The First Assassin: A Novel - Tapa blanda

Winter 1861: the United States teeters on the brink of civil war. In Washington, D.C., Colonel Charles P. Rook is tapped to organize the district’s security and to protect president-elect Abraham Lincoln from the death threats pouring in to the White House. He surrounds the president with bodyguards and fills the city’s rooftops with sharpshooters, diligently investigating the conspiracies being fomented with increasing intensity by Southern secessionists. Yet amidst the chaos and confusion, a foreigner slips unnoticed into the teeming city. Hired by a wealthy Southern planter to eliminate President Lincoln and destroy the Union once and for all, the assassin catches Rook’s attention by cutting down anyone who gets in his way. As the bodies begin to pile up, Rook realizes he is caught in a dangerous game of cat-and-mouse with a cold-blooded killer who will stop at nothing to complete his mission. Rook’s only hope is Portia, a runaway slave who holds the key to the assassin’s identity—if she can stay alive long enough to deliver it. Packed with dynamic characters, rich period detail, and a chillingly sinister villain, The First Assassin is a riveting thriller for fans of historical fiction.

John J. Miller is a journalist who writes for the National Review, the Wall Street Journal, and other publications. He is the author of several books of nonfiction, including The Unmaking of Americans: How Multiculturalism Has Undermined America’s Assimilation Ethic; Our Oldest Enemy: A History of America’s Disastrous Relationship with France; and A Gift of Freedom: How the John M. Olin Foundation Changed America. The First Assassin is his debut novel. A native of Detroit, he lives with his family in Prince William County, Virginia.