FOOTFALL

What is a Footfall? Would you believe that it's an asteroid pulled by a spaceship and then dropped on a planet! It's the ultimate "dinosaur killer" heaved at Earth by elephant-like creatures with tentacled multiple trunks, four clawed feet, and a tail. They are the Fithp! They have traveled eighty years from Alpha Centauri to get here, and they mean to stay. Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle wrote this entertaining space invasion novel in 1985, and it remains a classic sci-fi novel.

The Fithp's spaceship, Thuktun Flishithy (Message Bearer), is spotted by U.S. astronomers in Hawaii. The ship is seen moving through the rings of Saturn and heading for Earth. The Americans, led by Congressman Wes Dawson, take the position that the invaders are friendly, while the Russians, of course, assume they are hostile. All communications from Earth to the invaders goes unanswered; therefore, the U.S. and Russia decide to meet the Fithp in Earth's orbit aboard the Russian Space Station, Kosmograd. The delegation of Russian, American, Nigerian, and French personnel await the meeting totally unarmed!

Message Bearer finally arrives and destroys Kosmograd and captures or kills all aboard. From here on, we have two groups of Earthlings: the Captives and the Earth humans. The Fithp proceed to destroy all dams, major installations, bridges, and highways via laser cannons, dropped rocks, or strikes from their Digit ships. They land a herd of Fithps in Kansas, the U.S. food belt, with the thought that the Earth people will passively surrender. By the way, The Fithp's odd idea of surrendering is to lay on your back, feet and hand up, while one of the Fithp places his foot on your chest! Too much pressure and you are dead.

After the U.S. military in Kansas is destroyed, the Americans and Russians decide to nuke the Kansas Fithp herd, which surprises the invaders, since radiating your own area is unconscionable to their way of life. The Fithp strike back by dropping Footfall in the Indian Ocean, destroying India, and causing a constant salt-water rain. All of this happens early, so I'm not giving away any spoilers.

As the novel develops, we find that the Fithp are not as smart as we thought. If you had a mile long spaceship, would most of it contain a giant mud room in which to bathe? Do the aliens have a mating season? We find that the Fithp were pets to the Predecessors of their home planet eons ago. The herd evolved after the Predecessors damaged their environment and became extinct. They left the herd all their knowledge on stone cubes, somewhat like Moses. From here the story takes off, ending in victory, or defeat for the Elephantine herd? This will be determined 485 pages later in this wonderful tale.

If you noticed, I only mentioned one character in the book, Wes Dawson; that's because there are so many important characters. The good news is the book has a dramatis personae in the front of the novel. You will meet the Discoverers, the Washington and Soviet people, Survivors, Jayhawks, and the entire Fithp herd. This is a 26 year old novel that is better than most current sci-fi books that I've read.

RATING: 4 out of 5 stars

Comment: Larry Niven has been nominated many times for Hugo and Locus awards, winning the Hugo award for his famous Ringworld in 1970. He later wrote seven more Ringworld novels, the first of which begins in the year 2850! Mr. Niven was an adviser to Ronald Reagan's famous S.D.I. anti-missile system. This pair of authors also wrote the classic novel Lucifer's Hammer in 1977.

And Then There Were None

This is a guest review from my eldest son, Deron:

After years of enjoying Hercule Poirot and Miss Marple on PBS, I've finally read my first Agatha Christie novel, which is also her most popular. The novel is set on the private island of Mr. and Mrs. U.N. Owens off of Devon, England where one by one the ten guests are murdered. Their host is mysteriously absent. The guests are the only ones on the island and are unable to leave. Therefore, one of them is the murderer. Possible suspects are winnowed from the innocent chapter by chapter.

Are any of the guests really innocent? We meet each in turn. Some are there to work, like Mr. Rogers as a butler and his wife as the cook, while others were invited for a vacation. We learn early on that every guest has either been directly or indirectly the cause of the death, but not necessarilly the murder, of others. Each guest has eluded justice...until now.

The nursery rhyme "Ten Little Soldiers", framed on the wall of every guest's room, figures prominently in the story. The rhyme describes the deaths of ten soldiers and foreshadows those of the guests. For example, "Ten little Soldier boys went out to dine; One choked his little self and then there were nine." The poem ends with the titular "...and then there were none." Besides the methods of murder, other clues can be found in the rhyme.

I don't normally read mysteries. I want to solve the mystery, before the murderer is revealed. A great deal of concentration is required, since every sentence might contain a clue or a red herring, and I'm a little too lazy to keep it all straight in my mind. But, every time I finish a mystery, whether I solve the crime or not, I find that I enjoyed the ride. This is no different with this novel. As with a good magician, there is enjoyment to be had in being deceived.

I especially enjoyed the literary device of the rhyme. Through the rhyme, she practically hand delivers clues that a lesser writer would not want to reveal so early in the novel, and then she delivers a whole new layer of mystery. You might expect that as each guest dies, the mystery would simplify, but instead it only becomes more confounding.

I didn't figure out who the murderer was. However, a good mystery writer provides enough clues for you to ascertain the murderer, and Christie does. The denouement was admitedly much more complicated than I would have expected, but one can still identify the murderer. In retrospect, there were clues I missed and words I misinterpreted. Hopefully, when you read this novel, you won't.

RATING: 4.5 out of 5 stars

Comment: According to this, this book is the #7 top selling book of all time. I haven't actually met anyone that has read this book. I suppose this is because Agatha Christie is not in the public eye anymore as compared to someone like J.K. Rowling, who is also on the list.

WORLD WITHOUT END

Ken Follett's sequel to The Pillars of the Earth is 1014 pages of unforgettable reading. I can't remember when I enjoyed a sequel better. This book is set two-hundred years after the first novel. There is, however, a flaw in this novel that is a little annoying. There are way too many calamities, seemingly every ten pages or so. This, coupled with the Black Plague running amok, witchcraft trials, and everybody seeking revenge, had my head spinning. If you like lots of characters, this is your book. There are at least six or seven major characters and thirty minor characters. With all of these people involved, you really have to give Ken Follett kudos for character development. I felt love or hate for each one of them.

The novel starts with four children witnessing a murderous conflict between a knight and two men at arms. The knight buries a secret letter and seeks asylum at the famous monastery at Kingsbridge, where he becomes a monk. The children Merthin, Ralph, Caris and Gwenda are forever tied together. Their trials and tribulations along with their families and the monks form the plot.

As with the first book, the clergy are fighting for power. This time they are led by the evil prior Godwyn. Edmund Wooler leads a township looking for commerce and independence from the church. We have the battle between the good builder, Merthin, and the bad builder, Elfric. There are love stories: Merthin and Caris and Gwenda and Wulfric. We have the horrible Ralph Fitzgerald, later to become the Earl of Shiring. Then we have the "common sense" medical theories of Caris versus the blood letting monk doctors. Finally, there is  Prior Godwyn's sidekick, the scurrilous and conniving Philemon fighting for power and advancement.

The book gives the reader a good idea of how it must have been to live in Medieval times. Can you imagine being bled every time you got sick? Being accused of heresy by a enemy could get you quickly hung? If you were clergy, grab the wrong shirt tails and face failure. Any noble had life and death power over the peasants along with unlimited taxation. As Charles Dickens wrote of a different time in A Tale of Two Cities, "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times..."

There are too many sub-plots to describe, so my advise is to get hold of a copy and start reading. I found this book to be the fastest thousand page book I've ever read. Is it better than The Pillars of the Earth? No, but I think it's close, which is saying a lot. I think these books are the best novels that Follett has ever written.

RATING: 4.5 out of 5 stars

Comment: Ken Follett is a Welsh writer who has appeared four times on the N.Y.Times best seller list as number one. His current work is Fall of Giants, the first of three books. Some of the thrillers he has written include Eye of the Needle and Night Over Water.

TYRANNOSAUR CANYON

It seems to me that Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child are engaged in a duel to see who can write the best thriller. This book is Preston's turn, and he didn't disappoint. Both of these authors continue to write novels that you can't put down, don't want to put down, and will not put down! Mr. Preston takes us from the Moon to New Mexico to New York and back to New Mexico, along with a stop 65 million years ago for a day in the life of a Tyrannosaurus rex.

The story starts with Apollo 17 astronauts bringing back rock samples from the Moon in 1972. Mysteriously, one sample goes missing for 30 years. Meanwhile, Stem Weathers, a veteran prospector, is found dying from a gunshot wound in the New Mexico desert by Tom Broadbent. Before he dies, Stem gives Tom a "number-coded" notebook that he wants delivered to his daughter. After Tom leaves, Stem's killer, Weed Maddox, returns to the scene looking for the notebook, but only finds a piece of dinosaur bone. Weed flies to New York to give his boss, Dr. Iain Cuvus, assistant curator of the American Museum of Natural History, the bad news. From here on in the story explodes with excitement, intrigue, and mysterious characters.

Dr. Corvus gives the dinosaur sample to museum technical specialist, Melodie Crookshank, to analyze in secret. She is amazed by what she finds. The bone is from a fossilized T-Rex, but there is something else - something that can change the theory on what really caused the dinosaurs' disappearance for good. Conversations between Melodie and Dr. Corvus are picked up by a government listening devise, causing a black-op detail from the CIA to join the chase. Does this dinosaur sample have anything to do with the missing Moon rock from thirty years ago? Will the government use deadly force to obtain the location of the T-Rex and it's secrets?

Tom Broadbent, his wife Sally, and Wyman Ford, a ex-CIA agent (now a monk!), hit the desert looking the fossilzed T-Rex. Wyman, a ex-coder in the CIA, figured out what they were looking for. Meanwhile they are being followed by the crazed Weed Maddox, Detective Jimmie Willer of the Sante Fe police, and the secret black-op group, led by the murderous Mr. Masago. And what happens to Melodie and Dr. Corvus in New York? Who lives and who dies? What is the secret that people have to die for? What does the Moon and 65 million year old dinosaurs have to do with it?

For thrill seekers, this is a must read! The action is non-stop and rivals writing partner Lincoln Child's book Utopia for thrills and chills. I highly recommend reading novels like this in between serious reads. Between the two authors, this is the ninth book I've read, and they are all enjoyable.

RATING: 4 out of 5 stars

Comment: Wyman Ford and Tom Broadbent have appeared in several of Mr.Preston's solo novels. Since Preston worked for the American Museum of Natural History from 1978 to 1985, the paleontology facts in the book are highly believable. Besides writing novels, Preston writes for three magazines including The New Yorker. If you read Prestons' The Monster of Florence, you will remember the stupidity of Italian prosecutor Giuliano Mignini. I find it interesting that he was involved in the recent Amanda Knox conviction, and so does Douglas Preston.

WORLD WAR Z

This is an intriguing way to write another book about zombies. The book consists entirely of interviews of three to seven pages with the survivors of the Zombie War. Max Brooks is both the author of this book and the interviewer. After giving the United Nations Postwar Commission the basic facts of the ten year war, Brooks decides to write a book about individual survivors of many countries. Since Brooks tells you upfront that humanity won the war, there are no "spoilers" required.

The first case of zombie infection was in China, involving a boy bitten by someone unknown. China basically stonewalls the problem, resulting in the virus spreading worldwide via black market "organ donor" traffic and bitten people leaving China. Soon the whole world is fighting zombies that can only be killed by destroying their brains! Cape Town, South Africa, is the first country that uses the "Paul Redeker" plan, which puts a certain amount of their population in safe zones and leaves the rest as bait. Israel, under a quarantine program, closes their borders. Pakistan and Iran have a nuclear war over fleeing refugees from Pakistan. The U.S.A., under the assumption they have a vaccine, have little concern of the black cloud approaching. Too late, they find out the vaccine is for rabies - not very effective for zombie bites.

The Great Panic starts when, in the battle of Yonkers, the zombies overwhelm the military. It seems conventional "shock and awe" strategy against people already dead doesn't work. Using air strikes, tank attacks, hi-tech rockets only works if you manage to destroy each individual zombie brain. If not, they will drag their damaged body forward in a continued effort to eat you! The U.S.A. retreats to the Rocky Mountains, Japan evacuates to South Korea, the North Korean people disappear completely and are presumed underground.

In the Honolulu Conference, the President of the United States, decides the only way to defeat the zombies is by deploying the old Revolutionary War two-line attack. Using a military rifle line running north to south, moving west to east they slowly eliminate the zombies, with single head shots, one by one. But this war is far from over- what about the rest of the world? Zombies walking under the ocean? And, zombies thawing out in the spring? After reading all the interviews, you will have all the answers.

This is another entry into the recent literary explosion of zombie and vampire books. Although this novel is unique, I find myself tiring of this genre. I only recommend this book to the hardiest of ghoul readers. The only book in this field that I give a five star rating to is The Passage, a 766 page beauty written by Justin Cronin in 2010.

RATING: 3.5 stars out of 5

Comment: Max Brooks is the son of actors Mel Brooks and Anne Bancroft. Now that's what I call a talented family! Paramount Pictures has recently acquired the movie rights to this novel.

Valley Forge

This is the sequel to To Try Men's Souls and the second book of their American Revolutions series by the prolific writers' Newt Gingrich and William R. Forstchen. And, it is well done. We are introduced to new historical figures: General Marquis Lafayette, General Baron Von Steuben, General Horatio Gates, General "Mad" Anthony Wayne, and Captain John Andre. The fictitious Allen Van Dorn returns as a British Lieutenant, and one of the heroes from the Trenton victory, Peter Wellsley, also returns.

The book centers on the 1777-1778 winter headquarters of the Continental Army at Valley Forge and that of the British Army in Philadelphia. Once again, Congress has been uprooted and is now making their temporary home in York, Pa. At this point, Congress has been nothing but a hindrance to General Washington's army by failing to supply food, tools, uniforms, boots, and usable money. Many of the Congressmen returned home for the winter; the rest were mired down in useless committees that criticized the efforts of George Washington. If you believe the authors, without George Washington and Ben Franklin's work in France, the war would have surely been lost.

Can you imagine General Washington arriving at Valley Forge, in a snowstorm, finding a empty field! Congress had promised cabins built for 10,000 men, food, boots, and perimeter defenses already dug. Thousands died of flux and exposure before cabins could be built. Meanwhile, the British were enjoying their winter in a warm and well supplied Philadelphia. Even though the British were only twenty miles away from Valley Forge, they saw no need to attack during the winter- let Washington's men starve and freeze to death!

After Washington had the shelters built, he needed to find a way to fight the British in a open field. Enter the Prussian Baron Von Steuben, ready to drill the army in modern tactics. In 90 days with the help of 19 year old Marquis de Lafayette, the Continental Army was ready to face the professional army of England! That day would come in June at the Battle of Monmouth, the turning point of the Revolutionary War.

This book was a history lesson, but also a very strong novel. I felt compassion for all the characters, real or fictitious, because of the strong character development, which was lacking in the first book of this series. I can only hope there is a third book in progress. The surrender of British General Cornwallis at Yorktown would be my choice to end this enjoyable work.

RATING: 4 stars out of 5

Comment: One has to wonder if the Revolutionary War would have been won if not for Benjamin Franklin securing foreign help in France. After the American War, the Marquis de Lafayette led a fiery life going back and forth to France. Baron Von Steuben never left America and retired to Utica, New York. He wrote the first drill instructor manual for the U.S.A. that stayed in use until 1812.

UTOPIA

The subtitle says it's a thriller, and that is a understatement! Lincoln Child, in his first solo book, has written what I call a dessert book. You can literally read all 385 pages after dinner in one sitting. (I took two!) The pace of this novel is fast and furious with each chapter starting with the time of the day. After the prologue, the entire sequence of events runs from 7:30 A.M. to 4:32 P.M. The excitement of each chapter automatically draws you into the next chapter, until you realize it's two o'clock in the morning, and you are still reading!

The story centers around a futuristic theme park with a glass dome, located outside Las Vegas, Nevada. This park is divided into four sections: Gaslight, Callisto, Camelot, and Boardwalk, all featuring the latest in robotics and holographic imaging. The system that coordinates the activities of all the robots is called Metanet, designed by Dr. Andrew Warne, commissioned by the parks magician and visionary, the late Eric Nightingale.

After a roller coaster accident caused by robotic failure, Dr.Warne is called in by the park's general manager, Sarah Boatwright, an ex-girlfriend of his. Dr. Warne arrives at the park with his 14 year old daughter, Georgia, thinking the park wants him to expand his Metanet into the next themed section called Atlantis. But he is surprised to find out from Sarah and Fred Barksdale, head of systems, that they want him to disable his Metanet system. It seems there have been other failures, and the Board of Directors want it out. Already reeling from the recent failure of his company, Andrew along with Teresa Bonifacio, systems controller of Utopia, start investigating the mishaps.

Enter the mysterious John Doe, a brilliant criminal mind. He barges into Sarah's office and announces that he is responsible for all the accidents! Unless he gets a copy of the Hologram disk, all hell will break loose in the park. Apparently this state of the art holographic disk is worth millions. But, is this all he wants? He disappears into the crowd, vowing that he will demonstrate his control with more accidents. In the ensuing hours, failed hand-offs of the disk cause more robotic mishaps and many deaths. John Doe and his cohorts are well hidden and deft at causing chaos and mayhem!

Now it is a race of time for Dr. Warne, Teresa, Wingnut the cyber dog, and a park guest, Angus Poole, to find the criminals before they blowup the park. They stumble upon John Doe's alternate reason for being there and find out who the park's inside helper is. This will surprise you! The ending is well conceived and ends with a Fourth of July blast! For Lincoln Child fans, this is a must read.

RATING: 4 stars out of 5

Comment: This novel written in 2002 is Lincoln Child's first of many authored without Douglas Preston. They still write the agent Pendergast novels together, which are very unique and enjoyable. Utopia reminded me of Michael Crichton's great works: the 1973 film Westworld and the book Jurassic Park, written in 1990.

The Windup Girl

Paolo Bacigalupi has written a unusual but compelling novel involving the biotechnology of food sources, mutant animals and insects, and limited fuel options. Because of the lack of background provided by the author, I found the first fifty pages a bit confusing; however, it is so well written that I was able to quickly figure out what was happening.

The novel is set in Thailand 200 years into the future. Anderson Lake is a calorie man working for AgriGen, an American genetic food company, under the guise of a factory manager making a new type of energy storage unit known as kink-springs. These springs are wound in a factory that is manned by Thai peasants and aided by genetically altered elephants, known as megodonts. Anderson's real goal is to get his hands on the Thai seed bank for his genehacking company. His factory foreman is a displaced Chinese "yellow card " from Malaysia, Hock Seng, who wants to steal the blueprints for the kink-springs, so he can sell them to a gangster known as the Dung Lord. I told you this gets a little confusing.

Anderson falls in love with genetically modified Emiko, a Japanese windup girl. The windups are considered trash by the Thais and could be mulched at any time. She is working at a sex club, where she is sexually abased daily. Emiko's goal is to find a place in Thailand where supposedly her kind, the New People, live in peace. Their liaison will prove to be tragic for everyone later in the book.

Intertwined with these people are three political powers vying for control of Thailand and independence from the world powers. First, there is the Environment Ministry led by General Pracha, Captain Jaidee, and his Lieutenant Kanya, a mole for the Trade Ministry. The Environment Ministry's duties include: stopping illegal imports, identifying new diseases caused by genetic alterations, and destroying anything deemed a threat to Thailand...unless bribed. The second power is led by Akkarat of the Trade Ministry, who wants to increase imports beyond what the Environmental Ministry will allow. The third power is the protector of the Child Queen, the most powerful man in Thailand, the Somdet Chaopraya. Also involved as a outside power is the mysterious Gibbons, a geneticist, who is the Thai's last resort against new diseases.

When all of these entities collide, all hell breaks loose. This is not only a meaningful story, but a genetic engineering warning! When man tinkers with genes, he could cause a catastrophic and irreversible calamity.

 RATING: 5 stars out of 5

Comment: This novel is a fairly new genre of writing known as biopunk.The Windup Girl tied with The City & The City for the 2010 Hugo award for best novel. Although Paolo Bacigalupi has written many short stories and essays, this is his first novel.

UNDER HEAVEN

If Guy Gavriel Kay wanted to write a trilogy or adapt a novel for a TV miniseries, this was his chance. This great book is similar to George R.R. Martin's Song of Ice and Fire series, except it occurs during the eighth century in a country presumed to be China, and its only one book instead of four or five. Why Kay decided to wrap-up this historical/fantasy novel in only 573 pages and then end it quickly in the last 60 or so pages is a mystery to me. Even with these flaws, this book is a sensational page-turner with incredible character development and never-ending drama.

Under Heaven is set in the imaginary country of Kitai that's bordered by the empires of Tagur and Bogu, which seem to be Mongolia and Tibet. All the rules of oriental honor, social class, and justice are in vogue throughout this epic novel, spiced with many sexual situations and astonishing intrigue. The Kitai empire is ruled by Taizu, the Son of Heaven, Emperor of the Imperial family, who is aided by his beautiful consort, Wen Jian and his first minister, Wen Zhou.

The novel begins with our protagonist Shen Tai of Kitai mourning the death of his father for two and a half years at Kuala Nor, the site of his father's last battle. He spends the time alone, burying the bones of the thousands of soldiers that died during the last war between Kitai and Tagur twenty years earlier. In the evenings in a makeshift cabin, he listens to the ghosts of the dead screaming. At the end of his second year, he is visited by Bytsan sri Nespo, a Taguran army officer and is informed that the White Jade Princess of Tagur has rewarded him with 250 Sardian Horses in honor of his efforts burying the dead of both countries. Now this might not sound like much, but each Sardian horse is worth a fortune alone and is far superior to any other horse in battle. Now, Shen Tai must make his trek to the the Ta-Ming Palace of the Emperor Taizu to decide what to do with the gift. Along the way, he picks up a Kanlin Warrior, Wei Song, to help him thwart many assassination attempts.

I'm not going to use any spoilers, because I'm don't want to reveal the ending, which is exciting to say the least. As the plot progresses, Shen Tai wonders if the Sardians are a gift or a death warrant. The political opponents in the Ta-Ming court vie for the horses and empirical favor, resulting in upheaval of the government and eventual war. To find out who wins the war, or how Shen Tai and his friends fare, you will have to read this moving novel.

This is the first book I've read by Guy Gavriel Kay, and it will not be the last. If you like historical/fantasy fiction, I highly recommend this book. It seems to me that this genre of writing is gaining momentum and bringing us new and exciting authors. It is also noteworthy that the author provided a map and a list of principal characters in the front of the book. Since a lot of the given names were very similar, it was very helpful as you read the book.

RATING: 5 stars out of 5

Comment: The Tang period in China ran from 618 to 907 A.D., which is the time period of this book. The Tang Dynasty was famous for its poets and painters along with a thriving trade business via the Silk Road. Lastly, it was also known for the hundreds of thousands of ferocious troops that protect its borders.

Abraham Lincoln: VAMPIRE HUNTER

Seth Grahame-Smith writes another novel out of the new genre of books that marries historical fiction with fantasy/horror. What's next: George Washington and the Philadelphia Werewolves? All kidding aside, this is an enjoyable example of that new genre. It is well written and features many historical figures that are either vampires or sympathetic to them. If you thought the life of Abe Lincoln was tragic, this book will bring tragedy to a new level.

The author, Seth Grahame-Smith, is a young man working in a five & dime store, when he meets a mysterious stranger, Henry. One day Henry leaves a package for the author at the counter. The package is accompanied by a letter stating that the contents are to be kept secret, and a manuscript is to be written about the subject matter. He opens the package and finds ten leather-bound journals and a bundle of letters. The first book he picks up is entitled "This is the journal of Abraham Lincoln"! As he commits to the writing of the manuscript, he learns that Henry is a vampire. Although Henry appears to be a young man, we later find out that he is well over 300 years old.

The journals start off with Abe as a young man. He finds out via his father that his grandfather was killed by a vampire. He later finds out that his aunt, uncle, and mom were also killed by a vampire, which leads him to lose faith in God and become a vampire hunter. Abe fashions a long black coat with many pockets to hide his famous axe and wooden stakes, and off he goes solo against the world of the undead.

Later in life, Abe is almost killed by a old lady vampire, but is saved by the inexplicably good vampire, Henry. Henry teaches Abe all the tricks and trades of slaying and detecting the undead. Abe also picks up two accomplices, Jack Armstrong, and "Speed", as the story continues to unfold. Most of the leads Abe gets are in the form of a letter signed " H ", giving him the name of the next bad vampire to eliminate.

The journals continue to tell the trials and tribulations of our 16th President during his extraordinary life, marred by the death of three sons, the death of his first fiancee, and the pressure of the coming Civil War. The questions are: Were the vampires involved in these deaths? Did they participate for the South during the Civil War? Did they assassinate Lincoln? Did Lincoln even die? You will have to read all ten journals that were given to the author of this book to find out.

Even though I enjoyed the book, I'm not sure I'm sold on this type of writing. I've read three books by Matthew Pearl, but he writes novels about real people, like Charles Dickens, in a historical time frame. If Seth Grahame-Smith wrote about Dickens, it would probably be "Charles Dickens meets Frankenstein". I guess I'm a historical fiction fan without the fantasy/horror.

RATING: 3.5 stars out of 5

Comment: If you want to read about Lincoln's real life, I suggest Lincoln by Gore Vidal, written in 1984. Of historical note, Lincoln was the first Republican to win the Presidency in 1860. Although Lincoln ran against three opponents, he still had 180 Electoral votes vs their combined 123 votes. Finally, he was so hated in the South that he was not even on the ballot in ten Southern States.