Review – Abraham Lincoln Vampire Hunter by Seth Grahame-Smith

I’ve decided to start dropping in a few book reviews in the blog.  It’s still going to be devoted to my writing, but I read so much, I figured why not.

And with that my thoughts on Abraham Lincoln – Vampire Hunter by Seth Grahame-Smith.

John Wilkes Booth was a vampire.  Abraham Lincoln was a vampire hunter.

It really makes sense if you think about it. 

The Great Emancipator had such a hard time with the South because the vampires, in large part, the gentrified Southern plantation owners, needed slaves for food.

Interesting premise for a book that at first blush looks to be a train wreck waiting to happen.

However, I think you may be pleasantly surprised.  In any event, I was.

The book starts out from the perspective of the author bemoaning his mundane existence in New York and we are not talking NYC rather rural New York.  He works the most boring of jobs that is until one day a mysterious stranger appears.  Ultimately the stranger reveals that not only is he a vampire, but that he was a close acquaintance of none other than Abraham Lincoln and he has the goods to prove it.

Then the tale begins based upon a journal that takes us back to a first person account of Abe’s life from that of a young man on the frontier.  It also traces the history of vampires in America.  Seems those pesky bloodsuckers have been around as long as the white man has been trying to set up shop in America.

Abe had early run ins with the vampire and though his first person account of his life is not exactly an exact fit with the version of Honest Abe as most know, it is close enough to be followed without too much suspension of disbelief – well except for the vampires. 

But that makes it a lot of fun.

I’m a huge history buff and in particular the period of our history leading up to and around Lincoln’s time as the 16th president and even with this I found the tale to be an edge of your seat page-turner.  The book does a great job weaving in the vampire hunting with this chapter of our nation’s history.

The traditional historical accounts of Lincoln tell his history from his time as a poor country boy who struggled into the law and into politics only to end up leading the Country through what was then and is now, at least in my opinion, one of the most critical of times as a nation.  However, there is not a lot of personalization of Lincoln in this history. 

In this tale the character of Lincoln comes alive albeit as a vampire hunter.  While we have a tale of fantasy here and the persona of Lincoln is based on what we know from the history books, the character of Abraham Lincoln takes on a different element – a class A 1980’s action movie bad-ass!

And as an added bonus, there are photos providing documented evidence of the vampires.

Share This
  •  
  •  
  •  
  •  
  •  

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *