Blood and Vengeance: One Family's Story of the War in Bosnia

Amazon.com

"There is a method to presenting the reality of war in [New York] Times style," writes Chuck Sudetic, "a restrictive method but a perfectly valid one just the same. It focuses mainly on institutions and political leaders and their duties and decisions, while leaving the common folk to exemplify trends, to serve as types: a fallen soldier, a screaming mother, a dead baby.... The method is described by various terms: detachment, disinterestedness, dispassion, distancing, and others with negative prefixes engineered to obliterate any relationship between observer and observed."

Although Sudetic was able to maintain his detachment for the numerous stories he filed from the frontlines of the Bosnian war for the Times, it could not ultimately last. Blood and Vengeance examines the events leading up to the July 1995 genocidal massacre that took place in and around the town of Srebenica from the perspective of the Celik family (to whom the author is related by marriage). Sudetic ably blends the intimate chaos and terror of the Celiks' lives with broader historical and contemporary accounts that provide a fuller context for what happened. The people here are not types, but vividly portrayed individuals in whose lives the reader gradually becomes absorbed. This book ranks with Peter Maass's Love Thy Neighbor as one of the closest--and most chilling--looks at the tumultuous events that shattered post-cold war Eastern Europe. --Ron Hogan

Book Description

A riveting account of the events that led to the slaughter of Muslims at Srebenica--the Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee of the Bosnian conflict. In July 1995 approximately 7,000 Muslim men, women, and children died at Serbian hands in and around the old Bosnian mining town of Srebenica. It was the largest mass execution in Europe since the Nazi era; a stunning failure for the United Nations and the Western powers; and the grim watershed that led, finally, to massive NATO air strikes and the current fragile peace. How and why this shocking act of genocide was allowed to take place is still imperfectly understood. Blood and Vengeance puts a human face on the grim statistics and tangled politics of this event. Through the odyssey of one Muslim family, the Celiks of the remote mountain town of Kupusovici, journalist Chuck Sudetic tells the epic and tragic story of a people and a nation. His narrative reaches as far back as the Battle of Kosovo in 1389, where the Turks conquered the Serbs, and unfolds with sweeping and inexorable power toward the Celiks' rendezvous with history in the so-called "safe area" of Srebenica. Not since The Killing Fields has as powerful a nonfiction tale of spinelessness, savagery, and heroic survival been told. Here is a book as sweeping and powerful as a panoramic, historical painting, yet with the heartbreaking intimacy of a family snapshot. Even readers who may once have felt that the Bosnian War was beyond comprehension will find themselves in its masterful grip.

Customer Reviews:

Biased.......2007-06-16

Good writing and a good story. However, this is blatantly anti-Serb. Chuck seems to want to portray the Serbs as bloodthirsty animals and the Muslims as weak innocents. I was rooting for the Serbs by the end of the book because they had so much going against them yet they still pushed on with their goals.

Skillful and vivid portrayals.......2007-02-26

A very personalized account of the many forces that were in motion. Masterful storytelling, making the transitions for the major national participants to one peasant family's struggles is technically very difficult, the fact that the author was able to do so shows his skill as a writer.

No agreement .......2006-08-11

The book is confusing because the wars were confusing. The names present difficulties in the manner of a Russian novel. There is a chart of the main characters. It is extensive. By 1993 the author was in his fifth year in Bosnia reporting on the conflict for THE NEW YORK TIMES. Traveling through Bosnia's mountains as a student had been an adventure. Hundreds of thousands of Muslims were uprooted in Bosnia by Serb forces. In 1995 the author learned through television reports of Serbian army attacks on Srebrenica. He decided to seek a month's leave to return to Bosnia to see family members, the Celiks.

Huso Celik had raised his family in eastern Bosnia. Latin had been the language of the Drina valley at the time of the Roman Empire. Later the Roman roads fell into disrepair and the Slavic language replaced the Latin. Ottoman Turks invaded in the fourteenth century. The Serbs threw off Ottoman domination in 1804. By 1875 the Ottoman Empire was bankrupt. Hasan Celik, born 1908, never learned to read. Huso Celik was born in 1941. During World War II there were two resistance groups in Yugoslavia, one headed by Tito. In the fall of 1947 Serb teachers taught the peasants on Mt. Zvijezda, the ancestral home of the Celiks. Half the people killed in Yugoslavia in World War II had been killed by each other. This was passed over in the Titoist revisionist history of the war. Social prosperity was introduced. A restored minaret was opened in 1959. In Tito's army national service duty took place outside of a soldier's home area. Huso went to central Serbia and served with Croats, Muslims, Slovenians, ethnic Albanians. Subsistence farmers of Mt. Zvijezda became wage earners. Serbs went to Belgrade, Muslims to Sarajevo. Huso worked for a construction company. In his spare time he played his clarinet. In 1974 Yugoslavia recognized Slavic Muslims as a constitutional nation. By the late 1980's the young men had left the mountain to find jobs. Having televisions, the people watched the Cold War ending. That Yugoslavia was coming apart had been in evidence for years. Workers pilfered, Serbs were hot-tempered, Slovenians demanded free elections. Economic breakdown, (there was massive embezzlement), became clear to everyone.

Milosevic rose in the Communist bureaucracy and took control. The Croats, Albanians, Slovenes, Muslims saw the emerging Serb hegemony. Nationalist euphoria swept over Serbia. The author and his wife Ljiljuana moved to Yugoslavia to report for THE NEW YORK TIMES. Belgrade was dusty. Ljiljana's sister Gordana Celik and her husband Hamed Celik, (Huso's son), lived nearby. Slovenia and Croatia elected non-Communist governments. Milosevic sought to expand Serbia. There were Serbs in Croatia and Bosnia. Tudjman in Croatia antagonized the Serb minority. Nationalism spread to Bosnia. It was forty percent Muslim. Karadzic headed the Serbian party in Bosnia. Slovenia and Croatia declared independence in 1991. In 1991 Milosevic overran Vukovar.

A month before the Bosnian War began in 1992 the author and Hamed saw Huso. A month later Huso had a second heart attack and there was talk of war everywhere. After the Vance-Owen Plan was conceived, the Commander of the UN in Bosnia was General Philippe Morillon. He was no match for General Ratko Mladic, Commander of the Bosnia-Serb Army.

Celik family members are pictured in July 1995 at a tent city at the Tuzla Airport following the fall of Srebrenica. Hiba Celik is shown near the ruins of her house in 1997. By 1993 Srebrenica had become a diplomatic nightmare to officials working on the Bosnian problem. Srebrenica was swelled with refugees in addition to inhabitants and everyone depended upon humanitarian aid. It was both a Muslim enclave and a UN safe area when Mladic sought to close down entry points and choke-off supplies. NATO bombs fell, Serb forces shelled safe areas. There was hostage-taking. After the fall of Srebrenica Muslim men were called out and transported out of the area. Some were killed, and others were held, it was said, for the purposes of a prisoner exchange. Action from Croatia caused some abatement of Serbian aggressive action. Some of the Celik family members were able to move to Canada and begin a new life.

The author has engaged in a tremendous undertaking to trace the fortunes of war through the experiences of family members. He certainly makes the reader feel the pain of the conflict.

biased book about a personal story.......2005-08-19

If we were to take off away the virulent bias of this book and just leave the details of the families struggle we might have a wonderful book. The wiritng is superb, the characters are deep and portrayed well, the history however is deeply flawed. The central theme of this book is that Milosevic conspired to steal land and in doing so launched a war that destroyed the Balkans. We are told the Tudjman, Croatias Catholic president was his 'ally'. THis is however not proven by the burden of history. Tudjmans army rampaged through Bosnia and slaughtered and ethnically cleansed serbs as well as muslims.

We are told here that the idea that the conflict was base don ehtnicity was a scam, which is interesting considering it was the west, like this author, who created the myth of ethnicity and 'ethnic cleansing' in the Balkans. However it is true the conflict is not based solely on land, but rather the diverse nature of the region, with Catholics, Orthodox and Muslims and in this war it was as common for the catholics to be brutal to the orthodox christians as for eithe rto brutalize the muslims.

This book presents a one sided story, a story where Serbs are portrayed not as people but animals and in this books attempt to dehumanize them we see the same ethnic hatred that the book claims doesnt exist. If it was about land then why must this book only tell one side and pretend that half the party to this conflict were wilde beasts and not humans, thinking and breathing like others.

As a tale and as a novella this ia masterful account. it is not history and the judgements on the history of the region either lack understanding or are based on myth.

Seth J. Frantzman

A powerful and disturbing account of the war in Bosnia!.......2005-08-18

Widely acknowledged as one of the best books on the war in Bosnia, Sudetic's book offers a unique insight into the horrors of the Bosnian war. What is it then that separates Sudetic's book from the other books on the war in Bosnia? First, it is extraordinarily well written and highly interesting from the very beginning to the end. It captured my attention from the very moment I started reading it. Even though this book contains almost 400 pages it never becomes boring.

The first section of the book contains a brief yet momentous introduction of the history of Bosnia. It helps explain the root causes of the war in Bosnia, an aspect that will prove invaluable to novice readers on the subject matter. Sudetic then allows the reader to follow one Bosnian family (the Celik family) throughout the entire Bosnian war. As a reader, one inadvertently becomes part of the Celik family; one empathizes with them and shares their deepest emotions and concerns. When the war in Bosnia began, the Celik family fled from their village of Kusupovici to Srebrenica. Srebrenica was by then already under siege and about 40,000 people from the neighbouring villages sought shelter in this little eastern town. Srebrenica was constantly shelled by Bosnian Serb army and only a few U.N. convoys were allowed to enter Srebrenica in order to deliver food and medical supplies to its approximately 40,000 refugees. For three long years Srebrenica's people were isolated from the rest of the world, they had little food, no clean water, electricity and virtually no medical supplies. Diseases and infections were commonplace. People were dying from hunger daily.

Sudetic brilliantly describes the experiences of the Celik's family throughout the war. Will all members of the Celik family manage to survive the war and how will this gruesome war affect their future? What will happen to Paja, Huso, Hiba and Sanela? As a reader, one gets to know their deepest fears, concerns and desires. It is virtually impossible to remain indifferent to their plights when reading the book. Sudetic's book thus stands out from the other literature on the war in Bosnia because it is personal. It is not simply another book about Bosnian people in general, not that there is anything wrong with that. However if you follow one particular family for an extensive period of time you become one with them. You experience their suffering as well as their joy.

As is well known, Srebrenica fell on July 12, 1995 after three years of Serb occupation. What followed in the ensuing days constituted one of the most severe human rights abuses in Europe since World War II. In only a matter of days, Bosnian Serb forces summarily executed approximately 8000 Muslims, one of whom was my grandfather. I remember that day perfectly well and it was one of the worst days of my life. In my opinion, Sudetic provides one of the most detailed accounts of the Srebrenica massacre. Days leading to the massacre are also described in detail. While 8000 Muslims were being slaughtered before the eyes of the entire international community, the U.N. did nothing to stop the bloodshed despite the fact that Srebrenica had been designated a "safe area". In point of fact, the U.N. was completely indifferent to the plight of these people. Sudetic explains this well and also provides numerous documents that corroborate this fact. The U.N. was in fact authorized to order air strikes against Bosnian Serb army but deliberately chose not to do that because they did not want to "exacerbate" the conflict. Instead, they gave Serbs the green light to kill 8000 Muslims and to expel all women and children. The Muslims who were trying to escape from Srebrenica to Tuzla were frequently ambushed by Bosnian Serb army; many of them never made it to Tuzla.

Sudetic further provides a comprehensive account of the atrocities that took place in Srebrenica after the town was overrun by Bosnian Serb army. Muslim men were taken to different locations to be shot. Those who survived have been able to testify about these heinous atrocities. Hurem Suljic had been taken to a meadow along with other Muslim men. Bosnian Serb army then opened fire and one man fell on Suljic. Suljic remained there motionless until the executioners left the site. Another man had also survived the massacre and together the two men managed to escape. Hurem Suljic later testified that the Muslim prisoners were tortured; some had their throats slashed while others were hit on their heads by an axe or a hammer.

Sudetic's book thus gives us a comprehensive and well researched account of the Bosnian war. I have one problem with this book though and that is a flawed and sometimes biased analysis of Bosnian Muslims. When describing Bosnian Muslims, Sudetic frequently relies on the life of the Muslims who lived in the countryside. Sudetic sometimes wrongly assumes that this way of life is characteristic of the entire Islamic community throughout Bosnia. For example, the Muslims who lived in the countryside frequently dressed in "dimije" (traditional clothing for Muslim women of the countryside) and they sometimes covered their heads. One gets the impression that Bosnian Muslims are a primitive people. However, for the overwhelming majority of the urban Muslims this way of life was obsolete and atavistic. Most Muslim women who lived in urban societies dressed and behaved as any contemporary woman of the West. Furthermore, according to one of the foremost experts on the history of Bosnia Noel Malcolm, Bosnian Muslims were among the most secularized Muslims in the world. Therefore, one must conclude that Sudetic's description of Bosnian Muslims is misleading and inadequate.

Aside from this minor shortcoming, this is irrefutably the best book about the war in Bosnia. It is an extraordinarily well written account of the Srebrenica massacre. There are many brilliant books about the war in Bosnia but Sudetic's book stands out from the rest for the following reason: it involves the reader in the story in a way you never thought possible. It makes you angry, happy, sad, agitated and devoid of hope at the same time.

A masterpiece!

River of Blood (Star Trek The Original Series: Errand of Vengeance, Book 3)

Average customer rating:

Great book - horrible editing
Excellent book, not QUITE as good as the first of the series
Great end for a great series!
Cry Havoc, And Let Slip The Dogs Of War !!!
Star Trek-TOS: River of Blood: Errand of Vengeance

River of Blood (Star Trek The Original Series: Errand of Vengeance, Book 3)
Kevin Ryan
Manufacturer: Star Trek
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback

Adventure | Science Fiction | Science Fiction & Fantasy | Subjects | Books

General | Science Fiction | Science Fiction & Fantasy | Subjects | Books

Space Opera | Science Fiction | Science Fiction & Fantasy | Subjects | Books

Killing Blow: Errand of Vengeance Book Two (Star Trek The Original Series)
The Edge of the Sword: Errand of Vengeance Book One (Star Trek The Original Series)
Errand of Fury Book One: Seeds of Rage (Star Trek, The Original Series)
Ex Machina (Star Trek: the Original Series)
Errand of Fury Book Two: Demands of Honor (Star Trek, The Original Series)

ASIN: 0743446003

Book Description

Every person has a story, and those who are lucky enough to share the voyages of Capt. James T. Kirk aboard the Starship Enterprise ™ have stories unlike anyone else's. Some live, some die, but even those who serve below deck sometimes make all the difference in the universe!

The news from Starfleet Command is grim: a full-scale war against the Klingon Empire is coming, a war that the Federation may not be able to win. In anticipation of a monumental conflict, the U.S.S. Enterprise ™ is assigned to guard a vital starbase located perilously close to Klingon space.

But even as Kirk's mission brings him into a tense confrontation with an invading Klingon battle cruiser, an equally deadly menace lurks within the ranks of his own crew: Klingon infiltrator agents, posing as Starfleet officers and sworn to destroy the enemies of the Empire -- even at the cost of their own honor!

Customer Reviews:

Great book - horrible editing.......2007-01-05

I really enjoyed this book, as I did the whole series, but the editing was horrible. The first time Starbase 42 was mentioned, it was Starbase 43. It switched from Starbase 43 to Starbase 42 a mere two lines later. There were numerous problems such as the following: "Now let them they try to find us." (top of page 167 in the first paperback ed.) Thinking back there were similar problems in the entire series. Lt. West was originally called Ensign West, but in the middle of the scene it changed to Lt. with no explanation. It actually detracted from my enjoyment of the book. In addition, to beginner typo editing mistakes, the editor also failed to notice writing mistakes that any beginning editor could have corrected. Ryan did a great job letting us know that Klingons don't take prisoners and won't be taken prisoners (even though true Trek fans already knew this), but an observant editor could have corrected the fact that the reader was given this information approximately four times within 30 pages, and the repetition was unnecessary to move the plot forward. I own and have read most of the Star Trek fiction from Pocket Books, and this was, by far, the worst editing I've ever experienced.

Excellent book, not QUITE as good as the first of the series.......2003-10-10

Much better than book two, however. This book probably could be read as a stand-alone, but it obviously works much better if one reads the series in order. This book has a bit less character development than either of the first two in the series, but then, the story is well along and moving toward a climax in this book, and most of the character development has already been done. Some readers will doubtless feel that there is too much focus on action and combat in this story; again, if the trilogy is read as one long story, this is the climactic action scene; as such, it can't help but be combat-heavy. Other readers will be ecstatic at a book so totally action-packed; I suppose it depends on what you read Star Trek for.

Great end for a great series!.......2003-01-16

What can I say? Mr. Ryan has done it again whith his third book in the "Errand of Vengeance" trilogy. I won't go into plot summaries or anything like that (there are plenty of those in other reviews), but I will say that if you've started the trilogy, you'll love the ending. And I'll say this again, if you're a hardcore ST fan, Mr. Ryan won't dissapoint. There are plenty of hidden gems in all three books (other than the wonderful stories themselves) to feed any Trekkie's or Trekker's appetite.

I really enjoyed these books and hope Mr. Ryan writes many more.

Cry Havoc, And Let Slip The Dogs Of War !!!.......2002-10-25

First off let me say that I did enjoy this book, but to me it was a bit of a disappointment when compared to the first two. Basically this book is just one long battle - with an emphasis on the word "long" - and if it wasn't for the link back to the Klingon heritage probably would have been called "The Seige of Starbase 42" !!! Gone is the complex story and character development of the first two books, replaced by one endless phaser battle after another - was this story written for the Playstation generation or what ?!! Also as with book two, the number of technical flaws in the plot are enough to pilot a starship through. However probably the weakest aspect of this book is that "Kell", who was the driving force behind this trilogy, seems to become just a footnote here. He appears briefly at the beginning, sporadically during the running battles on the starbase, and then at the end meets a decidedly predictable fate. Again I have to put this flaw in the story structure down to the author's lack of literary skills. This just isn't a good way to write a plot, i.e. where the writer loses sight of the main character, but on the up side one can still enjoy the action and sheer pace of this novel. Ironically this story telling flaw has one obvious advantage to an Original Series fan like me in that it allows Captain Kirk to take a much more active role in the adventure. Overall this has been an excellent trilogy which I thoroughly enjoyed and would reccomend to any serious Star Trek fan, but it is a shame that the last book in this series, which was the climax and therefore should have been the highlight, proved to be weakest of the three.

Star Trek-TOS: River of Blood: Errand of Vengeance.......2002-09-19

Star Trek-The Original Series: River of Blood: Errand of Vengeance written by Kevin Ryan is the third installment of this trilogy (The Edge of the Sword, Killing Blow, and River of Blood). This trilogy is a Klingon based story, a story of cunning, deception, vengeance, murder, intrigue, and Kahless's truth and honor.

This third book takes up where the second book left off and add a great deal of richness to the story plot. The plot being to kill Captain James T. Kirk by a surgically altered Klingon infiltrator Kell/Jon Anderson. Sworn to destroy the enemies of the Empire... even at the cost of their own honor, Kell/ Jon Anderson is having second thoughts. Why, you say? Well it seems that the propaganda mill of the Klingon Empire is working overtime, and an honorable Klingon does NOT go to war... especially if there is no honor in it, according to Kahless.

We read a lot about honor and truth, but there is guile, cunningness, and knavery also. As the Klingons prepare for a war with the Federation, they need Starship Grade dilithium crystals. A planet is found by the Orions, not too far from the Federation/Klingon boarder on the third planet in Systen 7348, but this planet in inhabited by a pre-warp society... a Klingon-like society.

What I liked about this book is that even though Kirk was to be killed, Kirk, Spock, and McCoy were not the focus of this series... the focus was on how Kell/ Jon Anderson evolved and had second thoughts... a good fleshing out of the character as he and Parrish have a romantic involvement, but Kell/Jon Anderson pulls away as his mission becomes a burden.

There is another interesting subplot in this book and that is Kell's brother Karel as he learns the truth about the war with the Federation. Karel is on a Klingon warship and is a follower of Kahless. Honor and truth are what Karel leads his life by, but there are challanges along the way. There are many roads to Sto-Vor-Kar but only one path as both Kell and Karel learn.

If you like Klingon based stories this is your cup of Bloodwine. This is a fast paced, well-written story and is enlightening about Klingons.

The next series of books to arrive is the Star Trek-Deep Space Nine Mission Gamma. This has four book in the series, (Twilight, This Gray Spirit, Cathedral and Lesser Evil). If you haven't been keeping up with DS-9, might I recommend that you read Avatar Book One and Two by S.D. Perry, Section 31: Abyss by David Weddle and Jeffrey Lang, Gateways: Demons of Air and Darkness by Keith R.A. DeCandido, and Horn and Ivory fron the Gateways: What Lay Beyond. You'll need some background material as the first book in the series draws from these books

Customer Reviews:

A real twist in the tale........2000-02-03

I have been reading avidly Jerry's War World books for years ( Not easy in the UK ), and to read a full novel rather than short stories was a great pleasure. The story is very well written and readable ( I have now read it many times, normally in one sitting ). The main characters are easy to identify with and follow, and the story has many intresting strands. Those of you that are War World fans will enjoy the twist within, which really confuses you of whom are the Goodies ( The HaBandari ) or the Baddies ( The Saurons ). At the end of the story you are no longer quite sure. It begs for a sequal. What will Sharku do about the HaBandari? Has the Sauron eye finally awoken? What will the tribes do to the HaBandari? Has finally the Saurons realised that the Havonites are worthy to call allies? Come on Jerry get on with, I am dying to know. I can recommend this book to any SF/War fan, if you have not read a War World book it does not matter that much, and could addict you to the series.

GREAT ACTION, GOOD STORY LINE, WHATS NEXT????.......1998-05-30

I have read all the WAR WORLD series, and it is hard say which is the best. "BLOOD FUED" and "BLOOD VENGEANCE" are both excellant and are a continuation of the overall, ongoing plot. The only disapointments are the deaths of some of the major players and the "yet-to-be-published sequel. So come on guys......where do Hammer-Of-God Jackson, Karl, Sannie and the unnamed babies go next???

Average customer rating:

Blood Vengeance

Manufacturer: Pinnacle Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
ASIN: 0523005393

10 Titles Don Pendleton Executioner Series (50-59) : 50. Brother in Blood 51. Vultures' Vengeance 52. Tuscany Terror 54. Mountain Rampage 55. Paradines Gauntlet 56. Island Deathtrap 57. Flesh Wounds 58. Ambush on Blood River 59. Crude Kill

Average customer rating:

10 Titles Don Pendleton Executioner Series (50-59) : 50. Brother in Blood 51. Vultures' Vengeance 52. Tuscany Terror 54. Mountain Rampage 55. Paradines Gauntlet 56. Island Deathtrap 57. Flesh Wounds 58. Ambush on Blood River 59. Crude Kill
Dick Stivers , Patrick Neary , Stephen Mertz , E Richard Churchill , Mike Newton , Raymond Obstfeld , Alan Bomack , and Chet Cunningham
Manufacturer: gold eagle
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
ASIN: B000R9Z4JQ

Product Description

multiple books ship as one item. save on shipping/handling charges.

Blood and Vengeance: One Family's Story of the War in Bosnia.

Average customer rating:

Blood and Vengeance: One Family's Story of the War in Bosnia.
Chuck. Sudetic
Manufacturer: W. W. Norton.
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000O1EW4A

Average customer rating:

Heroine to be admired
BLOOD LANDS IS AN EXCITING PAGE TURNER-A MUST READ!!

Blood Lands
Ralph W. Cotton
Manufacturer: Thorndike Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Literature & Fiction | Large Print | Formats | Books
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Gunfight at Cold Devil
Trouble Creek
Black Mesa
Bad Day at Willow Creek (Signet Historical Fiction)
Outlaw

ASIN: 0786291656

Book Description

Julie Wilder lost her father-and her soul-in an act of violence that continues to haunt her. But with the help of infamous gunfighter Baines Meredith she will find the courage and strength to stand up to those who wronged her-and have vengeance.

Customer Reviews:

Heroine to be admired.......2006-06-24

Ralph Cotton has thrilled me for years with his stories. My favorites have always been the Ranger Sam Burrack stories, but Mr. Cotton has taken his storytelling to a new level in Blood Lands.

Near the end of the Civil War in Kansas, rogue militia units are roaming the state. One unit engages in wholesale murder and extortion to achieve their goals. They murder the Shawler family and hunt down the one member who escapes. The Wilder family shelters the survivor. The men are killed and Julie Wilder barely survives the ultimate torture and humiliation.

Baines Meredith is a bounty hunter who finds the murdered family. He is surprised Julie survived and takes her to Umberton to an old friend. He stays in town and oversees her recovery and provides protection.

The Army decides to investigate and brings the militia to help. Julie believes the militia in the parlor murdered her father and violated her but can't prove it as they wore masks.

When the militia frightens her into leaving town, Julie heads to Baines Meredith's home. She does not want him to fight her battles but to teach her the skills to fight them.

In a riveting ending Julie faces her demons and conqueors them.

Mr. Cotton has created a heroine that is strong and resourceful. Baines is a hero who complements her and shows her the key to survival.

The writing is crisp, fast-paced and accurate. The story is well researched and comes alive as Julie learns to live again. Well done, Mr. Cotton, well done.

BLOOD LANDS IS AN EXCITING PAGE TURNER-A MUST READ!!.......2006-06-07

The year is 1865. Around the town of Umberton, the Kansas Border Miliia are part of the reason this palce is called Bloody Kansas. At the farm of Harvey Shawler in Missouri, Captain Ruddell Plantz and his so called militia soldies take what they want from the dirt farmer. In their wake they leave death and destruction. All the family members are killed except young Jed Shawler who witnessed the whole bloody affair. Plantz can not let the boy escape to tell the regular army what took place on the farmstead.

In Umberton, Colonel Bertrim, his former sergeant Shepherd Watson and his daughter Julie Wilder bring in a string of horses to sell. The colonel does this in defiance of Plantz and the captain's request of all to pay a tribute. The three riders are spotted by two of Plantz's gunmen stationed in Umberton to keep an eye on the town. The captain sends one of his men to follow Jed's tracks. The boy is found by Wilder and his riders. The colonel refuses to turn the boy over to the militia man and instead, takes him to the Wilder Ranch. Leaving Julie to watch over the boy, the colonel and Shep ride out.

Along the trail, Wilder and Watson are surrounded by the captain's men who gun the two down. The hard cases continue on to the Wilder Ranch to search for the missing boy. Julie makes the mistake of going out to meet the militia men. The gunmen, now wearing hoods, beat and rape the colonel's daughter. Warning her to leave the area, she is left lying naked in the dust as they ride off. Bounty hunter Baines Meredith rides up to the ranch and sees Julie on the ground. He takes her in to Umberton to be cared for. Once the gunman's business in town is finished, he rides off.

Julie, once recovered from her ordeal, rides out to find Meredith. At the small spread of the bounty hunter, Julie learns from Baines that there are many ways to deal with those who killed her father and violated her. She also finds out a little about herself as well. In BLOOD LAND'S, Ralph Cotton gives us a fresh new approach to the west and the violence that often times prevailed. BLOOD LAND'S will grab you from the beginning and not turn you loose until the climatic ending.

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Blood Vengeance
Matt Freke
Manufacturer: The Book Company
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: 1863090657

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Blood Vengeance (Linford Mystery)
Martin Carroll
Manufacturer: Ulverscroft Large Print
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Mystery | Mystery & Thrillers | Subjects | Books

General | Mystery & Thrillers | Subjects | Books

Mystery & Thrillers | Large Print | Formats | Books
ASIN: 0708966136

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BLOOD VENGEANCE-RYDR8 (Ryder, No 8)
Cole Weston
Manufacturer: Ivy Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback

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