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The Civil War may be over, but in this thrilling historical novel, the battle for the West is only just beginning.
Dakota Territory, 1866. Following the murders of a frontier fort's politically connected sutler and his wife in their illicit off-post brothel, Lieutenant Martin Molloy and his long-suffering orderly, Corporal Daniel Kohn, are ordered to track down the killers and return with "boots for the gallows" to appease powerful figures in Washington. The men journey west to the distant outpost in a beautiful valley, where the soldiers inside the fort prove to be violently opposed to their investigations.
Meanwhile, Irish immigrant brothers Michael and Thomas O'Driscoll have returned from the brutal front lines of the Civil War. Unable to adapt to life as migrant farm laborers in peacetime Ohio, they reenlist in the army and are shipped to Fort Phil Kearny in the heart of the Powder River Valley. Here they are thrown into merciless combat with Red Cloud's coalition of Native tribes fighting American expansion into their hunting grounds. Amidst the daily carnage, Thomas finds a love that will lead to a moment of violence as brutal as any they have witnessed in battle - a moment that will change their lives forever.
Blending intimate historical detail and emotional acuity, Wolves of Eden sets these four men on a deadly collision course in a haunting narrative that explores the cruelty of warfare and the resilience of the human spirit.
"Starred Review. This is a strong entry in the modern Western genre, encompassing both historical accuracy and social commentary, wrapped in a well-told story." - Library Journal
"Though not for the squeamish, this is a riveting and propulsive mystery." - Publishers Weekly
"The shifting points of view, the unique voices, and the painstakingly researched historical detail make for a dense, rewarding tale about the roles of Irish immigrants in the genocide of Native Americans. A fine amalgam of historical fiction, western, and thriller." - Booklist
"McCarthy has a fine sense of voice and period detail, but it's the well-drawn characters and riveting scenes that make this novel memorable." - Kirkus
"Kevin McCarthy is a fresh voice, and a keen one. This Irish thriller writer has ventured boldly into a new continent and a new history...With this story of profound tragedy, his new readers will be many." - Larry McMurtry, author of The Last Kind Words Saloon
"When it comes to saturation-level historical authenticity - the sense of being there, alive and at large in the vanished past - I think Kevin McCarthy is in the company of masters like Patrick O'Brian and Hilary Mantel." - Stephen Harrigan, author of The Gates of the Alamo and A Friend of Mr. Lincoln
"Kevin McCarthy shows himself to be an inspired explorer of history's lost and forgotten causes. Wolves of Eden is a war story, mystery and elegy - thrilling, unflinching and finely observed." - Ed O'Loughlin, author of the Giller Prize–shortlisted novel Minds of Winter
This information about Wolves of Eden was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Kevin McCarthy is the author of the acclaimed historical crime novel Peeler, selected by the Irish Times as one of its top ten thrillers of 2010. McCarthy's second novel, Irregulars, was shortlisted for the 2013 Ireland AM Crime Fiction Book of the Year. He lives in Dublin, Ireland.
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