By Iwan Ross

Three Tooth Confederate by Cameron Crisp is the kind of historical fiction that doesn’t just place you in the past — it drags you into the mud, presses your ear against the cannon fire, and lets you feel the boy beneath the uniform.

From the very first page, Horace Lanham’s voice hooked me. Raw, unfiltered, painfully honest — he speaks like someone who hasn’t yet figured out how to process the world crumbling around him, yet somehow manages to survive it anyway. His transformation from a seventeen-year-old farm boy to a hardened soldier is not romanticized or polished; it’s bruised, cracked, and heartbreakingly human.

What shocked me most was Crisp’s ability to intertwine horror with unexpected tenderness. One page you’re wincing at the brutality of close combat; the next you’re smiling at a flicker of camaraderie or Horace’s dry humor in the face of suffering. And the infamous “three teeth” incident? Equal parts tragic and darkly funny — the kind of detail that proves life doesn’t pause for dignity, even in war.

The historical accuracy is immaculate. You feel the cold at Fort Donelson, smell the gunpowder, taste the fear. And yet, it’s Horace’s internal world — his loyalty, his longing for home, his desperate attempts to hold on to decency — that makes this novel unforgettable.

Cameron Crisp has written more than a Civil War story. He’s written a testament to the resilience of the human spirit — to the boys who marched into battle and to the men who somehow returned.

If you love:

• historical fiction rooted deeply in real events,
• character-driven storytelling with emotional weight,
• coming-of-age tales forged in fire,
• or books like Cold Mountain and The Things They Carried…

…then Three Tooth Confederate is not just recommended — it is essential.

A powerful, haunting, beautifully wrought debut.

 Highly recommended.

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Read the Goodreads review here.