John Wilkes Booth, meet Jack Bauer. That’s the recipe of “Manhunt,” an engrossing blend of history and thriller that pulls off the heady feat of creating edge-of-your-seat narrative even as its conclusion is inevitable. And the ride? Like Bauer’s TV show, “24,” James L. Swanson’s tale of the search for President Abraham Lincoln’s killer rivets because of its pacing – and because its shifting scenes and characters are juggled with sure hands.
Lincoln is gone within the first quarter of the book, leaving center stage for his assassin, the celebrity-actor Booth. All but the most avid Lincoln followers will be surprised by the numerous twists and turns surrounding the president’s death, as well as Booth’s motley crew of co-conspirators, many of whom escaped severe punishment.
From a review in the Christian Science Monitor