Ghost Riders

Although technically part of McCrumb's Ballad Series, don't be misled by the title into associating this novel with the song about dead doomed cowboys "tryin' to catch the devil's herd across the endless skies". Her ghost riders are the unsettled shades of US Civil War soldiers wandering the Appalachian hills in the 21st century, possibly stirred up by re-enactors who ought to be leaving the past IN the past, especially in an area where the lines were blurred during the war, and many people now cannot even be sure which side their ancestors fought for. Actual historical figures are major characters, and two of them (erstwhile governor of North Carolina, Zebulon Vance; and Malinda a/k/a "Sam" Blalock, one of the documented female show more soldiers who enlisted by posing as boys) tell us the 19th century story that makes up most of the narrative. The supernatural element is perfectly managed...just eerie enough to set your neck hairs tingling, not so outrageous that you want to scoff and sputter at the author for spoiling a good tale. And this was a real good 'un. Brief present day appearances are made by recurring characters Spencer Arrowood and Nora Bonesteel. Spencer's search for details of an ancestor purported to be the last casualty of the war in the mountains, doesn't go much of anywhere, and feels sort of pointless here. Possibly McCrumb picked up that thread in a later book, because I know she left little clues in Ghost Riders to another ballad novel in the series, which features Zeb Vance as the attorney who unsuccessfully defended Tom Dooley. show less

"In 1861 the Civil War reached the mountain South -- where the enemy was your neighbor, the victims were you friends, and the wrong army was whichever one you joined." Families split apart, war was an excuse for murder, and guerrillas fought old feuds.

In the latest of her "ballad series", McCrumb departs from her usual mystery format. Instead, she focuses on alternating stories of real historical characters with stories of people in the present attempting to connect with the past. A group of Civil War re-enactors are playing at war, and Sheriff Spencer Arrowood, a recurring character in McCrumb's book, learns, to his surprise, that an Arrowood was killed in a battle that occurred after the war officially ended, and that he was a Union show more soldier.

The historical story lines are fascinating, and led me to do more research on the people. Zebulon Vance was a self-made man, lawyer and Congressman. Though he argued against secession, when war came, he became a Confederate officer, later becoming the Confederate governor of North Carolina and was a strong voice for the people of Appalachia. After the war, he eventually became Governor again, and ended his career in the United States Senate.

The other story is even more interesting. McKesson (Keith) Blalock was a Union sympathizer, but in Confederate North Carolina he was likely to be conscripted into the army. He enlisted, planning to desert and join the federal forces. But he didn't reckon that his troop's movements would make that difficult. He also didn't reckon on his wife, Malinda, following him, disguised as a man. The two eventually concoct a scheme to be discharged, and return home but Blalock's sympathies were known, and they were in danger. In time, both fled to the mountains, spending the war as guerrillas. This story, told through Malinda's voice, tells a side of the war that isn't taught much, where neighbor killed neighbor and relative killed relative.

Meanwhile, in the present, the re-enactors have, unintentionally, conjured up ghosts, ghosts who have ridden before, and who are seen by the likes of Nora Bonesteel and Rattler, who have the Sight, and by those who are dying. The veil between past and present is rent.

McCrumb has a real feel for language, and for getting into the skin of her characters. Malinda, particularly, struck me as being deeply understood. A lesser writer might have been tempted to draw her as an anachronism, to make her a "modern" woman, which would be terribly wrong. McCrumb respects her. She's a woman of her time and place, and, though unusual for that time and place, she was not unique.

I zipped right through this book; it's not easy to put down. Though I admit to stopping now and again to do a bit of research into the characters and historical events McCrumb's writing about. That she led me to do that says a lot. show less

This is a remarkable book. It exposed me to a facet of American Civil War history about which I previously knew nothing. The author writes a very taut and eminently reasonable story about the time of the Civil War in a remote part of western North Carolina. War was not waged but disputes existed and were settled. The drawl of the speakers is at once a language unto itself but also very understandable.
But this book also exposed to me another side of a current controversey: the maintenance of Southern Civil War memorials. Just how can we condemn slavery and honor those who fought to defend it? Except for the rare exception, honor for those who fought is reserved for the victors. When that honor is shared between victor and vanquished, show more there cannot have been a final end to what it was about in the first place. The author does not address this issue directly but it is there to be recognized. show less

Most of McCrumb's novels set in the Appalachians have been mysteries. This book features some characters readers have met before, Sheriff Arrowwood and Nora Bonesteel, However, like several earlier novels the crux of the action is set in the past, when N. Carolina settlements were small and remote and the law was harsh and difficult to enforce. In this work the Ghost Riders of the title are from the Civil War called into the present time by the presence and actions of a band of re-enactors: men playing at the combat that had wracked the territory over a century earlier. The conflict did not just set state against state, but neighbor against neighbor, for not all in Confederate territory favored succession. The mountain folk, in show more particular, resented conscription since few owned any slaves or were affected by the tariffs that were seen as oppresive by the more prosperous flatlanders. Neighbors and even families were divided on the issue. McCrumb follow the lives of two historical figures: Zebulon Vance who served as governor of N. Carolina and as a US Senator, and Malinda Blalock who posed as a boy to follow her husband into the Confederate Army and later into the forces that fought on behalf of the Union. While Vance is only to willing to let the war end and move on under the new government, Keith Blalock has scores to settle, reminding us that many of the feuds and hard feelings that carried into the early 20th Century had their origin in the War. The supernatural aspects of the tale are well handled, not so intrusive as to turn the novel into fantasy fiction. show less

Great historical fiction about the Civil War as it was fought in the mountains of North Carolina and eastern Tennessee. My favorite Ballad characters from the present day, Sheriff Arrowood and Nora Bonesteel, made appearances as a dissonance brought about by Civil War re-enactors linked the two time periods together. That part was a little fuzzy and it took a while to get into the story what with all the multiple time period first person accounts to sort out. It did come together near the end and I liked the small tie-in with two other Ballad novels, Frankie Silver and Tom Dooley.

This is a story told from many points of view. First is Zebulon Vance, the real life Civil War governor of North Carolina. We follow him from his days as a hotel porter fresh off the farm until his rise to governor. Next is Malinda Blalock, a tough mountain woman who follows her husband to war and beyond. Then there's Rattler, a modern day man with a touch of the second sight who realizes that the Civil War re-enactors of the mountains are calling up uneasy spirits who are best left alone.

I enjoyed reading about my region's role in the Civil War. I'd heard somewhere that we were exceptionally torn apart during that conflict because we weren't wealthy landowners and so had no clear-cut reason to join either side. This book showed show more that.

The voices of the different narrators were done very well. They were each very distinct. The only negative I have to say about it is that Malinda's voice didn't ring entirely true. The author gave it a good try, but she didn't quite get the accent and the language right. [author:Lee Smith] does a much better job with our Appalachian dialect.

There was one other narrator in the book, but he had a very minor role. In fact, I'm not entirely sure why his parts were even included. He only had a few chapters, but I felt like they could have been cut out completely without really hurting the story.

I'll be a little devilish here and say that I also enjoyed the way McCrumb wrote about our transplants from Florida. They were sort of caricatures, and we don't really think they're all like that, but we do feel like some newcomers think us locals are barbarians who should just leave and let them enjoy their cliffside homes. A little brutally honest, perhaps, but there you go.

But overall, this was an interesting book. I wasn't riveted to the page, but I did enjoy it. Not enough to think about reading it again, but it was time well-spent. show less

Recently Sharyn McCrumb posted on her Facebook page that her next novel will be out in August 2011, and suggested that we should read her earlier book Ghost Riders before then. The new book will be about Tom Dooley, of "Hang down your head, Tom Dooley" fame. His lawyer in the real story was Zebulon Vance, who is a major character in Ghost Riders. By the way, Tom's real name was Tom Dula but everyone mispronounced it.

I had a copy of Ghost Riders on my shelf so I have now read it. The characters in this book are some of McCrumb's best work. A few are real, others fictional, but all totally believable and fascinating. Everyone's favorite McCrumb character, Nora Bonesteel, makes a sort of cameo appearance in it, but another character with show more "the Sight" is one of the main characters. He is called "Rattler" and he is inseparable from the mountains he lives in, the Appalachians of western North Carolina. He's a loner but frequently reenactors of the Civil War camp in the mountains and if he wants some conversation he'll go visit them. Problem is, their uniforms and firing of period weapons seems to be bringing back ghosts of the real war.

In flashback we meet McKesson (Keith) and Malinda Blalock, union sympathizers in a "secesh" area. This is one of the toughest couples you'll ever meet. When he is forced to join the Confederate Army, Malinda dresses like a boy and joins up too as "Sam Blalock." Turns out she's a good soldier and they plan to cross over to the Union army as soon as they can. It's only when her husband is wounded and is to be sent home that she reveals her sex and goes home with him. That isn't the end of their wartime experiences though, far from it.

There are other superbly drawn characters to fill out the story of mountain people divided by a war they have little stock in, the cruelty shown toward the women, children, and old people trying to survive at home while the young men fight and die, and the lingering feuds that result, a la the Hatfields and the McCoys. This is the war I'm interested in rather than battles and generals and tactics so I greatly enjoyed this wonderful story. Above all, the people's sense of belonging to the Appalachians and their knowledge of the mountains prevails.

I highly recommend this book regardless of whether you are a Sharyn McCrumb fan or not. If you aren't, you will be after reading this book. show less