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Title: A Dutiful Son
Review: My biggest beef against Jeff Shaara is that he's not really a writer, but a dutiful son carrying on the franchise started by his father, a real writer, who wrote one great book, The Killer Angels. That said, Gone For Soldiers is an adequate read, though certainly not on the par with Patrick O'Brian, Bernard Cornwell, or others of that genre. The dialogue is forced and the research is shoddy, and it really drags at many points. Also, the characters are not beleivable. If you want to read a truly well written book in the same general time frame, pick up Stephen Harrigan's Gates Of The Alamo or The Borderlands by Edwin Shrake.
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