Book Review: "Killing Lincoln"

O’Reilly, Bill and Martin Dugard. Killing Lincoln. Henry Holt and Company, LLC: New York.  

                        2011. (90/315 pages)

            From what I have read to this point, I can tell that Killing Lincoln will be a very unique book. I would describe this as historical nonfiction that reads like a thriller. There are definitely not very many books that could be described in this manner, which is why I am enjoying it. I feel like I am reading something brand new and that encourages me to keep turning the pages. .

            So far the material covered in Killing Lincoln has been very dry which has made it difficult for me to keep a solid interest. I have been told by others who have read this book that it starts out slowly and gets much better as the “thriller” continues. The first 50 pages or so of this recently published book focus primarily on Civil War battles and a few interactions among General Grant, General Lee, and President Lincoln. There has been some background information provided about John Wilkes Booth, which I have found very informative.  

            Because I am not even one third of the way through this book I don’t feel like there is a great deal that I can comment on without being unfair. Killing Lincoln has by far been challenging because it feels like I am reading a textbook. This is good for me because it is a completely different type of book that I am not used to reading. Due to all of the commanders, generals, battles, important buildings, routes and locations it is hard to keep track of what’s going on at this point near the end of the Civil War. I am not too concerned about this though because I know the book will begin focusing more and more on the days leading up to Lincoln’s assassination.