Abraham Lincoln, Vampire Hunter

January 11, 2010
Following the success of his bestselling Pride and Prejudice and Zombies
with another mélange of history and horror, Grahame-Smith inserts a grandiose and gratuitous struggle with vampires into Abraham Lincoln’s life. Lincoln learns at an early age that his mother was killed by a supernatural predator. This provokes his bloody but curiously undocumented lifelong vendetta against vampires and their slave-owning allies. The author’s decision to reduce slavery to a mere contrivance of the vampires is unfortunate bordering on repellent, but at least it does distract the reader from the central question of why the president never saw fit to inform the public of the supernatural menace. Grahame-Smith stitches hand-to-hand vampire combat into Lincoln’s documented life with competent prose that never quite manages to convince.

February 15, 2010
The latest literary experiment from the author of Pride and Prejudice and Zombies (2009).

After striking gold with his gimmicky mash-up between Jane Austen and grindhouse horror, Grahame-Smith takes a stab at creating an original plot with this new historical aberration. The author picks a larger-than-life hero: the legendary 16th President of the United States, Abraham Lincoln. In his fictional introduction, the author claims to have received a visit from"Henry," a creepy young roustabout whose curiosity leads him to deliver to the writer Lincoln's lost diaries, detailing his life as a gifted vampire hunter. The fictional Grahame-Smith is instructed to compose a historical biography, resulting in a mimicked, formal study of the late president in the vein of Doris Kearns-Goodwin, infused with a macabre dose of gore. According to the book, when he's only nine, Lincoln's mother dies from a supernatural assault, passed off as milk sickness. From that moment, the future president vows:"I hereby resolve to kill every vampire in America." Subsequently we find him earnestly decapitating America's vampires with his trusty ax. Not to be missed are Lincoln's trusty companions in his crusade against the undead, among them the president's real-life wrestling pal Jack Armstrong, and a New Orleans encounter with a gloomy, little-known writer, Edgar Poe, newly fascinated with stories of the undead.

The book's grotesque joviality should be fun for those looking for it.

(COPYRIGHT (2010) KIRKUS REVIEWS/NIELSEN BUSINESS MEDIA, INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.)

March 15, 2010
Two 19th-century world leaders, Abraham Lincoln and Queen Victoria, join the fight against the evil undead. The author of the best-selling literary mashup "Pride and Prejudice and Zombies" tackles a fantasy biography of Abraham Lincoln as a vampire hunter. Although the title might signify humor, there is noneat least intentional. Seth, a would-be writer, obtains the secret journals of Lincoln's encounters with vampires and turns them into a biography. The story begins promisingly, but as interactions with the undead pile up, the plot becomes less and less believable. VERDICT Purchase only where requested. [See Prepub Alert, "LJ" 12/09.]

In the pseudonymous Moorat's fantasy, June 19, 1837, heralds an auspicious night. The young Princess Victoria, only 18, becomes England's new monarch. Demon forces hatch a plan to take down the queen and usurp her empire. The story, told with delightful, understated British humor, is not for the squeamish. The zombie scenes are especially disgusting, as zombies have appalling table manners. Yet within this gory tale lurks a beautiful romance between Victoria and Albert proving that love can conquer all. VERDICT Recommended for historical urban fantasy and paranormal romance fans.Patricia Altner, Biblioinfo.com, Columbia, MD

Copyright 2010 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

January 1, 2010
Capitalizing on the runaway success of Pride and Prejudice and Zombies (2009), Grahame-Smith introduces an irreverent biography of Abraham Lincoln chock-full of that other horror-genre staple: vampires. Everyone knows that Abraham Lincoln freed the slaves and saved the country from disunion, but very few were privy to the fact that Honest Abe was an honest-to-goodness vampire hunter; that is, until Grahame-Smith unearthed Lincolns secret journal, an intimate document detailing the lifelong battle he waged against the undead. Motivated by the vampire-initiated death of his mother, 11-year-old Abe vowed to kill every vampire in America. True to his pledge, he spent the next 50 years honing his skills and stalking his prey. Recognizing an inextricable link between slavery and vampires, he expanded his mission to include destroying the peculiar institution. And the rest, as they say, is history. Grahame-Smiths breezy narrative style makes this a quick and easy read guaranteed to tickle the funny bone. Vampires are hot, so expect high demand (except from, probably, die-hard history buffs, who may not be amused).(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2010, American Library Association.)