Review by Brian Optimist -- The McCoys Before The Feud

[Brian Optimist]

[Following is a volunteer review of "The McCoys Before The Feud" by Thomas McCoy.]

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2 out of 4 stars

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This is the first book in The McCoy's Before the Feud trilogy. Set during the postwar period between the northern and southern states of the USA, it tells a story about how one family - the McCoys executed plans to acquire and restore property that had been stolen from the south by northern raiders. Thomas McCoy Jr - Tommy receives a letter from her fiancée asking for a quick response. When he reaches her home, she informs him of a secret map she had acquired from her sister's deceased boyfriend that had details of some cache's position with stolen bounty from the southern states. With this information, Tommy quickly gathers his kinfolk and together they plan raids on the hidden caches.

The McCoys before the feud being a historical fiction, is Thomas A McCoy's imaginative story based on a historical event that occurred during the northern and southern states war. The book generally describes events that took place during the raids on the caches and later hiding of the obtained goods. There is very limited accounts of other activities taking place apart from the aforementioned events. This makes the book incredibly monotonous. I expected more events to be described.

The characters in the book are poorly developed. Backstories of characters are not detailed enough for readers to form emotional connections with the characters. The storyline in the book is also very straightforward. There are no plot twists which would make the story line more interesting. However, this being the first book in the series, it might be understandable if there are plot changes in the next books. Despite the mentioned issues, I liked the level of detail put in the descriptions of the plans, raids and geographical locations. It also clearly portrays the living conditions during that time. Most families were poor and broken due to the war. We see people traveling on horseback and the main economic activity being agriculture.

The main theme observed in the book is of family and unity. The McCoys are portrayed as a united family whose members work together and care for each other. Although the characters were not well developed, it is easy to like Tommy who is shown as an intelligent man and Terry, a strong and forgiving woman.

The book was well edited. I only observed a single instance of a grammatical error. The profanities are mild. There are depictions of fights but with no gory details. There are no graphic sexual scenes. I recommend this book to anyone who loves historical fiction books. All in all, it was a well written book and I expect the next books in the series to be better. The McCoys before the Feud by Thomas McCoy gets a 2 out of 4 stars rating from me.

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The McCoys Before The Feud
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