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Chenneville

A Novel of Murder, Loss, and Vengeance

Audiobook
2 of 9 copies available
2 of 9 copies available

Consumed with grief, driven by vengeance, a man undertakes an unrelenting odyssey across the lawless post–Civil War frontier seeking redemption in this fearless novel from the award-winning and New York Times bestselling author of News of the World.

Union soldier John Chenneville suffered a traumatic head wound in battle. His recovery took the better part of a year as he struggled to regain his senses and mobility. By the time he returned home, the Civil War was over, but tragedy awaited. John's beloved sister and her family had been brutally murdered.

Their killer goes by many names. He fought for the North in the late unpleasantness, and wore a badge in the name of the law. But the man John knows as A. J. Dodd is little more than a rabid animal, slaughtering without reason or remorse, needing to be put down.

Traveling through the unforgiving landscape of a shattered nation in the midst of Reconstruction, John braves winter storms and confronts desperate people in pursuit of his quarry. Untethered, single-minded in purpose, he will not be deterred. Not by the U.S. Marshal who threatens to arrest him for murder should he succeed. And not by Victoria Reavis, the telegraphist aiding him in his death-driven quest, yet hoping he'll choose to embrace a life with her instead.

And as he trails Dodd deep into Texas, John accepts that this final reckoning between them may cost him more than all he's already lost...

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    • Publisher's Weekly

      July 31, 2023
      Jiles (News of the World) captivates with another reliably rugged western odyssey. Wounded in the head in the final months of the Civil War, Union Army lieutenant John Chenneville survives and, after recovering in a field hospital, is eventually sent home to St. Louis to recuperate. There, John is informed that his sister, her husband, and their infant child were all murdered by a deputy sheriff named Albert Dodd. After a year of rehabilitation, John decides he is strong enough to go after Dodd, who is on his way to Texas. Crossing into Indian Territory from Fort Smith, Ark., John meets Aubrey Robertson, an English telegrapher who gives him shelter during a snowstorm. But when Robertson is murdered, possibly by Dodd, John comes under suspicion, with a dogged U.S. Marshal named Giddens on his trail. As he enters Union-occupied Texas, John receives help from telegraph operator Victoria Reavis, who keeps him apprised of both Dodd’s and Giddens’s movements as all three men head for a fateful showdown in San Antonio. As usual, Jiles impresses with vital characterizations, well-honed dialogue, and a granular depiction of the Old West. She also steeps readers in the lore of 19th-century technologies such as the telegraph, and dramatizes how it transformed society. This tale has true grit.

    • AudioFile Magazine
      Grover Gardner brings the Old West to life in this slow-burn tale of vengeance set against a backdrop of post-Civil War lawlessness. John Chenneville is a Union soldier who is struggling to regain his memories while recovering from a head wound on his family homestead in St. Louis. Gardner gives Chenneville a light drawl and a steady, even tone that belies his fierce determination to find the man who murdered his sister and her family. With only a name to go on--Dodd--Chenneville sets out on a manhunt that will take him deep into Texas. Gardner's Missouri French accents are impressive, particularly with Fermin, the family's anxious manservant. A must-listen for mystery and history fans alike. E.E. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award © AudioFile 2024, Portland, Maine

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  • English

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