GRANT COMES EAST

While co-authors Newt Gingrich and William Forstchen bring impressive credentials to their task, this novel is a pretty standard alternative history, imagining a different course for the Civil War. The level of detail is impressive and ranges from the food and clothing of the common soldier to high-level political and tactical maneuvering. But the actual writing is clunky and melodramatic at times. The broad cast of characters poses a problem for narrator Boyd Gaines, whose voice is always clear and often dramatic, but not always distinct. Some of the regional accents shift a bit through the course of the book, making it harder to differentiate among characters. G.T.B. (c) AudioFile 2005, Portland, Maine [Published: FEB/ MAR 05]