Rating: 
Summary: THE EVIL THAT MEN DO...
Review: ...sometimes in the name of 'justice'. Tom Franklin's first novel is set in 1897-98 rural Alabama, and is based on historical events surrounding a gang that called itself Hell at the Breech. Formed ostensibly to avenge the murder of the brother of its founder, the gang's activities quickly spread beyond the boundaries of justice and revenge, and into more and more violence - committed for the sake of greed, and, sometimes, for its own sake. The strengths that drive this work are Franklin's character building, as well as his incredible talent for placing the reader right smack-dab in the middle of the setting. None of the folks of populate this novel are clearly, completely good or bad - all of the good ones have their 'warts', and all (well, at least some...) of the bad ones have at least one redeeming characteristic. Many of the men who fight on the side of the gang are doing so out of what they see as honorable reasons - and many others are forced into supporting them on threat of death. It's a timeless story of the evil that can be done in the name of justice - one that can shed a lot of light on many of the events of our own time. It should be widely read for that reason alone. Franklin is an amazingly talented writer - his short story collection POACHERS is witness to this fact. I think I could have easily enjoyed this novel much more if it weren't for the fact that he seems to be preoccupied - perhaps fascinated is more correct - with the almost unbearably gruesome details in the story. Telling a tale such as this is naturally going to involve a lot of violence - the men on both sides of the fight lived and breathed it every day - but there were too many instances in the book that seemed to dwell overly long on what amounted to literary 'close-ups'. American television seems to have 'caught up' with popular film trends in the last few years - shows like 'CSI' and its offshoot, 'CSI - Miami' are replete with cringe-inducing close-ups showing bullets and knives slicing into human flesh. Franklin is a better writer than this - he shouldn't feel the need to cram this sort of thing into an otherwise stunning debut.
Rating: 
Summary: No Kidding
Review: Did they really do all that and get away with it? The story [however true] seems too absurd to be real but the countryside and daily life details make it a bit interesting. Poachers is a much better read, it provokes more thought; The main theme in this one seems to be, Omigod, now what!?
Rating: 
Summary: Hist. fiction at its best, with a twist of Faulkner added in
Review: for good measure
Whoa, this is a good one. Two young brothers in 1897 go off to rob a guy in order to get enough money to pay for the services of a local whore. A revolver is accidentally fired, the man being robbed dies - and he turns out to be a local merchant and politician. The boys flee and swear each other to silence.
Here's where the situation really turns sticky, the story being based on a tale Tom Franklin, the author, heard while growing up in Dickinson, Alabama, a one-horse town where he grew up amid faith-healings and exorcisms. The dead man's cousin, Tooch Bedsole, accused men from a neighboring town of the `murder,' and rounds up a posse (lynch mob would be a word that might occur to some) to seek revenge. The descriptions of the violence, the repercussions of what started as a stupid caper, are horrific and graphically portrayed - this is not a book to read aloud in the drawing room of your great aunt! But don't despair and think it's all just gratuitous sensationalism: there's a beautiful surprise twist at the end.
Rating:
Summary: Standing at The Gates of Hell
Review: Hell At The Breech is a fiction novel inspired by real historical events. The book is brutal, realistic and very enthralling to read. Before you know it, you'll find yourself completely hooked to this amazing story of revenge and greed. Author Tom Franklin has created a small masterpiece that should not go unoticed. When a local man living with the poor farmers on the outskirts of Coffeeville is murdered, the common folks gather to form a group they will call Hell-at-the-Breech, a group that will have as a mission to take revenge on the greedy and rich townfolks. These cotton pickers and labourers have very little left to hang on to. As the days passes by, more and more of them are loosing whatever little they do have left to the banks and loaners, many of them even facing eviction. In the middle of this story are Mack, a poor sixteen year old boy who will have a great role in the upheaval, and Billy Waite, the town's old Sheriff who doesn't know how to handle this sour situation. As the poor prepare to get revenge on the rich, Mack will serve as the eyes and soul of this novel, the boy who sees all but who doesn't say much. Waite, on the other hand, is trying to calm the townsfolk, especially after the gang hits the town and kills a very reputable man. Hell breaks loose and all best are off as both sides eventually go to battle in order to get revenge and in order to preserve what they think is the right set of laws. This story could have easily gone out of hand, but Tom Franklin weaves a flawless narrative that is very balanced and very intriguing. His characters are never perfect; these are flawed men with dreams and fears who are all awaiting to get something better out of life. His characters are very realistic, a thing that is greatly helped by Franklin's incredible talent at writing dialogue. A great book with great characters and with a great plot is a winner in my book. Read this one and I'm sure you won't be sorry. This is one book that is bound for greatness.
Rating:
Summary: "Hell" is a small slice of heaven...
Review: If you have not already had a chance to read this book, give yourself a treat and do so soon. "Hell" is historical fiction of the finest kind. Set in rural Alabama in the late 1890s, it is a fictionalized account of a very real story of an uprising of rural sharecroppers and merchants against city bankers and mercantilists. It is in most ways a truly manly piece of writing (i.e., not for the faint of heart), but this is one of the best fictional pieces I have read in a very long while. At the center of the story is an aging Sheriff who understands his obligation (and loyalty) to the bankers and merchants in town, but also has more than a few degrees of empathy for the country folk. It is a story about good and evil, and about how the lines between the two can become in many ways hopelessly blurred, even in a situation where you think it should be crystal clear. Franklin is a young writer who only has two books to his credit thus far (the other being "Poachers," a collection of short stories that is also very good). Even so, he has been compared favorably with Faulkner, and I think the comparison is apt. I can hardly wait for something new from him. In the meantime, read "Hell" and I guarantee you that you won't be disappointed!
Rating:
Summary: A Gripping Tale of Men Pushed to the Limit
Review: Like many of the reviewers here, I was very impressed with Franklin's story collection Poachers, and especially the novella by the same name which dominated that award-winning collection. Franklin's lean style, and his obvious familiarity with the rural Alabama landscapes he portrays, remind me a little of William Gay's equally-fascinating depictions of rural Tennessee. When I saw that Franklin had a novel coming out based upon a real-life conflict set during late 19th-century Alabama, I couldn't wait to get my hands on it. Hell at the Breech did not disappoint. The novel takes its time setting the scene, and giving the reader a true sense of Mitcham's Beat, a tiny slice of rural Alabama where poor farmers have too much work to do to stop and grieve over something like a dead spouse. Two teenage brothers, Mack and William Burke, sneak out for a night on the town and during a botched robbery, a man is accidentally killed. The victim, Arch Bedsole, is a shop-owner and local politician, and his murder prompts Arch's cousin Tooch Bedsole to form a gang, with blood oaths, who would set matters right in this neck of the woods. We find out pretty early that the gang, calling themselves "Hell at the Breech", take their group quite seriously. You are either with them or against them, and you don't want to be against them. For obvious reasons, they don't handle rejection well since anyone approached about joining then knows their identity. Over the course of the novel Franklin skillfully blurs the distinction between good and evil, creating some ambiguity in the reader as the violence escalates. William joins Tooch's group right away, while Mack, who is considered too young, keeps a low profile while working in Tooch's store, torn between his natural curiosity and his fear at learning too much. Lev James, one of the more ruthless of the gang, suffers tragedy at home and at the same time it appears he is about to lose his farm to foreclosure, although he claims to have made the required payment to the ruthless lender who is not about to cut him any breaks. Tooch himself, who starts out hell-bent for revenge for his cousin's unsolved murder, may have some complicity in his death, the cover-up, and may have bent the rules to take over the store. Even the widow, a mid-wife who raised Mack and William Burke, knows a lot more about the goings on at Mitcham's Beat then we are first led to believe. The self-righteos townfolk who comprise the "posse" demonstrate as much bloodlust as the gang they are after. Nothing is ever as black and white as we initially think. Over the course of the novel, the tension escalates and a monumental conflict looms ahead. I loved the "gun for hire" character of Ardy Fox, whose brutal method for dealing with the lawless gang, under apparent authority from a local judge, reminded me of the ruthless game warden from Poachers. Sheriff Billy Waite is another character very skillfully drawn by Franklin, a fundamentally fair man with a weakness for whiskey, who is trying to make it to retirement in one piece, with a minimum of bloodshed on his hands. As the murders pile up and the Hell at the Breech gang veer further out of control, Waite realizes he is powerless to stop the mob mentality gripping the townpeople, who want quick results. I read some commentary by the author, in which he revealed that while the conflict depicted in this novel actually occured in Alabama in the 1890's, there are conflicting reports as to certain of the details. After getting bogged down initially in the details of trying to sift through the evidence and get every fact right, a basically impossible task over a century later, Franklin eventually decided to use the known history as his roadmap, and tell the story his way. I am glad he did, as his debut novel is one of the better reads I have come across in a long time. Highly recommended.
Rating: 
Summary: Hell at the Breech
Review: OK, I was not impressed. I thought Hell at the Breech was unimaginative and lacking detail. I finished the easy read quickly, but in the end was dissapointed. At one point in the novel, I thought, "Is this taken from the movie Tombstone?". Geesh lets have some originality. It didn't seem that Tom Franklin did any kind of research on the era of events. Very dissapointing...
Rating:
Summary: Hell of a book
Review: There are enough reviews already that tell what the book is about. I just want to say it is darn good writing and a great book. We will hear more and more about Tom.
Rating:
Summary: Brutal, Uncompromising and Brilliant
Review: This book had been sitting on my bookshelf for over a year since the New York Times had placed it on their year end best of literature list.Finally getting around to reading it, it completely blew me away.Set in rural Alabama in 1897,an aspiring politician is murdered,and his friends form a secret group, Hell at the Breech,to exact revenge on the townpeople they feel were behind it. It's rough, very violent,and deftly captures the feel and time of a place so specifically you can almost feel the cold and smell the woodsap. A brilliant meditation on the evil and good that lies in every mans heart. Highly recommended.
Rating:
Summary: Bleak and sorrowful
Review: This is a sometimes beautiful and deeply disturbing novel about class struggle and violence in the rural south. With the calloused hands of a cotton farmer, the reader briefly holds and studies the ravaged souls of both sides of a divided society, and in the end is left picking at fibers of motivation for horrific acts of violence. Recommended.
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