Rating: 4 1/2 stars
Seth Grahame-Smith lived in the unassuming town of Rhinebeck, a small town that managed to avoid the taint of the big city and preserve the simple way of life. Working at the local five-and-dime—which started out as a respectful repayment of kindness and turned into a career—Seth’s days melted one into the next; until the day a reclusive regular named Henry paid a final visit, bearing a package that would change Seth’s life forever.
A letter accompanied the parcel outlining the rules and requirements of opening the package, among them was that Seth would write a manuscript based on the contents—the ten secret journals of Abraham Lincoln. As Seth read over the journals, one word kept popping out “vampire”. Thinking Henry crazy and the journals a hoax, Seth turned around, shocked to find Henry standing behind him; and what he saw left zero doubt—Vampires do exist.
As a young boy, Abe Lincoln lived in a small log cabin with an unmotivated father (Thomas) who did the bare minimum for the family’s survival, his sweet and loving mother (Nancy) who taught Abe to read and write and older sister, Sarah. One night Abe awoke to the sound of his father arguing with a small, one-armed man named Jack Barts. Thomas had borrowed a large sum of money from Jack, which he couldn’t repay. Soon after the argument Abe’s beloved mother fell ill with milk sickness and died. A year after her passing, young Abe would finally get the truth; his mother was killed by Jack Barts--a vampire. That day, Abe pledged to devote his life to killing vampires, starting with Jack Barts.
After training himself for four years, Abe finally had a chance to use his new skills. Setting his sites on his first target, Abe was disturbed to see that it was in the form of an elderly woman. Steeling himself, Abe made his move; only to find that he was poorly prepared. With great speed and strength the vampire made short work of Abe and just before delivering the fatal blow, she was killed by one of her own kind; Henry Sturges.
Despite their rocky beginning, Henry helped Abe heal and trained him to be a great vampire hunter. Over the next 30 years the two men would share an unlikely friendship, a friendship that would not only use Abe’s slayer skills, but see him through great times of tragedy and loss; and groom him for one of the most important roles of his life.
Seth Grahame-Smith has done it again. Having read and reviewed the author’s Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, I expected another entertaining, but fairly superficial story. I was wrong. Dead wrong. ALVH grabbed me from the creatively-witty introduction and refused to relinquish its hold until the very last page. With prose so powerful you could actually feel the shift in time and hear the scratch of Abe’s quill as he recorded his thoughts.
Beginning with a story based in fact, history was convincingly re-written using well-rendered characters, (not since Lestat has there been such a notable vampire such as Henry Sturges) and action so vivid, it leapt off the page with the impact of a well-executed strike of Abe’s ax.
Seth Grahame-Smith is nothing short of brilliant.
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Hardcover: 352 pages
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing (March 2, 2010)
ISBN-13: 978-0446563086