I have to admit that I am not the biggest fan of juvenilization of adult books. It is not that I don't think that kids won't read them ... I just find that the adult author oversimplifies the language used to present the topic they successfully covered with their bestselling adult version. With this volume, Swanson is bringing Manhunt, his tremendously popular adult book about the assassination of Abraham Lincoln and the hunt for those involved with the scheme, to a younger audience.

Swanson does do a nice job of highlighting the important events leading up to Lincoln's murder, the actual assassination, and what happened as the government moved as quickly as possible to bring those involved to justice. The story is presented in chronological order, and the narration is nicely complemented with informative graphics, including photographs, newspaper covers, and even ticket stubs from the time period.

John Wilkes Booth is given some pretty good coverage as the author carefully tries to explain what led him to commit this crime, but Swanson falls short of really giving more than two dimensions to the rest of the conspirators.

I can honestly say that I learned a lot about what happened, though. I did not know that the assassination was actually part of a much larger plot that was intended to also involved the murder of Vice President Andrew Johnson and a number of people in the cabinet. Readers join some of the other plotters as they follow through (or not) with attempts on Johnson and Secretary of State William Seward, who was notorious for purchasing Alaska.

The writing, for the most part, uses correct grammar, though there are a few typographical errors. With that said, Swanson overdoes the "dumbing down" of the language. As a result, sentences are oversimplified, and the readers falls into a tempo pattern while reading. With that said, I kept hearing Robert Stack from Unsolved Mysteries in my mind as if he was reading to me while I scanned over the text.

The book does nothing to spare the reader of the "gross" nature of some of the events, including how the bullet traveled through Lincoln's brain. Ironically, this is in contrast to the simplification of the language, but it will likely draw younger guy readers.

Overall, it is a pretty good presentation of the topic. A part of me wishes I would have just read Manhunt, though, since I think the higher reading level would have produced a more enjoyable read for me.