Most of the action in this story takes place in Louisiana where the Union and confederates are in a battle to have control of the Red River.
Red River
by P. G. Nagle
Evennight Books
August 2003
Red River by P. G. Nagle is a well written book but I found it somewhat hard to really get into the story because there were so many Generals, Colonels, Lieutenants, Captains, Sergeants, and Privates for both the South and the North that I had trouble keeping them straight. In fact, I gave up and just focused on the story line that involved Marie Hawkland, mistress of a large plantation, Nat Wheat, a Union Navy carpenter, and Jamie Russell, a Confederate Captain. The story features battles that took place on the Red River in Louisiana where it flows into the Mississippi River. This was the largest waterway in the country and both the North and South wanted control. A good bit of action takes place at Marie’s plantation for she was more or less friendly with both the South and the North. The Confederates wanted to buy cotton to exchange for weapons and the Federals wanted to buy cotton just to keep it from the Confederates.
The battle scenes were quite graphic and in my mind I could see all the horrors of the battles. I could not keep all the battles straight but the friendships between the men, both Confederate and Federal, made for enjoyable reading. There was a great deal of suspense in the story for I never knew which side would win the battle. I enjoyed the twists and turns in the plot line concerning the individuals for there was lots of suspense wondering how each of the main characters would end up. At least for me the story had a happy ending.
I recommend this book if you are really into stories about the battles fought in the Civil War and don’t mind profanity in the story.
Deanna Love Gottreu is a 75 year old widow and the mother of two wonderful sons who share second place in her life – with God being in first place. She spends her time reading or making quilts for charity. Her book reviews can also be read on her blog at www.buzzardsroostcrafts.com/blog.
This book was provided by the publisher as a review copy.