Dr. Fraser is the man who hears Mr. Bingham's deathbed confession that Mary Surratt divulged a truth during the Lincoln assassination trial that would rock the foundation of the nation. So he partners with a colored newspaper man and sets out to find out who was really the person pulling the strings for the assassination. It sounds to me as though David Stewart found an interesting nugget during his research, but not enough to substantiate it for there to be a non-fiction book. To explore his option, it had to be a fictionalized account. I think in the hands of a fiction writer, this could have been a page turner. Instead it was rather flat and I found myself reading chunks more through force of will than because I had to know what happens next.All-in-all a bit disappointing. This is a quick read in which a historian dabbles in fiction to connect the dots surrounding the Lincoln assassination. Stewart's conclusions make perfect sense, tied together by the little-known last-minute confession that the prosecutor says he got from Mary Surratt, but did not reveal until his own death, 35 years later. Conspiracy? To be sure... Aren't they all?Alas, he does do a nice job of spelling it all out, even though the evidence is all circumstantial. As a prosecutor once told me, "circumstantial evidence is still evidence ... It's just never enough to get a conviction without hard evidence." Stewart helps us understand the conspiracy despite the lack of hard evidence. This book probably deserves more than 3 stars from me, but I found it hard to get past some of the scenes and explanations that I can only describe as condescending. At times, it just felt like he wasn't willing or able to pull it off completely as a novel (yes, fiction and non-fiction are different animals), so he resorted to gimmicks and convenient ways to tie it all up into a nice little bow.
What do You think about Lincoln Deception, The (2014)?
Great writing, delves into the possibility that history is not what we know it to be.
—estradapavel
Nice story, pretty easy read. Just the thing I needed during this long winter!
—alyssa_nykiel
