Chiefs

I would have to say this is one of the best tales I have ever listened to, watched or read. The characters are authentic, realistic, engaging and compelling. The story is beautifully woven and draws you in to the suspense. Several nights running I stayed up until wee hours, not wanting to put down the player. The narrator was fantastic! He captured the personalities and emotions wonderfully. I don't usually carry on like this about a book or movie, but - if you're not familiar with this tale - don't pass this one by. (I understand it was actually made into a mini-series in the Eighties with some great stars, but I hadn't seen it at the time.)

For years I have listened to audiobooks on my long comute and enjoy most of my selections. Only once or twice have I had a book so bad I couldn't finish it, or on the other hand , found one I wanted to immediately hear again. Chiefs was one of the latter. I have gone through the whole book twice and listened to several sections multiple times. The story has everything from tradgety to comedy in a history of the old South. The narration is splendid and makes you feel you are right there...the fly on the wall. I rarely write reviews but simply had to praise his book.

The reading is so slow that if I had not been at work alone on a Saturday I probably would not have had the patients to stick with it through the first 2 hours or so ... but thankfully I did, once you get used to and in rythym with the reader, wow ... I didn't want to shut it off. Chiefs is definately one of my fave downloads so far ... now I want to find the movie that was made from it over 20 years ago.

This book is like a 2 lane country highway through the hills, you can't go fast, but whenever you get tired of the pace, a hill appears and you have to know what's on the other side.
The narrator does a very nice job - reminds me of George G.

I'm sure if I'd read this in hard copy I would have "cheated" and skipped ahead to see if the fox gets his ears pinned.

As a black person born and raised in the north, with most of my adult life lived in California, moving to metro Atlanta about 15 years ago was quite a culture shock. Everything that I'd ever read about the south was still alive and kickin' in Georgia. I normally shy away from books about good ole boys, the Klan, and (the lack of) civil rights. But in "Chiefs", the south and the southern way of thinking is captured in a way that I have never come across in my life. Stuart Woods' descriptions of the people and the places puts the reader on Main Street. You feel as if you are an integral part of the community. And if you are African-American, you will find yourself getting pissed off, while looking furtively over your shoulder out of sense of survival because Woods makes you think that the Klan is right outside your "shack"!

It was hard for me as a black person to keep my mind on the story, to keep everything in the proper perspective - that was then and this is now. I kept losing my place because I would get my "black back" up, allowing my intellect and reason to recede in the background. I can't begin to report on how white people take such stories - are they ashamed or do they just believe this is the natural order of life. Who knows? I don't. But if everyone just puts their personal feelings - good or bad - on the shelf, this will be one of the most amazing rides that a reader can take. It is only made better by the amazing vocal talents of narrator Mark Hammer who can be both soothing and menacing but always with the "bless your heart" tone of the true south.

This is about crime and deception and sexual depravity - all of the same things that we experience everyday in 2008. Sit back, get a glass of good bourbon or iced tea (sweet, of course!), and take a trip back to the early 1900s. Nothing has changed in this country. I'm not referring to the state of race relations - I'm talking about good old crime storytelling.

I was really upset when the book was finished - I had so enjoyed hearing about this slice of Southern Life. The story centers on crimes committed in a small Georgia town - but its main achievement for me is that it is also an amazing portrayal of human relationships, changing racial relationships, local, state and national politics from the Twenties to the Sixties as seen through the eyes of the local protagonists. Mark Hammer's warm narration made it an absolute gem! Go get it!!!!

You can have your Stone Barrington, thank you very much. Just the name says phony and contrived. I have tried a couple of those, plus the others, Ed Eagle, Hothouse Whatever, etc. This is Woods' first book, and, IMHO, his best. It is worth reading the Wikipedia paragraph about this book. Woods would eventually become one of our generation's most prolific authors, making his publishers and agents quite rich, I am sure. However, much of what he has written since Chiefs is forced, formulaic, and designed to sell like hotcakes. Fine. Chiefs, though, seems clearly autobiographical, to the degree that many of the best writers' early works often do. The multi-generational story of Will Lee and the town of Delano, Georgia grabs you very quickly, and, without the modern tricks of hyped-up violence and scary suspense, Mr. Woods holds you with a tale that is completely genuine and passionate. He loves his characters, and we know it. Will Lee himself is a wonderful protagonist: we are almost immediately on his side, and Mr. Woods develops Will Henry's life (his friends call him Will Henry, out of Southern affection. The only man who calls him "Lee" is the loose cannon Foxy Funderburk, who is insanely jealous that Will was chosen as the first chief of police in Delano rather than him.)
The other characters are also fully drawn: Will's wife and family, the banker Hugh Holmes, who gambled big on the new town and got rich very quickly. One of the first scenes is Will's accidental arrest of two drunk rednecks who have robbed Holmes' bank. They come careening around the bank in a huge old Packard, or something, while Will happens to be holding an old, rusty Colt .45 just given to him by the town doctor and council member Frank Mudter. The whole town (a thousand people) calls Will a hero, and he is off to the races, albeit in a slow, gentlemanly Southern way.
Mr. Woods was born and raised in Georgia, and it shows. He is extremely fond of almost everything about the South. He depicts the racial/slavery issues with deep compassion. He understands the life of people who may live in this country but have little in common, it would seem, with most of us middle-class regular guys and gals (gals? I'm becoming a Southerner!). He also handles the issue of alcohol (Georgia was a dry state at the time of this book) with great skill and delicacy. Basically, every single thing about this book is wonderful. If you want the best of Stuart Woods, start here.
If you want the best of Mark Hammer, you could well start here too. His voice is just so mellow, slow and easy, never pushed or hurried, warmly funny and also very loving towards the characters. He manages a Southern drawl with ease and great skill. You just have to listen to him to truly understand the richness of an audiobook. Reading with the eyes is fine, but a great performer like Mark Hammer adds a unique dimension to the work.
I just plain loved every little thang about this book, and I surely hope that y'all do, too.

I love this book. The characters are memorable and presented in depth. The mystery and suspense is maintained throughout and the ending superb. The author's style and substance is a mixture of Ken Follett and Harper Lee, and in many respects, the best of both. This is a classic and should not be missed.

It's like listening to a grandfather telling a tale. You want to move slowly, or not at all and absorb the story. This was good as a historical novel, as well as a murder mystery. Very enjoyable. I highly recommend for those who want a slowly unfolding story. Very relaxing.

I've read all of Stuart Woods books over the years and this by far is his best work. This book contained some of Stuart's own family history and it was definately written from the heart. Read all of his other books if you want a great read you can't put down. His style flows without huge descriptive sections that can put you to sleep. By far my favorite author.