- Hardcover: 427 pages
- Publisher: Norton; 1st ed edition (1981)
- ISBN-10: 0039014614
- ISBN-13: 978-0039014612
- Product Dimensions: 21.6 x 14.5 x 3.8 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
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First Sentence
HUGH HOLMES, president of the Bank of Delano and chairman of the Delano City Council, was a man who, more than most, thought about the present in terms of the future. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Back Cover
HUGH HOLMES, president of the Bank of Delano and chairman of the Delano City Council, was a man who, more than most, thought about the present in terms of the future. Read the first page
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Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Back Cover
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
Format:Mass Market Paperback
Summary: A story of three police chiefs and changing attitudes in Georgia from the 1920's to the '60's.
"Chiefs" is the story of three police chiefs in a fast growing Georgia town. The town’s very first Chief of Police is a good man forced to quit farming in the 20's, another in the 40's is a violent racist and the books third Chief in the 60's is the town's first black chief of police. The character that ties the stories together is Hugh Holmes, the town banker, a good man seeking to do what is best for the development of the town and county.
What I enjoyed most about the book were the descriptions of how a small Southern town grows and changes through nearly 50 years. The political dialogue and the depiction of racial hatred rings frighteningly true.
The serial killer storyline is less convincing and as the identity of the killer is revealed very early in the book there is no mystery element as such. Also we do not get to know any of his many victims and the final body count is very high given that the local community is not even aware of a single murder.
These are small criticisms though, this book is a really good read, well researched and difficult to put down and with a very satisfactory end.
"Chiefs" is the story of three police chiefs in a fast growing Georgia town. The town’s very first Chief of Police is a good man forced to quit farming in the 20's, another in the 40's is a violent racist and the books third Chief in the 60's is the town's first black chief of police. The character that ties the stories together is Hugh Holmes, the town banker, a good man seeking to do what is best for the development of the town and county.
What I enjoyed most about the book were the descriptions of how a small Southern town grows and changes through nearly 50 years. The political dialogue and the depiction of racial hatred rings frighteningly true.
The serial killer storyline is less convincing and as the identity of the killer is revealed very early in the book there is no mystery element as such. Also we do not get to know any of his many victims and the final body count is very high given that the local community is not even aware of a single murder.
These are small criticisms though, this book is a really good read, well researched and difficult to put down and with a very satisfactory end.
1 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Mass Market Paperback
I have wanted to read this book ever since watching the channel 4 television series approx 15 years ago. I had no luck locating the book until it was recently reprinted. It was worth the wait because the story became fresh again and features powerful charactors. The storyline runs thru 3 generations of police chiefs and keeps you hooked.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
89 reviews
43 of 45 people found the following review helpful
A good crime novel plus a lot more
29 Sep 2002
Format:Mass Market Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
"Chiefs" is the story of three police chiefs in a small Georgia town: one was the town's very first Chief of Police in the 1920's, the second in the 1940's, and the third in the 1960's. The common thread among the three is a series of disappearances of teenage boys who were traveling through the vicinity of the town when they disappeared.
The book isn't really a mystery, since the reader knows the solution to the crime fairly early in the book. What sets the book apart is the well-drawn characters and the unerring and evocative portrayal of the evolution of a small Georgia town from the 1920's up to the middle of the Civil Rights movement of the 1960's.
Woods has perfect pitch when it comes to dialogue. Every conversation, every confrontation, every characterization rings vividly true. Politics, on a local, state, and national level, is a sub-theme of the book, and the author has obviously done his homework on those topics as well. But the book's most noticeable strength is in its ability to transport the reader almost physically into a sultry Georgia town. Even if you read this during a winter in North Dakota, you'll feel the heat, the tension, the passion, and the fears of a sleepy Georgia town during the mid-20th century for as long as you're reading "Chiefs".
21 of 21 people found the following review helpful
A great southern novel
10 Sep 1999
Format:Mass Market Paperback
The characters in Chiefs are without a doubt some of the most interesting and well-developed characters that have ever surfaced in any novel to date. Woods does a great job creating such a diverse group of people all the while keeping them realistic and life-like. He paints a very accurate picture of what the south was like in the early 1900's and the 1950's. Since he created such life-like and believable people, I found myself either hating or loving the characters. I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys reading. The three Chiefs that are the focal point are all very different, and they all have amazing qualities that make them come alive. Aside from holding the same position at one time or another, they also were committed to solving one of the worst series of crimes the south had ever seen.
20 of 20 people found the following review helpful
It's so damn good!
24 Aug 1999
Format:Mass Market Paperback
I got Chiefs after reading all the Amazon 5-star reader reviews. Usually, I'd walk on by a book about small town Georgia cops, never imagining it could be this enthralling. The author is masterful at drawing the reader into this little world; I found myself talking out loud to the characters. He doesn't rely on the graphic gore and language of the typical modern shock thriller, hence making the terror more real. What makes the southern authors so good!? This belongs with "Gone With the Wind" and "The Prince of Tides." As a serial killer story, it belongs with the best of Lawrence Sanders.
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