Weekly Book Review: Abraham Lincoln Vampire Hunter.

Weekly Book Review: Abraham Lincoln Vampire Hunter.

Okay, before I start rambling, I need to clarify two things. First, this is a review of the book by Seth Grahame-Smith, published by Corsair and not the film of the same name which achieved a certain cult fan-base last year. Second, being a tea-drinking, tweed-wearing Brit, my knowledge of American history is somewhat patchy so I apologise in advance for any historical inaccuracies I might make.

When the film came out last year, I was mightily intrigued. One of the most famous presidents of the US a secret hunter of the undead? That film’s for me, I thought. However, when I discovered that it was based on a fictional-historical novel, I decided that I should read the novel first. Well, as usual, life and a multitude of other stuff conspired against me and I have now only just gotten around to reading said book in the July of 2013. Having said that, it was well worth the wait and I shall soon be purchasing the DVD of the film to compare plot-lines (I’m sort of creepy like that…)

The thrust of the book needs no real explanation as it is all there in the title; Abe Lincoln, as well as being the President during the American Civil War, spent his life driving the vampire scourge from his beloved nation. How the author illustrates this is through diaries which he claims to have come by from the hands of a former vampire friend of Lincoln. By using these diary inserts, he weaves a web of fiction and reality which really starts to knit into one big terrifying blanket where you do start to puzzle as to what in the book is real and what is a fictional creation.

Grahame-Smith’s descriptions of the vampires are, for me, the best elements of the book. They are merciless, black-eyed fiends who are using the slave trade for their own nefarious gains as they plan to turn the human race into one big cattle farm. In league with politicians, they manoeuvre themselves into positions as puppet masters of influential characters of the time period. I also loved the small cameo of Edgar Allen Poe who befriends Lincoln in the story. I felt that this was nice little nod to one of the founders of the modern horror genre.

I do have two small criticisms of the book. The first is the Introduction where Grahame-Smith portrays himself as an out-of-luck shop owner who is given the diaries by the vampire, Henry Sturges. Ever since Stephen King gave himself a pivotal role the Dark Tower series, I have been seriously uncomfortable with the idea of a novelist using him/herself as a character and I swear on my gran’s macaroons that I will NEVER insert myself in my Sam Spallucci novels. My second criticism is that once Abe married and settled down then the book did slow down somewhat and I kept longing for some good old-fashioned axe-swinging. Having said that, these are both two small niggles and probably down to my personal taste.

I would seriously recommend people to go out and buy this book. It is a great antidote to the sparkly vampires that have been shoved down our throats in the last few years and it is a mighty fine piece of pseudo-historical storytelling.

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