Summary
Roughly 45 years from Abraham Lincoln’s assassination, his only living son, Robert Todd Lincoln, found an old pocket watch that belonged to his father. He relayed this discovery to the 27th President and his closest friend, William Howard Taft in 1910. Robert expressed his puzzlement that such watch wasn’t in the records during the time of his death, and there were also no records of his father obtaining it. The only thing he was sure about was that a watch fob was found the night the 16th President was assassinated. What was even more mind-boggling about the pocket watch was the fact that it had been running for a very long time when there was no way to open or adjust it. The watch had a Russian inscription that meant, “Made in America,” leading Robert to believe that it came from Russian America. To uncover the mystery behind the pocket watch’s advance technology, he came up with a theory that there might be extraterrestrial beings in Alaska since no normal human being could have created such pocket watch. Taft helped him dig in further information by deploying his rigid airship, Zeppelin to travel to Alaska. Robert boarded Airship One along with Taft, Hammond and Archie (Airship One’s pilot and Taft’s closest friend) and brainstormed on the recent events. They had a hypothesis that an automaton (a destructive invention) was meant to kill Taft, since he had been a consistent target. Together, they teamed up to solve the mystery and connection between the pocket watch, assassinations and attempts, the automaton, and the suspected existence of aliens in Alaska.
Review
I was never a fan of history because I didn’t have a strong memory of dates, legendary people, events or places. And I never did feel any positive regard towards anything that is history, not because I didn’t like it, but because in general, I lacked that sense of recollection. I don’t have Alzheimer’s (if that’s what you’re thinking.) To my surprise, I found hope after reading The Great Abraham Lincoln Pocket Watch Conspiracy. This book has a mix of facts and fiction, but it preserved the characters’ designation and some important events that made history. Who would’ve thought that past occurrences and public events can be revisited via humorous storytelling, coupled with science fiction and action? History wasn’t as fun as this and I bet that everyone who read the book felt the same way. As much as possible, I wanted to share a review that isn’t like anyone else but seriously, how else can anyone express it perfectly than to say that Jacopo della Quercia made history so fun? And because it was fun, I can vividly remember the details like a history pro. I love the different personalities of the historical characters in this book because their conversation was so amusing to read. The never-ending action sequences made it so hard to put it down that I started to get annoyed at my bladder every time I had to pee. Overall, this novel is one of a kind and downright entertaining. After enjoying the adventures of William Howard Taft, Robert Todd Lincoln, Archibald Butt, and Secret Service Chief John Wilkie, I am ready to read License to Quill and find out how fun it would be to read another historical fiction, with William Shakespeare and Christopher Marlowe as the main characters. Jacopo has officially become one of my favorite authors so I will support all his works. If you haven’t read The Great Abraham Lincoln Pocket Watch Conspiracy, believe me…you just missed half of your life.