Review: Could It Have Happened This Way?
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 01 12, 2014
This was an interesting look at a possible scenario for the events leading up to the Lincoln assassination at the end of the Civil War. Though the event was based in history, the story itself is fiction.There were several photos and drawings included in the story, but if you read the notes at the beginning of the book, the individuals that the people to whom the photos are attributed are not actually the individuals that are actually in the photos, nor is the photo of the Journal actually of Jacob Thackery's journal. I liked the addition of the photos and drawings in the novel as they lent an air of authenticity to the story.The story starts with Jacob's father reading the journal of his son Jacob who enlisted as a Confederate soldier in the Civil War. The war is over and all Aaron Thackery has left is the journal that Jacob kept during the four years of the war. He reads this journal over and over and remembers.As I do not know much about the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln, other than that he was supposedly shot by John Wilkes Booth at a theatre, I am unable to comment on how this story and how it happened differs or supports what is known about the actual event in history. Nor am I aware of the emotional and political feelings of the times. However, I am aware that this was a brutal and bloody war, and I do believe that that the events in this novel are plausible, and intriguing.Also unique in the Kindle version of this book were the links provided in the book to a number of different items that took the reader to additional information on that particular topic. The links took you to pictures or locations on the internet with more information. This was a useful feature when coming across items where one might want additional information. I love that feature!I found this story had somewhat of an ebb and flow to it where in some parts it was quite engaging and other parts dragged somewhat. Overall, I thought the story was plausible and I found the situation between Jacob Thackery and his friend Miles Drew to be somewhat sad and ironic. The novel does reflect the sad situations that we are sometimes left in after tragic circumstances such as war.John Holt has written this book with clear language and intent. The characters were fairly well developed and the drama surrounding the last few lines written in Jacob Thackery's journal could be felt. I gave this novel four stars out of five.Thank you to the publisher and John Holt for providing a copy of the book in exchange for a fair and honest review. A positive opinion was not required. All thoughts are my own.This review was published on my blog Shelf Full of Books [...]