Chasing Lincoln's Killer

Chasing Lincoln's Killer by James L. Swanson

Scholastic Press - February 1, 2009
208 pages

The young adult version of Swanson's 2006 work Manhunt: The 12-Day Chase for Lincoln's Killer, this book starts out with the following notice: "This story is true. All the characters are real and were alive during the great manhunt of April 1865. Their words are authentic and come from original sources: letters, manuscripts, trial transcripts, newspapers, government reports, pamphlets, books and other documents. What happened in Washington, D.C., that spring, and in the swamps and rivers, forests and fields of Maryland and Virginia during the next five days, is far too incredible to be made up."

Chasing Lincoln's Killer may be a book for young adults adapted from a book for adults, but it succeeds in possibly one of the greatest challenges of this feat; not talking down to the younger audience that it is now for. Another successful endeavor in Chasing Lincoln's Killer is the way that it is presented; instead of being bogged down with minute details and various alternate ideas, it is presented in the same manner as a fictional thriller. As this is nonfiction, I cannot say anything on "plot", "characters", or "setting", but the subject choice is excellent matter, as many more books are devoted to the time leading up to Lincoln's assassination than books devoted to the aftermath of Lincoln's assassination.

Grade: A-