Richard Snodgrass, an author of notable talent, has embarked on the telling of the story of a fictitious mill town about ten miles north of Pittsburg in Western Pennsylvania. The eight-book series will be released one every three months beginning in April 2018. “Across the River” is one of the stories, about the appearance of two men, both Confederate soldiers posing as a Union officer, Judson Walker, and an engineer, Jonathan Reid, with the intent of studying road engines invented by the town’s Colin Lyle. Their intent is to determine if the addition of armor and Gatling machine guns might create a formidable enough weapon for use of Confederate forces in the conduct of the Civil War. The story of their deception and involvement in the complex process makes for a riveting tale.

The two men find Lyle, totally immersed in the development of his vehicles into farm machines, a willing listener to their falsified tale of being Union patriots interested in finding a war machine of immense power and fighting capability that would shorten the war. Lyles’s main interest lies in bringing his machines into any commercial application that would gain attention and enrich him as a manufacturer.
The story evolves into treachery, subterfuge, enticement, carnal lust, narcissism, voyeurism, and jealousy.

The cast of characters is huge but the author does a masterful job of keep their interests and involvement totally on point. I didn’t find a single person out of place or who was developed vicariously. With a story of this magnitude and complexity, one might expect unnecessary involvement to be used as a fill material. Not here, in my opinion. The author was highly skilled at presenting many points of view from his characters, all of them logical and adding much interest to his story.

Snodgrass was also adept at portraying the Pennsylvania countryside, the environment of a town operating under the smoke and stifling fumes of iron working, and the almost dizzying complexity of a woman besieged with feelings of inadequacy and the need for attention. There are so many personalities with hidden agendas, that to attempt to offer a short recap is folly. You will have to read with care to capture the subtleties as introduced by the writer. His writing is superb, perhaps the best I’ve read this year.

As you can tell by my enthusiasm for “Across the River,” I’m highly recommending you read this book. As a historical novel, it’s almost unapproachable in its interest and scope.

Disclaimer: I received this book from the publisher. Thanks! All opinions are my own.

Book Series: Books of Furnass Book 4

Rating: 4/5

Publication Date: Decemebr 26, 2018

Genre: Historical Fiction

Recommended Age: 17+ (some slight violence, war, hard choices, and love)

Publisher: Calling Crow Press

Pages: 340

Amazon Link

Synopsis: In the summer of 1863, Judson Walker, a captain of Morgan’s Raiders, and Jonathan Reid, a young engineer, come to Furnass to appropriate two of Colin Lyles’ steam-powered road engines. The purpose is to outfit the engines with iron plate and the newly developed Gatlin Guns, and, with Morgan, deliver the war engines to General Lee’s army in Central Pennsylvania. Amid Walker’s growing involvement with Lyle’s wife Libby, deserting soldiers, and Reid’s own agenda, Walker learns Morgan isn’t coming. The novel reaches its climax with Lyle trying to sabotage the war engines. Walker must decide between Libby and duty toward his men, the war and individual human values.

The Books of Furnass tell the story of a fictitious mill town, ten miles from Pittsburgh in southwestern Pennsylvania. At the heart of the series is the Furnass Towers Trilogy, about the efforts of men and women to maintain their lives, and the life of the town, in the face of the mill closings. In addition to contemporary life, the series chronicles the town when it was just an outpost after the French and Indian War…the town as it grew around an iron furnace in the wilderness…as it became an industrial center from the time of the American Civil War to the Vietnam War. And the series tells the story of the Lyle family, who were involved with the town from its founding to its struggles to survive after the mills went away.

Review: Overall I thought that this book was really well done. The writing was really poetic and smooth, the character development was amazingly well done and I really enjoyed the characterization of the characters as well. It’s definitely worth the read just for the writing alone.

However, I do feel like the book could have been more historical. It felt like we focused on the characters and the romance too much and the plot, while interesting, was a bit too thin for the length for me. It felt like the story dragged a bit in the end for my personal tastes.

Verdict: A lovely, worthy read.

Two men from the Confederate calvary dressed in Union uniform have entered a small village in Pennsylvania on a secret mission. Captain Judson Walker is accompanied by pseudo-engineer Jonathan Reid on a secret mission in which they are to determine if Steamworks and Colin Lyle's "road engine" can be successfully combined with a new invention that will replaced hundreds of men at the front line and hopefully swing the war to the Confederate side. The two are invited to stay with the Lyles during the investigation.
In a skirmish prior to arrival, Walker is wounded. He is taken under the wing of Lyle's wife, Libby. She is a transplanted southerner who immediately gleans that despite the Union uniforms, these two are not northerners. She's an enigma, outspoken, intelligent, and forceful.
The storyline is well-plotted, but grows and flows rather languidly, shifting first and third persons (putting you in the head of one and his thoughts, particularly Walker as he relives scenes of his skirmishes with Morgan), as well as the other main characters. Walker is smart, deeply distrustful of Reid, and exhibits battle fatigue. Reid, although he'd like to think is the smarter of the two, has no military mind and the two often clash. He is rabid for the glory he's sure will come from producing a successful war machine. Lyle is just grateful that someone at long last has seen fit to examine his contraption.
There is much philosophical consideration and reflection, Reid's arrogance makes him an unlikeable character, Libby gets weird and unsympathetic, and Walker flashes back to his former lady comparing her with Libby. The rest of Walker's troop arrives, several in need of medical attention. The dialogue reads realistic for the time, scene descriptions vivid. Difficult to determine how this will all work out, the author does a fine job of wrapping up a conclusion satisfactorily, but leaves out a few minor details that beg a question or two.
I was contacted by the publicist for the author and offered a free copy through NetGalley and appreciated the opportunity to read and review. There were some format problems. Very different view of the civil war and the individual personalities involved make it a compelling, unique read. 3.5/5 stars

I really enjoy historyish type books and this book, Across the River, set in the Civil War Era was absolutely wonderful. I thought the tone of the book was a bit ominous, which was great. I predicted parts of the ending of the book, but others brought me an utter surprise!

A well-told story of the Civil War era. The tone is a bit ominous throughout, and it feels as if everything is seen through just the slightest haze of gauze, or mist – or smoke?

The story is riveting – will the Confederate operatives be able to complete their mission without being discovered or killed or both? Are they even safe from each other?

The main protagonists are members of the guerilla group known as Morgan’s Raiders. There are a Captain Judson Walker and a Jonathan Reid who fancies himself an engineer and may almost be a civilian. They are in Pennsylvania on a secret mission and are pretending to be Yankee soldiers, which they seem to be pulling off fairly well as they are from Kentucky, a border state which sent soldiers to both sides.

The time is smack in the middle of the war. While Walker and Reid are in the town, the battle of Gettysburg is being fought.

They have come to see a man named Colin Lyle, owner of a local Steamworks and the inventor of a contraption he calls a ‘road engine’ which appears to be sort of like a small steam locomotive that can be driven on regular roads instead of requiring railroad tracks. Reid’s idea is to take some of these road engines, armor them, and mount Gatling guns on them. He is convinced it will change the entire course of the war.

Captain Walker is extremely cautious and suspicious. Possibly overly cautious and suspicious. Or maybe not.
While Reid is busy with Lyle at the Steamworks checking out the engines and having his modifications made, Walker is busy puzzling over the strange behavior of Lyle’s wife, Libby who, it turns out, is herself a transplanted Southerner. It seems that they have stumbled into the middle of a complicated relationship between Libby, her husband, and the local doctor. Walker repeatedly warns himself that the situation is dangerous, but he nevertheless becomes romantically involved with Libby. Possibly because he somehow associates her in his mind with the girl he used to love, who is now married to Morgan.

Libby, however, is more ephemeral than the smoke that fills the town, and just when Walker thinks he knows her, he doesn’t.

Several times it looks as if they will be found out and stopped, and then they get out of it. But, while parts of the final ending might be predicted, other aspects of it are a complete surprise.