My local paper reviews A Fine Likeness

Living in Spain I sometimes feel out of touch with the Anglophone writing world. On the other hand, being a writer in an immigrant community tends to get you more noticed by those locals who read your language. I got invited to do a reading at Madrid's Noche del Libro, for example. Now the local English-language newspaper InMadrid has written a very kind review of my Civil War novel. Here it is:

"Madrid/Missouri-based history and travel writer Sean McLachlan turns his hand to fiction, using his vast knowledge of the American Civil War to pen his tale. Ostensibly a war story, and one in which the finer details are clearly well researched, A Fine Likeness is also a story about the emotional toll that armed conflict has on individuals.

"Missouri, 1864: The Rawlins Rangers, a six-strong team of teenaged Confederate bushwhackers headed by 19-year-old Jimmy Rawlins, head out to join Bloody Bill Anderson's guerilla group, while on the other side of the battlefield, Union militia captain Richard Addison is depressed about the state of his recruits, and about the death of his teenage son during the first years of the war.

"Jimmy starts to question his allegiance to the Confederacy when he witnesses strange and supernatural happenings in his group, and when his and Addison's paths cross, Addison is struck by Jimmy's likeness to his dead son, and becomes obsessed with saving him from the crazed Bloody Bill and his dark pursuits.

"McLachlan draws his well-rounded characters convincingly, and cleverly steers clear of telling readers what to think. With a well-planned and fast-paced plot that seamlessly swims between the two rival sides, this is a perfect summer read."