Review by SarahTheReader -- The McCoys Before The Feud

[SarahTheReader]

[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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Just after the civil war between the North and the South has ended, Thomas 'Tommy' McCoy Jr. and his fellow McCoy kinfolk uncover a map locating stockpiles of Southerner's stolen valuables. The loot was to be sold to pay for ammunition for the North's army but General Grant hides some valuables for personal financial gain and had some of his trusted soldiers guard these stockpiles. Finding this out, Tommy and the rest of the McCoy Clan devise plans to strategically take back what has been unjustly taken from the people of the South by the Northern army at the conclusion of the war. Will the McCoy clan achieve justice or will the Northerners stop them once again?

This novel is without a doubt deeply researched and does not go unnoticed. It is what I appreciated the most about this novel. The time and effort Thomas A. McCoy put into the accuracy of events that happened during America’s Civil War while putting a fictitious spin to it was a great experience as I found it more intriguing read. The fact that the author is also a direct descendant of the original McCoy family involved in the feud with the Hatfields added a layer of realism to the story as I can just envision these stories being passed down through his family and now he is sharing them with us.

This being said, I did find a few punctuation errors in the copy of the novel I received. I felt that the story needs to undergo another review as the punctuation errors I discovered could have easily been discovered through a professional editor. However it is important to note, I did not find any spelling or grammatical errors.

Additionally, some of the repetitive details and convoluted paragraphs could have also been caught by a professional editor. I found that some paragraphs were unnecessarily long and could have been condensed to make it easier for the reader to understand the message being conveyed. For instance, the paragraph explaining how a few trusted men were handpicked to guard the stashes of goods the Northern leaders kept for themselves to amass their fortunes could have been explained quicker. This paragraph is restating what had already been said when he was discussing Terry’s letter about the goods. Also, the details in the raids were very similar to one another which made the future raids stale as the reader knows how the outcome is going to be achieved.

I would recommend this novel to readers who enjoy historical fiction with a Western focus. This story is best for adult audiences due to the fighting and gun violence within the story. As this is based on an American civil war in the West, I believe this novel would resonate with Americans since this story centres around two well-known American families.

I rate The McCoys Before the Feud by Thomas A. McCoy 2 stars out of 4 stars. Although I enjoyed the author's connection to the McCoys and the fact that this historical novel was highly researched, the lack of concise sentence structure and punctuation errors prevent me from making this a four-star read.

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The McCoys Before The Feud
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[Sararob06]

I love historical fiction but find myself frustrated by books that repeat themselves. The Hatfield/McCoy saga is well known in the United States and its a shame that this book fell flat. Great review!