I received this book for free from Netgalley. That did not influence this review.
If you loved News of the World by Paulette Jiles, you’ll love her new book, Chenneville. Set in the Southwest in the immediate aftermath of the American Civil War, the novel follows the determined path of John Chenneville, a Union veteran bent on revenge.
Amnesia stories are tricky things, best avoided, unless undertaken with a hand as deft as Jiles’. The story opens with Chenneville awakening from a coma to find himself in a field hospital following a head injury. The war has ended, but his nightmare is just beginning.
Regaining his strength and his memory little by little, Chenneville is finally discharged to home. But home is not the same. His father has passed; his mother is traumatized and mute; the family tobacco fields and orchards are in ruins. Worst of all, he receives the news that his beloved little sister was murdered, along with her husband and one-year-old baby. The authorities refuse to do anything about it. Chenneville must take justice into his own hands. He has nothing to go on but a name, Dodd.
Chenneville has little to tie himself to his past life and no hope for the future. So the thought of murdering a man and suffering the consequences means little to him. But as he progresses in his odyssey, he recovers more and more of himself. He’s a good man in an impossible situation. He leaves a string of good deeds in his wake and allows himself to dream of better things. But only to dream. He can’t give up his hunt for Dodd. (To make things worse, he discovers Dodd is a serial killer.)
The rich detail of Chenneville’s trek will carry the reader alongside him. You’ll find yourself hoping for justice and redemption. And Jiles knows how to deliver both.
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