This had some real interesting history in it. It’s quite a bit of information and wasn’t always done in the most interesting way. This made some of it feel much longer than it really was. The narrator was a perfect choice for the book and I do appreciate that.

This one was hard for me to read. It took me ages to get through it. I'm not sure what about it made it so hard to get interested in it, but it just wasn't for me. I did finally plough through it, but by the time I got to the end, I had really lost the thread of the narrative. It was just so slow in parts. Perhaps it was the audiobook format? Maybe I could have enjoyed it more and become more interested if I was actually reading it, but I'm not sure. I just know this one didn't do it for me, and normally, I DEVOUR all things Lincoln.

In the Houses of Their Dead, The Lincolns, the Booths, and the Spirits by Terry Alford was an audiobook for me and narrated by Danny Campbell. DC did a good job and thought he was a good fit for this.
I’ve read a lot about Abraham Lincoln and know a lot about his assassination. I’ve even read about Mary Lincoln. But I didn’t know anything about Spiritualism. I had know idea how popular it was. If you’re a Lincoln fan then I highly recommend listening to this.
Thanks HighBridge Audio via NetGalley.

I left my review on Amazon, GR, Barns&Noble and BB.

I admire what the author set out to do with this premise, but ultimately I found it unsuccessful. The two families were not similar or different enough to really weave together their tales in my opinion. I found my attention wandering. I would recommend this to big fans of Lincoln biographies, but not to anyone else really.

A historical novel, "In the Houses of Their Dead" follows the parallel lives of the Booth and Lincoln families as well as their respective reverence about Spiritualism. While John Wilkes Booth is best known for his assassination of Lincoln today, Booth was a well-known actor in a well-known theatrical family. Alford's novel introduces the entire Booth family, their acquaintances, and the general American theatrical scene. Additionally, Alford provides extensive context about Spiritualism, mediums, the church, and ghosts.

While the details of this novel were very interesting, the overall structure was confusing and lacked a clear direction. Sometimes I felt as if many somewhat connected facts were being thrown together. While I appreciated the level of research and detail, the micro approach sometimes overwhelmed the reader and lost track of the overarching story.

A lovely piece of narrative nonfiction that attempts to further entwine the fates of the Lincoln and Booth families through the practice of Spiritualism.

Three cheers for the structure of this book, which is an excellent example of the right way to do narrative nonfiction in the History genre. The pacing and design make the book read like a novel without sacrificing the conveyance of accurate and detailed information.

As a narrative biography of both families, the text is excellent. It’s a great refresher and fleshing out of details for those who are already knowledgeable about the era and easily digestible for those who only know the basics.

The attempt to tie in spiritualism was less successful, though not particularly damaging to my enjoyment of the book. It’s a stretch to link the two families via this particular craze of the era, because while both families did have ties to the practice, neither has an especially unusual link to it, and the practice doesn’t really provide any kind of direct connection between the families, as the book sets out to do.

The attempt to do so is the usual new spin on an old topic to freshen a story we’re largely familiar with, at least in terms of the bones of it. And while I didn’t think the link worked convincingly, I can appreciate the attempt to approach the history of the murder of Lincoln from a different perspective.

For audiobook readers: Like a lot of narrative nonfiction, this book translates well to the medium if you enjoy reading with your ears. And the narrator is excellent.

Another book on The Lincolns and The Booths with the twist being seven degrees of separation.

Alford has taken personal quirks, beliefs, heart aches, and superstitions and put them in a book. He explains the rationale behind many of the decisions the Lincolns and Booths made, again personally.

I felt from the very beginning that I had read this before. At one point I did a cursory search looking for this to have been published under a different title, and didn't find anything.

This was an audiobook, and Danny Campbell did a good job narrating.

Thank you NetGalley and HighBridge Audio for accepting my request to read and review In the Houses of Their Dead.

I started this one, but could not finish before the archive date, so I bought the audible version to continue listening.

So far - Oh my goodness! What a story! I am enjoying this one, and I cannot wait to listen further, I knew that Lincoln was semi-interested in the spiritualism, but I always thought it was his wife that was more into it. I am looking forward to the remainder of this audiobook.

To the point I have read, well done - masterfully written. I have high hopes for the remainder.

This book covers the life of Abraham Lincoln and that of John Wilkes Booth. It tells the things the men had in common their beliefs in the mystical and so much more. It covered different relationships the men head it told the story of how Mary Todd Lincoln like to spend money and I found this also interesting. This isn’t what I expected but much much more. I think Danny Campbell did an outstanding job Narating this book. There was so much in this book I hadn’t heard anywhere else and that tells me this book was well researched and put together expert lake. I really enjoyed the part where it spoke of Abraham Lincolns prophetic dream and as far as John Wilkes booth goes my favorite part with him with his relationship with the dandy Mr. John Adams of course in the book with John Wilkes Booth and Abraham Lincoln is going to end on a sad note but I think the saddest note was that hardly no one came to see Mrs. Lincoln off when she left the White House. I don’t know why but that made me sad for her and the boys she had left. Either way I highly recommend this book to anyone who loves history you’re not only learn New things in the book is so good you won’t even notice she did. I gave this book 5 stars in it deserves everyone of them. Please forgive any mistakes as I am blind and dictate my review but all opinions are definitely my own I was given this book by Net Galley but I am leaving this review voluntarily. #Hybrid audio, #and the houses of their dead,

I believe I was expecting a bit more out of this audiobook than what it gave.
I felt it was mostly an overwhelming amount of facts and not what the title and description alluded to at all.
I love historical books both non fiction and fiction but I struggled with this one.
Possibly it would be better read than listened to as an audiobook. The narrator didn’t do a bad job but he just did not keep my interest and was a bit flat.
This was not really my cup of tea all around but it may be for someone else.

Advanced Reader’s Copy provided by NetGalley and HighBridge Audio in exchange for an honest review.

Based on the title and synopsis, I was expecting a Spiritualism-centered nonfiction about the Lincolns and the Booths. But that's not exactly what we get. There is some Spiritualism in this, but mostly, this is a complicated narrative about the history of the Booth family and how Lincoln became POTUS. I appreciate what Alford attempted to do with IN THE HOUSES OF THEIR DEAD, but felt like the final result falls victim to the same pitfalls of many nonfictions - in many parts it's an onslaught of names and dates that bombard the reader and make it difficult to follow the plot. A lot of focus was given to side players and this novel is very Booth family heavy (going into a lot of detail on the acting experience of more than one Booth).

I think this might be one of those books best read and not listened to. Not that Danny Campbell does a bad job with the audiobook narration, but their tone and delivery made the muddled bits of the plot even harder to follow. This is a great concept for a novel, and I can see how this would be a good read for some people, it was just a miss for me. I was hoping for this to take the Spiritualism to a level it never got to. This is much more a Booth family history with Lincoln as a side story than it is a novel about Lincoln AND Booth.

In the Houses of Their Dead is a meticulously researched and annotated history of the Lincoln family, their interaction and common themes and the relationship of both families to spiritualism written by Dr. Terry Alford. Released 14th June 2022 by W.W. Norton on their Liveright imprint, it's 320 pages and is available in hardcover, audio, and ebook formats.

This was a fascinating look at the general social and economic realities of the USA in the mid to late 19th century. The author has written a much more extensive biography of the wider families and contemporaries of Lincoln, John Wilkes Booth, and the relatively newly minted "scientific" study of spiritualism and how it informed their fateful decisions.

The book is layman accessible and extensively annotated. The chapter notes and bibliography will provide many hours of further reading.

The text is liberally annotated and illustrated with line drawings, facsimiles of period documents, and an impressive number of photos. Although the treatment is admittedly academic, there's enough annotation and chapter notation and bibliography to satisfy the staunchest pedant - at the same time, there's a clear and compelling biographical narrative. I'm amazed that there's enough period record to reconstruct the stories of these families after all this time (despite their fame, and in the case of the Booths, their notoriety).

The unabridged audiobook has a run time of 9 hours and 14 minutes and is capably narrated by Danny Campbell. The narrator has a rich and rugged voice and reads clearly and distinctly. Sound and production quality are high throughout the recording. The down-side of the audiobook format is the lack of photos and reference notes.

Four and a half stars. It's an interesting synergistic look at a mostly unfamiliar facet of Lincoln and his wife. I would recommend this book to readers of American history, war history, American culture, as a support text for classroom instruction on Civil War history, or allied subjects.

Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.