusion becomes their own. This is a case where the journey (read: Roy's gradual dissolution) proves more enticing than the ultimate destination. (June)Forecast:This won't be Abrahams's Appomattox, but it sure won't be his greatest triumph, either.

May 15, 2001
Roy Singleton Hill's life is falling apart, but he isn't very quick to realize it. Not only has he convinced himself that he is going to get a big promotion, but he is also confident that he can win back his estranged wife and help his 11-year-old son settle down and succeed in school. When his present and future problems finally hit him, he begins to uncover his family's past. He joins a group of Civil War re-enactors and finds himself more comfortable in the simpler and more violent world of his great-great-grandfather, a Confederate hero whose name he carries; reality and fantasy start to blur. Although this work is suspenseful, its climax is rather abrupt, and the actions of some of the minor characters seem contrived and unlikely. If Abrahams (Crying Wolf) had been able to maintain the tone and pacing throughout, this would have been an excellent book. Still, it is a good summer read and is recommended for all public libraries. Patrick Wall, University Cty. P.L., MO

Copyright 2001 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

May 1, 2001
The 1998 publication of Tony Horwitz's nonfiction account of Civil War reenactors, " Confederates in the Attic," seems to have fired the imagination of fiction writers. Jane Hamilton's latest novel, " Disobedience, "dealt with the strangely compelling world of reenactment, and now this studied effort to time-travel forms the spine of a suspense tale. Roy Hill is a Kafkaesque business operative, performing nebulous work in a series of cubicles for an Atlanta multinational company. His home life is ambiguous; his wife leaves, then returns, but her loutish boyfriend threatens both Roy and his son. His work is rewarded with a promotion that leaves other cubicle workers envious. When a coworker invites Roy to a Confederate reenactment, Roy becomes drawn to that world, which somehow seems more real than his own life. The problem, however, is that it keeps getting more and more real, with real bullets replacing blanks, and new battles raging under cover of the old. A well-crafted and compelling thriller.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2001, American Library Association.)