Is it hard to read?
No, the language is accessible and direct, and little prior historical knowledge is needed. The chronological account moves briskly, switching among fugitives, pursuers, and witnesses.
Nonfiction · Biography & Memoir · True Crime · History
Chasing Lincoln's Killer
Reading facts
✓ Checked- Reading effort
- 17 / 100Light
- Length
- 208 pagesScholastic Press · 2009
- Reading time
- 4 h 15 minat 50 pages an hour ·
- Pace
- Fast
- Emotional intensity
- 4 / 5
About 4 h 15 min · at 30 minutes a day, about 9 days
Estimated from the page count of this edition. Dense books can take longer than the estimate.
About the book
Adapting his adult history Manhunt, James L. Swanson reconstructs Abraham Lincoln’s assassination in April 1865 and the twelve-day search for John Wilkes Booth. He follows Booth and his accomplices from Washington, D.C., into Maryland and Virginia, tracing their hiding places, the people who helped them, and the investigators pursuing them. Alongside the escape, he describes Lincoln’s death and its impact on those closest to him.
Reader notes
Brisk and direct, this YA history reads like a chase story, switching among fugitives, pursuers, and witnesses. Period photographs, documents, and quotations anchor the dramatic narrative in historical evidence. The assassination and violence are described plainly, despite the accessible language.
How it reads
- Writing style
- Descriptive · Direct · Journalistic
- Tone
- Earnest · Suspenseful · Tense
- Structure
- Chronological nonfiction
- Driven by
- Character · Information · Plot
- Setting
- Maryland · Virginia · Washington, D.C.
- Evidence style
- Archival history · Primary documents
- Practical orientation
- Reflective
- Nonfiction form
- Biography · History · Narrative nonfiction
Reading complexity
- Writing
- 2 / 5
- Ideas
- 2 / 5
- Structure
- 2 / 5
- Background knowledge
- 1 / 5
About this profile
Collected’s assessment, not reader ratings. Complexity runs from 1 (least demanding) to 5 (most demanding).
- Writing
- How much attention the sentences and language require.
- Ideas
- How much interpretation or abstract reasoning the book asks of you.
- Structure
- How much you need to keep track of speakers, timelines and connections.
- Background knowledge
- Prior knowledge needed to follow the book, beyond what it explains.
- Emotional intensity
- Emotional pressure, from gentle (1) to intense (5). Separate from difficulty.
Themes
- Crime and punishment
- Grief
- Justice
- Legacy
- Mortality
Content notes
- Violence
- Strong
- Sexual content
- None
- Swearing
- Mild
- Substance use
- Mild
- Abuse
- Mild
- Self-harm or suicide
- None
Questions readers ask
Does it read like a history or a thriller?
The history unfolds like a tense chase story, following John Wilkes Booth and his accomplices through their escape while investigators pursue them. The pace is fast, with attention to hiding places and the people who helped the fugitives.
How strong is the violence?
Strong violence includes plainly described accounts of Lincoln’s assassination and death. The narrative also addresses the impact on those closest to him, giving the pursuit an emotionally intense backdrop despite the accessible language.
Who is it best suited to?
It suits young adult readers interested in history, biography, or true crime who want a brisk narrative. Adapted from Swanson’s adult history Manhunt, it concentrates on the assassination and the twelve-day search for Booth.
What historical evidence does it use?
Period photographs, primary documents, and quotations ground the dramatic narrative in historical evidence. These accompany the account of Booth’s escape, the people who helped him, and the investigators pursuing him.
How long is it?
208 pages in the Scholastic Press 2009 hardcover edition.
Which edition is shown here?
Scholastic Press · 2009 · Hardcover. ISBN 9780439903547.
How long does it take to read Chasing Lincoln's Killer?
About 4 hours 15 minutes at 50 pages an hour, based on the 208-page Scholastic Press edition. Dense books can take longer.
About the author
James L. Swanson
James L. Swanson is an American historian and attorney whose narrative histories concentrate on assassinations and the pursuits that followed them. Lincoln and John Wilkes Booth form the center of his work, including Manhunt and Chasing Lincoln’s Killer, while Chasing King’s Killer extends his attention to Martin Luther King Jr. and the wider America of the 1960s. Swanson builds these accounts from extensive documentary and visual research, including letters, newspapers, photographs, trial records, and interviews. His characteristic method is a tightly compressed chronology that moves among the public figure, the assassin, and the pursuers, using the momentum of a manhunt to examine moments when political violence redirected American history.
If you liked this
Edition and details
- Publisher
- Scholastic Press
- Publication year
- 2009
- Format
- Hardcover
- Pages
- 208
- ISBN
- 9780439903547
- Edition language
- English
- Original language
- English
- First published
- 2009
- Genres and form
- Nonfiction · Biography & Memoir · True Crime · History · Young Adult · Popular history
- Editions
- 7
- Languages
- 2 (English, Unspecified)