The River of Souls

by Robert McCammon
257 pgs  (Matthew Corbett series #5)

The River of Souls is book number five in McCammon's ongoing series that he says will ultimately include ten books. The series features Matthew Corbett who is a "problem solver" in colonial America at the turn of the 17th century and it's one of my favorite series currently being written.

This time around Matthew finds himself back in Charles Town on an unusual assignment from the Hudson Agency. The assignment is only a precursor though to a much more dangerous adventure Matthew finds himself involved in, when the young daughter of a wealthy plantation owner is discovered murdered by a slave who then flees up river in an apparent attempt to avoid hanging. After examining the body, Matthew doubts that it was in fact the slave who committed the murder and decides to join the group following the escaped slave into the ominous swampland up river, hoping to convince the group to return with him alive so that Matthew can prove his innocence and discover the identity of the true murderer.

It doesn't take long for Matthew and the entire group to realize that the swampland they're entering is filled with its own perils and that they're own survival is in jeopardy.

Every one of the books in this series has been great. This one is no exception. But it's by far the shortest of any of them and so I feel a lingering resentment towards McCammon because of it. If it was up to me, each of the books would be as long as Speaks the Nightbird, the first in the series was and I'd be able to enjoy them for a couple of weeks instead of just a couple of days. But regardless, I highly recommend the series and look forward to the next one.

★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆