Review: Andersonville by Edward M. Erdelac

Camp Sumter, aka Andersonville, is truly a hell on Earth. In this Confederate-run prison, tens of thousands of prisoners under the watchful eye of Captain Henry Wirz. Union soldiers held captive are treated with unfathomable cruelty, casualties of abuse and the deplorable conditions piling up like logs. Disease and lice run rampant. They pray for an escape, yet alongside them is one man who intentionally entered the camp.

Barclay Lourdes, a freeman from Louisiana and a Union Spy, has entered the camp not to free the prisoners, but to rid it from the evils that reside within the compound walls.  These evils go far beyond the typical atrocities of war, instead tied to unimaginable darkness and danger.

Whoa. That’s all I could say after I flipped through the final pages.  I can say, without a doubt, that this is like anything unlike I have ever read.  Andersonville was an actual prison camp. It was know for its horrid conditions. Yet Erdelac takes this one step further, creating a military/historical thriller.

In Erdelac’s Andersonville, the horrors are both natural and supernatural.  He doesn’t sugarcoat the atrocities of war, yet describes them in rich and vivid detail. Though tough on the stomach, this adds to the credibility of the novel, and in turn the author’s research.  In most cases, the deplorable actions of the natural variety were far more terrifying than the supernatural.

Though the pacing was slow and the build-up to the “reveal” of the supernatural aspect felt a bit delayed, it all balanced out with the richly crafted dialogue the author created. Alternating between serious and darkly humorous, readers get a feel for the main characters through their interaction with one another, their true nature fleshed out in their conversation.

Don’t let the cover lead you to believe there is a zombie/undead aspect to this novel, for there is not. Instead, Erdelac creates a horror novel that cannot be compared to anything else out there.  A must read for fans of Civil War fiction, with a touch of horror. Highly recommended.

Thank you to TLC Book Tours for the opportunity to participate in this tour.