Tuesday, April 14, 2015

Lincoln’s Bodyguard - TJ Turner

Lincoln’s Bodyguard
TJ Turner
Oceanview, Apr 7 2015, $26.95
ISBN 9781608091430

On April 14, 1865 at the Ford Theater in Washington DC, John Wilkes Booth attempts to assassinate President Lincoln.  Bodyguard Joseph Foster immediately reacts to the threat and saves the life of the president. 

By 1872, a strife weary Lincoln nears the end of his third term in office and though the War Between the States officially ended in 1865, Confederate insurgents continue to fight using guerilla and terrorist tactics while the Union increasingly turns to military rule.  However, Southern resistance leader Colonial William Norris makes an overture to end the conflict as the nation nears collapse.  Lincoln asks Foster to return to the capital to determine who the White House traitor is and to meet with Norris.

This fascinating alternative history is a clever spin on the Lincoln assassination with the premise that if the president lived he would be not much more powerful than Andrew Johnson was.  The extrapolation of Congress’ efforts to punish the rebels, and some in the South’s refusal to surrender provides background to this gritty exciting historical fiction.


Harriet Klausner

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