The book is presented as a biography of Abraham Lincoln based on recently discovered journals and diaries and cleverly intertwines real historical fact with the fiction of vampires taking over the New World and building an empire based on slavery.
Lincoln is introduced to vampires at an early age when his uncle and aunt and then mother are killed by them. He then swears revenge and receives help from an unexpected source - one of their own kind. The Southern plantation owners are in league with the vampires and so the Civil War is a battle not just of freedom from slavery but against the dark forces that threaten to enslave all Americans.
As the book sticks to the main historical facts for its plot and uses journal excerpts for much of its insight, I was pleasantly surprised. This is no pulp novel, as the language used is of the time and although there are some great confrontations with vampires, it is not written in an all out action style (which was what I was expecting from seeing the film trailer).
