Review: Walker Writes Outside the Lines and Paints Quite a Story
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 06 28, 2011
Reading Salem's Children, I at varying times thought I was reading a young adult history fiction novel, a romance, a mystery, a political thriller or both a paranormal and a sex scandal story.  But just when I would settle in, he would go off in another direction.Walker knows his stuff.  His riffs on colonial names (both people and places) and their meanings were both fun and edifying.  I hadn't known or had forgotten that Salem was so called as a reference to the New Jerusalem.  He also does a fine job of mapping out the geography of the colony and the underlying land issues that were at stake as factions jockeyed for power using the "witchcraft" card.  His biblical references evoke the times and the underlying religious imperatives of the different colonies and the role of the clergy.Less successful for me was the romance, a little too on-the-nose for my taste with characters talking to themselves and each other in soap opera speeches.  However, the lead character - a young barrister in training enlisted as a spy by Cotton Mather is compelling.  His own personal history provides insight and perspective on the evolving events.Once I got over my expectations about what genre this book was going to be I enjoyed this fine stew of history, mystery, politics and psychology.