Chasing Lincoln's Killer

I read this one on Jody's recommendation, and I'm glad she sent it to me. I learned all sorts of stuff about Lincoln and Booth that I didn't know (yay for learning!), and it was surprisingly suspenseful considering it's common knowledge how things turned out. Also there was mention of brain matter oozing between fingers and blood gushing from knife wounds and things getting set on fire. Carnage and history, two great tastes that taste great together!

Swanson’s “Chasing Lincoln’s Killer” is an in depth description of the events surrounding President Lincoln’s assassination. The author brings together original sources to describe in detail the planning, execution, and the chase that followed. He goes into particular detail about Booth and his motivations. The author also tells the story of the planned and failed assassinations of the Vice President and Secretary of State. The assassination takes place and Booth and his men flee. The climax of the story is the capture and death of Booth. Eventually, his co-conspirators are caught and either executed or sentenced to death.

Swanson’s book starts strong. His descriptions of the planning and execution phases are engaging. He show more drags this part out, draws the reader in, and you cannot help but turn the page. At times, this is tense and others even humorous. It really reads like a novel. This is the most excited part of the story, however, and the rest of the book cannot live up to it. We follow the fugitives on the run and the men we are charged with finding them, but Swanson is not able to make this interesting. Overall, however, the book is a pleasant read. The presentation is attractive, and there are so many great photographs of people, posters, documents, events, and so on. I would certainly recommend this to a young reader who is curious about Lincoln’s assassination. However, I would probably limit this to high school, as the book includes graphic details of wounds and blood and photographs of hangings that would not be appropriate for all readers. I also find that this book would be useful in an American History classroom. There are fascinating details that are not found in text books. For instance, I learned more about Booth than I ever knew, including his personality, his motivations, and his public profile. show less

I had so many kids tell me how awesome this story was-- kids who said they didn't normally like non-fiction, but that they couldn't put this book down. So I moved it up on my reading list, and it is indeed a fascinating story. The way that James Swanson paces the events draws the reader right in, as does his opening statement that the circumstances surrounding Lincoln's assassination and the manhunt following Lincoln's death are so bizarre that nobody could make this stuff up. Middle-grade and middle-school students will come away with a new appreciation of Lincoln and the tension that faced the country in the days following the Civil War's official end. Captivating from beginning to end.

Chasing Lincoln's Killer follows John Wilkes Booth from his decision to assassinate Lincoln (with some mentions of an earlier attempt to kidnap him), to his attempts to evade authorities afterward and eventual death. Contrary to what the title implies, more of the book's time is spent on the assassination (and his accomplices' efforts) than on the pursuit, probably because blood, gore, and death were deemed more interesting than a couple guys becoming increasingly rank as they attempted to escape to Virginia.

This wasn't something I'd normally have read, but I needed some new work-time listening, and this was available, unabridged, and relatively short. The narrator fit the book well, and the book itself was okay considering I went into show more it not knowing anything but the most basic details about Lincoln's assassination. I hadn't even known that Booth had been involved in a prior plot to kidnap Lincoln.

So, yes, I learned a few things, although some googling later on indicated that some of the things Swanson wrote about as if they were fact might have been fuzzier than he presented them. I wasn't sure how uncertain something had to be for him to mention that we don't know for sure what really happened, because there were definitely times when he pointed moments like that out.

Those with a low tolerance for gore should approach this with caution. The descriptions of Lincoln's assassination are graphic, right down to the path the bullet traveled in Lincoln's skull. Even the description of the efforts to take Lincoln somewhere more dignified to die were pretty gory. Lewis Powell's attempt to kill Secretary of State William H. Seward was also very detailed.

(Original review posted on A Library Girl's Familiar Diversions.) show less

This is the suspenseful tale of the 12 day search for President Lincoln's cold blooded killer, the infamous John Wilkes Booth. Written in chronological order with untitled chapters, the widely known story of Lincoln's assassination is told through the eyes of his killer and several people close to Lincoln. Swanson provides details about the assassination otherwise I would not have known. One of the actresses at Ford's Theater, performed her way into the President's Box with a pitcher of water, to hold the dying Lincoln's head in her lap, only later to show off her blood splattered dress for years to come. Swanson is sure that each detail in this book is accurate, reminding the reader just how deceiving Booth had to be to convince his show more followers and co-conspirators to follow out his mission. We follow Booth as he escapes Washington on a broken leg, as he seeks shelter throughout the south for 12 days while the entire country is after him. There is a generous amount of photographs, illuminating the text to show characters, weapons, houses, newspaper clippings, etc. Often during this time newspapers and paintings were completed over night, with little factual basis, Swanson includes these to show the reader how news really did travel by mouth. Every photograph has a caption or label explaining the history.

James Swanson wrote the Edgar Award winning adult best seller, "Manhunt", and three years later wrote the young adult version. The cover and end pages of this book immediately draw the reader in with anticipation, even with a story likely the reader is already familiar. Swanson shares his devotion to this subject, ironically as he shares Lincoln's birthday, due to his grandmother sending him a framed newspaper clipping of the Booth used to murder Lincoln. In his acknowledgments, Swanson thanks his children for helping him write to his target audience; changing words from "conspirator" to "henchman".

This book was given to me blindly as a "blind date with a book" activity. All I knew was there was an element of suspense and that it was listed as a historical thriller. I would absolutely recommend this book to anyone interested in learning more about the plot and assassination of President Lincoln. As an educator I would suggest reading this book with grades 6-12, either in history or English. This is a thrilling read with language best suited for young adults. show less

I had no idea of most of the information in this book. I found this very engaging reading. After reading this, I am inspired to learn more about Lincoln. I liked the way this nonfiction book read like fiction. I learned much.

I didn't notice this was Scholastic Audio until after I started it. With that and the shorter length, I thought it was going to be breezy fluff for the YA set. However, it is as economic and effective overview of all the key conspirators and their actions related basically in parallel, chronological timelines.