Seth Grahame-Smith became a publishing sensation with Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, but managed to somehow do it without a great deal of recognition for himself. He spawned a whole publishing movement of weird classics adaptations, but none by him and all published as if they may as well have been, including a prequel to his own book.
So, Abraham Lincoln Vampire Hunter is his chance to prove he’s more than merely a publishing gimmick, and he mostly succeeds. There’s not really a whole lot needed to explain this novel beyond the title. It’s written as a biography, based upon Lincoln’s secret diaries, and Grahame-Smith puts a lot of effort into researching Lincoln’s life to blur the lines between history and fantasy as finely as possible.
This isn’t a great book, but its a very fun book, which is all the more impressive in that Grahame-Smith plays it totally straight. It’s also the only vampire story I’ve enjoyed period since the current Twilight/True Blood/X-Men vs. Dracula, etc… fad made me sick to death of the subject (I picked this up because I have kind of a thing for silly Lincoln stories). If you like the idea of the title, you will love this book, for everyone else, it’s very skipable.