Brian Anthony

Book Info: Genre: Alternate Historical Urban Fantasy
Reading Level: Adult
Recommended for: anyone
Trigger Warnings: violence, killing

My Thoughts: This book is a lot of fun. I don't know how accurately it portrays Abraham Lincoln, but the Lincoln in this book is gentle and very funny. I can't count the number of times I howled with laughter early in the book. It's not all fun and games, of course; this book deals with some heavy issues regarding politics and personal power. And of course things become increasingly somber through the course of the book.

Adding in a few of the gangsters from the 1930s was a brilliant touch. I'm not sure how accurately John Dillinger and Baby Face Nelson are portrayed, but their characters were most interesting. In fact, the characters are all very well done.

One of the authors, Brian Anthony, wrote an afterword explaining where the idea came from, a film project from the 1970s. It's an interesting read, so be sure not to skip it. Apparently two more Lincoln stories were planned, and I really do hope that they will be written. I quite enjoyed this book and I think a lot of other people will as well, so be sure to check it out.

Disclosure: I received an e-book copy from Partners in Crime Blog Tours in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

Synopsis: When John Wilkes Booth shoots Lincoln with a bullet cursed by the notorious Chicken Man, a local voodoo practitioner, he unwittingly sets in motion a chain of events extending far into the future. Instead of killing Lincoln, the bullet puts the president into a coma for sixty-eight years, his body remaining limber and ageless. When he awakens in 1933, Abe Lincoln is a man out of time, a revered icon... and a political pariah. FDR and J. Edgar Hoover not only do not want him around, they want him to retire. But their plan to be rid of him backfires and Lincoln is on the run, a fugitive from justice.

Determined to reach Chicago and retrieve the small fortune left in trust for him by his long-dead son, Lincoln discovers that Hoover has confiscated all his money, leaving him destitute. With Bureau of Investigation agent Melvin Purvis in hot pursuit, Lincoln finds his way to a hobo camp where he befriends a young runaway, who agrees to accompany the former president back to Washington. There Lincoln hopes that Hannah Wheelhouse, the Chicken Man’s granddaughter, can help him find the peace he longs for.

Then fate deals Lincoln another strange hand when he and the boy end up as hostages to infamous bank robber John Dillinger. Instead of leaving them by the side of the road after the robbery, Dillinger takes a liking to Lincoln and invites him to join the gang, promising him he’ll get all his money back.

Will Lincoln survive long enough to recapture his fortune and get away, or will he be hunted down in a manner unbefitting a martyred President?… (meer)