She Walks These Hills

I thought when I first picked this book up that it was going to be one of those gothic potboilers with spooky ghosts, swooning women and brave (male) ghostbusters. Oh, and a scary, escaped killer out to wreak havoc on innocent people. It's got a tiny little bit of the goth in it, but it's much more than that. It's a modern story about modern people and takes on some big topics - prejudice, bigotry, justice, right and wrong, good and evil, stupidity in pursuit of noble causes. There's not a badly drawn character in the book; they all feel like real people with real complexities and complicated motives, often only precariously in control of the situations they get themselves into. The dialogues flow smoothly and sound real - you can hear these conversations. You'll recognize these people and you'll recognize yourself in them. Even the ghost story underpinning the book is fascinating and historically informative. If you're looking for a readable story that will hold your interest, this is it.

An enticing mystery on several different levels. The ghost of a pioneer girl walks the mountain trails in search of peace after being kidnapped by the Indians. A 63 year old felon escapes prison and believes he is still in the 1960's. Murder and mayhem abound in a present day Appalachian town. Set in the beauty of the Blue Ridge Mountains all is not what it seems.
A fast paced mystery with a dash of exclusivity that spices it up and gives it a punch of unique individualism. I did find it a bit predictable but enjoyable none the less. Kelsana 6/10/02

I've read a few of Sharyn McCrumb's novels, and I've liked this one, She Walks These Hills, the best. There are a few story lines going here--one is about an escaped convict with a brain disorder caused by alcohol. He's been in prison for 30 years and is looking for his family as they were 30 years ago.

Another is of a grad student trying to trace the route of a young woman kidnapped by Indians in the distant past. A third is about a woman who wants to become a deputy in the local sheriff's office, after having been the dispatcher. Her boyfriend, a deputy from the same office, does not like the idea, but the woman wants to better herself. The sheriff must decide whether to give her a chance.

Still another story line is about a radio disc jockey who has a phone-in talk show,and who is intrigued by the elderly convict and the reason he was sent to prison. All their stories intersect, and it makes for a very interesting read.

Sharyn McCrumb is one of those authors that seems to delight in observing things in minute detail, and the pictures she paints in her books create a whole world, full of interesting and individualized characters. Her characterization is so good that even if nothing at all happened, I wouldn't mind. But McCrumb is too good an author for that. She is not afraid to torment her characters mercilessly. In this book, a brain-damaged man who is unfairly jailed escapes and endures tremendous hardship on the road and then really gets hit with some bad news (I am not going to give you spoilers, just read it). A woman goes through a terrible experience discovering her man is committing adultery, and we hear every thought in her head, brutal and animalistic and believable. A young history professor obsessed with folk stories about a young woman who lived in the late 1700's, follows this historical woman's trail through the wilderness. He comes very close to death by starvation and cholera, just to discover that the woman of his obsession was all too human.

These are just skimpy descriptions of what happens in this book. It's really an exciting read. It's a murder mystery with all of the suspense and action you could want, and none of the horrendous graphic one-upsmanship that bad mystery writers fall back on when they can't write well. She Walks These Hills kept me up until 5:30AM because I couldn't stop listening.

Read by Sally Darling, whose lovely Southern accent brings tremendous life to this book. Her voice sparkles with an almost Renaissance quality, where there is no silent vowel, so that the word "need" is pronounced "ne-ed," for example. Man, I could listen to her talk all day.

I review only audiobooks. Check out my other reviews, then download, plug in, and never be bored again.

Too many characters and story lines makes this book hard to read. Definitely not a page turner. The author does a great job of uniting everything in the end, but it was hard to stay focused up until that point.

This book was a journey that I didn't want to end. Fortunately, Sharyn McCrumb wrote more books, some of which I've yet to read.

She Walks These Hills is the 3rd Sharyn McCrumb novel I have read. Set in TBR Appalachians among the mountain people, her stories are full of mountain lore and often based on historical figures. McCrumb does her research, as the details and character development always ring true to life. Her books are page-turners, hard to put down and easy to get lost in. A blend of historical fiction, murder mystery, and suspense, they never fail to captivate.

These stories set in the Appalachian mountains are incredible! This one is about a certain stretch of the mountains that are haunted by an eighteenth century pioneer woman. The present day plot is set in this area, and the two times run parallel to each other. I find it hard to describe this since the concept is so unique, but I do know what I like, and I like these stories very much. I recommend that you begin with the first book and read in order (this is the third in the series). In this book we see Martha come into her own as she works as a deputy. She is on the trail of an elderly escaped convict and this man's path seems to cross with a bunch of other present day people, as well as the ghost of the eighteenth century woman. I know it sounds far-fetched, but believe me it is not. This book is incredibly well-written.

It took me a couple of chapters to get into the "rhythm" of the storytelling. After that I had a hard time putting the book down because I needed to know what happened to the individual characters. The author did a good job of describing the characters and the locale. I enjoyed it very much.

Mis.McCrumb tells a great tale. Best of all here Appalachion tales