The Lincoln Secret

by John A. McKinsey

Founded upon several historical theories about Abraham Lincoln and the Civil War, the novel takes the reader through Abraham Lincoln's life and death while the characters work to unravel several mysteries. The story follows two main A reporter who is researching a theory that Abraham Enloe fathered Abraham Lincoln and a woman who uncovers a family secret that her ancestor changed his last name over fear of something related to Abraham Lincoln and the Civil War. There are sinister forces at work against them. A compelling mystery adventure novel.

Genres: Fiction, Mystery, Historical

465 pages, Paperback

First published November 26, 2008

About the author

John McKinsey is the author of The Lincoln Secret, a new novel featuring a modern day search to unravel mysteries left behind by Abraham Lincoln and the Civil War. The Lincoln Secret is his first full length novel, but he has been writing fiction, and non-fiction since he was a child, and he is the co-author of an undergraduate textbook, Understanding the Law, that teaches college students the basic legal workings of life in the United States.

The Lincoln Secret explores several real historical mysteries about Abraham Lincoln and the Civil War through the efforts of several modern day characters who work to unravel them while an unknown sinister force interferes with their efforts. A core historical mystery in the novel surrounds Abraham Lincoln's parentage. An alternate history has long taught that Abraham Lincoln was actually the illegitimate child of Abraham Enloe, a farmer in western North Carolina at the foot of the Great Smokey Mountains. John McKinsey extensively researched and explored this mystery and others before crafting this modern day mystery novel.

John McKinsey is a graduate of California State University, Sacramento and the School of Law at University of California, Davis. He lives in Northern California with his wife and has done extensive travel and research to gather information for this piece of historical fiction. When not writing, he practices energy and wine law and spends time on the family farm.
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Reviews

[Tara Chevrestt · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is not a bad book.. Rather it is a pretty engaging mystery involving past historical events, genealogy research, and very likeable characters, Sean and Kim. It does, however, need some tweaking..

Anybody who has ever sat at the computer for hours browsing Ancestory.com or similar websites and hit a dead end with their grandfather's name and pondered their family history will enjoy this mystery regarding Lincoln, Lincoln's ancestors, and the Civil War. Kim discovers upon her father's death that her real name is not her real name and she may have a connection to the long dead Abraham Lincoln. Her questions put her in touch with Mary, a woman that does genealogy research as a hobby, James, a professor that specializes in Lincoln history, and Sean, a former Navy Seal turned reporter. Unfortuneately, Kim's questions also put her in the path of some seedy characters, not limited to Terry and his brother Michael who want the mysterious Lincoln secret to stay a secret. And yep, you guessed it, someone is going to die.. You can't have a good contemporary mystery without some death.

I'm not going to reveal a whole lot more. I'll just say that Kim and Sean make a great pair and they travel Denver to Kansas City and back again trying to find answers with Terry hot on their tails. The ending was very climatic and fast paced.

I said the book could use some tweaking.. Let me explain what I mean. The book is too long for starters. It could be cut back a hundred pages or so. It contains way too many details. As a reader, I like to use my imagination a little bit. I don't need an entire paragraph on the character making tea, I don't need to know what hand is holding the phone or the sandwich, and I also don't need the little details such as hitting the garage door button. Too many details make the reader think way too much... However with some tweaking, this novel could be great. It certainly didn't lack for entertainment.

[Phil (Theophilus) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Although the story itself is intriguing, which is why I gave the book 4 stars, OTOH, the characters are flat, trite and spectacularly implausible. But for the bad guys and the professor, that is. The latter of which we'll get to him in a sec.

Let's start with the male protagonist who is currently a trust fund baby living in daddy's single family home and spending daddy's millions, and, whose milquetoast personality traits are well suited to sipping lattes and writing sporadic human interest stories for a PNW-based rag whose editor is shock! gasp! crotchety Mr. Grumpity McGrumpypants.

The reader is supposed to believe that Agent Machiatto was formerly a Navy Seal with a stint in a 3-letter agency/Black Ops. Maybe in Sean Johnson's sweet daydreams he was special ops, but not so much in execution. Sean is more like a donut loving Homer Simpson type except with money to burn and whose closest affiliation with a federal agency is exclusively associated with avoiding paying the inheritance taxes on daddy's millions to the IRS.

The female protagonist, Kim Poole, is portrayed as as a divorced small business owner with a teenaged daughter. The Kim character is much more convincing as a tweenager with random bursts of bluster fueled by a theatrical crush on Agent Machiatto, er, Sean Johnson. She also enjoys reading romance novels and long walks on the beach while holding hands with Seanie, naturally. Oh, and her ex is a forgettable "toxic" male (I don't even remember his name) who resents Kim for winning primary custody of their daughter and who has a proclivity for dating big breasted/brain matter deficient floozies, of course.

The third protagonist, James Enloe, is a 60-something, mild mannered college history professor with a special emphasis on Abe Lincoln. A much needed SME since, you know, special ops Sean and little Kimmy don't know much 'bout American history 'cept for that old yarn regarding Abe's cherry tree. James is the most credible of all the characters in this story.

All the other characters orbiting this particular universe are throwaways tossed in to fulfill their roles as plot enablers, including Kim's 15 y/o daughter, Abby, whose maturity level exceeds that of both of her parents as well as her mother's BF, Sean.

S.A.C Alan Nazimi, a bumbling, stumbling federal law enforcement feeb who plays the part of bad guy lite--less acumen MOAR swagger--and who should have (1) been issued a big black handlebar mustache to twirl, thereby resulting in a more authentic culmination from the writer's sophomoric mind and (2) medically treated for his predilection for random cannonades of bwahaha-ing.

And finally, the obligatory bad guys, the likes of which consist of, surprise! A US Senator and his psychotic brother who both just happen to co-head the helm of their own distinguished southern family owned/civilian version of a federal 3-letter security agency. Although, the psychotic brother really should have been allocated a portion of S.A.C. Nazimi's bwahaha allotment; That they are Georgia born & bred boys seems contrived at first blush, but actually has relevance to the story given that it's about the Lincoln secret.

I wish I could say that the conclusion was satisfying. Instead, it was rushed/hurried/abrupt and left me seriously wondering if the digital copy of the book I borrowed was missing pages.

Sigh.

I always have such ridiculously high expectations from thrillers based on history and the story always turns out to be a maltodextrin induced wet fart.

Pfffffft.

[Linda Lowell · Rating 1 out of 5]

Editing really matters. Unfortunately though the plot sounded interesting, the lack of a good editor was very evident and got in the way all to often,

[Ms. Rittel · Rating 2 out of 5]

This writer was in desperate need of a good editor. It had an okay plot but the typos were so distracting. One example was: "two hard." Really? In a published novel?

[Angela Kinnett · Rating 4 out of 5]

Loved this book. I’m related to Abe so the family history was valuable to me. Enjoyed the mystery and the relationships between the characters.

[Megan A · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Lincoln Secret, by John A. McKinsey, is a great book with an intriguing plot to follow. It has everything a treasure hunt should include; a cute man with a military background, a single mother on a mission, a historian looking for the truth, and, of course, a dangerous opponent. I personally loved this book, but there are some situations that do stretch the reality aspect.

The section that pops out to me the most is the part of the book where Kim gets her daughter back after being kidnapped. I guess what bugs me the most is that Kim never reacts the way a real mother would have. Instead of worrying more about her daughter and what injuries she might have had, Kim seems to worry more about Sean. Also, when mother and daughter arrive at the truck stop to meet Sean (after Abby is returned to her mom), Sean seems, if anything, more worried about Abby than Kim is. Sean responds by giving her a hug despite that she hardly knows him and yet it never says anything about Abby receiving anything from her mom outside of a pat on the knee.

Another scene that sticks out is when Sean returns to the coffee shop to find out that James’ sister had been killed. I honestly don’t think that a well trained police officer would react so strongly to a man coming up the steps to a public coffee shop; especially if they were only there to inform James of his sister’s passing. That’s a problem itself actually; police officers wouldn’t really go looking for someone just to tell them that their relative had died. They’d be more likely just to leave a voice mail on their phone. All in all, I just think that there’s something wrong with the police officers in this part of the book.

The last thing is just the whole character of Kim. I get that she’s suppose to come off as the single mother who only wants answers but it just doesn’t seem very realistic that she’d continue going with this after she realizes how much danger she was putting her daughter in. The whole dropping her off at her dad’s house did seem a little more realistic, but not reporting her daughter’s kidnapping to the police (even after she got her daughter back) didn’t seem right; especially the fact that she never raised a finger to argue it with Sean. I guess her character, to me, would have been better off if she would have been a little bit more like a mother than a woman with a mission.

Again, I did enjoy the book quite a bit. It’s just that those few details questioned the reality of it for me.

[Barbara · Rating 4 out of 5]

Picked this to read with a bit of hesitation, as Abraham Lincoln is a hero of mine. Wasn't sure I wanted to read a mystery, which starts out with a legend that Lincoln was not really a Lincoln. So, it was a bit slow going at first, but the mystery moves on, the suspense builds and I as sucked in so that I had do sit down today and finish the book to find out what happens. Did mystery have to do with his birth, the Civil war or even his assassination? Totally enjoyed the read, though the legend of Lincoln's birth is never really resolved and the real mystery is a bit of a let down, though it was an exciting ending.

[Linda · Rating 5 out of 5]

Yes I could not put this book down...the suspense was incredible. A reporter reluctantly agrees to research a story about the possible mistake of Abrahams Linclons birth and who his parents are...he meets the woman and her daughter who have a family secret that may be linked to his story. A woman researching her family history and her brother the 'Professor' of Linclon history all join together to make this action mystery believeable even though it is fiction.

[Tori · Rating 2 out of 5]

This writer was in desperate need of a good editor. It had an okay plot but the typos were so distracting. One example was: "two hard." Really? In a published novel? I felt like I was reading a student paper.

[msleighm · Rating 2 out of 5]

interesting premise, however formulaic and predictable. would have been a very good effort by a high school student.