Book Review of Shaman by Noah Gordon

I visited our local library and found an old gem among the clutter of mediocre books being published these days. Shaman did not get much press when it came out a little over a decade ago. Which is a pity, because this book has everything one would ever want in a novel.

Written in an easy-to-read descriptive prose, Shaman tells the story of a gifted 19th century physician cursed with the ability of knowing when a patient is about to die with a mere touch of a hand. Set in the area of the Platte River in the Central Great Plains, the novel takes the reader through a journey among the Sauk Indians, their eventual massacre, and the bloody blue and gray civil war with Rob J. Cole and his deaf son Shaman as the protagonists in this two-part novel. The narrative of this novel is excellent and places the reader smack in the scene with the main characters. The pacing is terrific and I'm not talking about thriller-type pacing but one that involves deep, character-driven velocity, featuring larger-than-life events that shape lives.
Five Stars