Never Sleep

by Fred Van Lente

A Civil War-era historical novel featuring the first female agents in the Pinkerton National Police Agency, who work to foil an assassination attempt on President Lincoln's life. The year is 1861, the eve of Abraham Lincoln's inauguration. For Kate Warn, the first female private detective in American history, the only assignment tougher than exposing a conspiracy to assassinate the new president is training her new mentee, Hattie MacLaughlin, in the art of detection. The two women's mission to save the president takes them from the granges of rural Maryland to the heart of secessionist high society, and sets them on a collision course that could alter the course of history. When Kate's cover is blown, Hattie must choose between saving her new friend, and her country. Based on a true story.

Genres: Historical Fiction, Mystery, Fiction, Thriller, Mystery Thriller, Adult, Historical

312 pages, Hardcover

Published March 28, 2023

About the author

Fred Van Lente is the New York Times-bestselling author of comics as varied as Archer & Armstrong (Harvey Award nominee, Best Series), Taskmaster, MODOK's 11, Amazing Spider-Man, Conan the Avenger, Weird Detective, and Cowboys & Aliens (upon which the 2011 movie was based), as well as the novels Ten Dead Comedians and The Con Artist.

Van Lente also specializes in entertaining readers with offbeat histories with the help of his incredibly talented artists. He has written the multiple-award winning Action Philosophers!, The Comic Book History of Comics, Action Presidents! (all drawn by Ryan Dunlavey), and The Comic Book Story of Basketball with Joe Cooper (Ten Speed September 2020).

He lives in Brooklyn with his wife Crystal Skillman, and some mostly ungrateful cats.

Reviews

[Elaine · Rating 3 out of 5]

Thank you to NetGalley for an ARC of Never Sleep.

I'm aware Allan Pinkerton recruited women as female detectives including the one who protected President-Elect Lincoln before he took office, but I haven't read a book based on these unacknowledged women, which is why I was excited my request was approved.

I liked Kate Warn; she's exactly who I imagined would become the first female detective; courageous, smart, and isn't afraid to speak her mind.

Never Sleep is a timely book, since the narrative is about when the United States was embroiled in growing civil unrest, not unlike our current political climate.

I admit it was difficult reading the Southerners' inflammatory rhetoric.

I won't lie. The language is incredibly hurtful, demeaning, and painful, and only reminded me of the hate spewed at the January 6 riots and elsewhere in our society.

Kate and Hattie's narrative is fascinating, though fictionalized in some parts.

I did feel parts of the story dragged especially when Hattie was hanging around the Prophet.

I was hoping for more scenes of Kate and President Lincoln but I'm biased since Lincoln is my favorite President.

I'd recommend this to anyone who loves historical fiction based on a true story.

[Amy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Description
A Civil War–era historical novel featuring female agents in the Pinkerton National Detective Agency who work to foil an assassination attempt on President Lincoln’s life.

The year is 1861, the eve of Abraham Lincoln’s inauguration. For Kate Warn, the first female private detective in American history, the only assignment tougher than exposing a conspiracy to assassinate the new president is training her new mentee, Hattie McLaughlin, in the art of detection. The two women’s mission to save the president takes them from the granges of rural Maryland to the heart of secessionist high society, and sets them on a collision course that could alter the course of history. When Kate’s cover is blown, Hattie must choose between saving her new friend, and her country. Based on a true story.
***********************************************************
My review
I love historical fiction that makes me research to find out what is true, what is embellished, and what is impossible. This book definitely did that for me as I did not know much about the Pinkerton Detectives.
The book kept my interest for the most part although it did get confusing in the last 1/4 as everything came to a head. There is a good bit of violence at the end, and it was pretty descriptive. Van Lente was certainly able to transport me to pre Civil War Baltimore.

Kate and Hattie were based on real women and this made them even more fascinating to me. Hattie being the character who changed and grew the most was interesting, although I assumed that would be the case. There will be more books about them according to the post script.

I’m landing on 3 stars as the book kept my interest but was a little difficult to follow. The focus was on the adventure and quest, as opposed to the characters. To be fair, part of the difficulty I had is because I was reading an ARC that was not fully edited or formatted. This was distracting.
Thank you to NetGalley and Blackstone Publishing for access to this ebook in return for my honest review.

[Carolina Rojas · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good book

[Chad · Rating 3 out of 5]

I've been a fan of Fred Van Lente's comic book writing for a long time. This was the first novel of his I've read. His biggest claim to fame to date is probably that he wrote the comic that the movie Cowboys and Aliens is based on. However, this is much better than that.

It takes place as president elect Lincoln is touring the country on the way to his inauguration. The story is about the first female agent of the Pinkerton Detective Agency and the young woman who becomes her protege. The story is based on real people and a real plot to kill Lincoln. Kate is tough as nails and loves being a detective. Hattie is green and thrust into the situation by the extreme need to keep the President safe. There's a lot to like about this. There's also a lot of triggers in this. This is not a whitewashing of the time period. The people supporting the South are awful. Their treatment of slaves is just deplorable and turned my stomach. Women are treated very poorly as well. But I think it's important to remember how things were really were in the time period, not how we wished it was instead. For the moment we forget how awful we were to one another is probably the moment we let it happen again. According to the end, there are plans for a sequel.

[Brett · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm surprised this book only has 12 ratings at the time of this review yet also a full-fledged audiobook? Not sure what happened with the marketing because this seems like a fool-proof premise.

I really enjoyed Never Sleep. Van Lente's history as a comic book writer shines through, because the book's pacing and character development is extremely fast-paced and action oriented. It does a careful and realistic job of handling the topics of slavery and the Confederate South, while giving Lincoln's inauguration tour plenty of historical fiction flourishes. My main complaint was that Hattie felt underdeveloped compared to Kate, and I expected the two main characters to interact more over the course of the book. Kate's goal of opening an all-female detective agency felt conflicting with her constant deriding of Hattie, a brand-new detective who needed guidance.

If you want a Civil War fiction read that's not as conceptual as Lincoln in the Bardo but not as ridiculous as Abraham Lincoln Vampire Hunter, Never Sleep is worth your time.

[Andrea · Rating 2 out of 5]

Did Not Finish about 2/3 of the way through. I just was not looking forward to picking this up again, so I stopped. The historical fiction as it pertains to actual historical events rings true. What is lacking is the historical detail about women's lives, manners, and speech. In the 1860s, ladies did not go out into public when they were pregnant. Gently-bred ladies (or women who were pretending to be gently-bred ladies) would never have said things like "oh my God." What an opportunity lost to have a character say "Merciful heavens!" The main characters in the story are emotionally stunted loners, and I never find these kinds of characters engaging. I found the interior lives of the women characters lacking in depth, even though readers are privy to their thoughts. The dialogue is clever (if often sounding more like the twenty-first century than the nineteenth) and the story is well-plotted. Still, emotionally-stunted loners. I just can't get invested in them. I would not read another by this author.

[Samantha · Rating 4 out of 5]

Never Sleep follows two female detectives, Kate and Hattie, in the period leading up to the U.S. Civil War.

Based on true events, this fictional account of preventing President-elect Lincoln's pre-inaugural assassination is a page-turner that made me interested in researching the real-life Pinkerton National Detective Agency. I had never heard about this historical event until I read Never Sleep; as an avid reader, I appreciate novels that teach me things.

I was also delighted with the no-holds-barred, kickass attitude of the female protagonists. It was refreshing to read about women without a damsel-in-distress complex, especially in 1861, when women were rarely respected for their intellect.

Along with the thrilling aspect of the unknown outcome (for the characters - I think we all agree that Lincoln wasn't assassinated prior to being sworn in), Never Sleep also features a few action-filled brawls, which I found entertaining.

It seems likely that the author is planning on writing a follow-up novel, perhaps a detective series. I thoroughly enjoyed reading Never Sleep and anticipate reading subsequent novels in the series.

Read this if you enjoy strong female characters, detective thrillers, historical settings, fiction based on true events, and action!

[Big Otter Books · Rating 3 out of 5]

3 stars. Pretty good historical fiction about the first female Pinkerton detectives going undercover to save president-elect Abraham Lincoln from assassination. Nicely plotted, good character development and an interesting look at this real life event from another prospective. The middle of the book bogged down a bit in too much detail and too much going at once as well as a couple of places it slipped into modern times and pulled me out of the story. Nothing major and I enjoyed the book. It would work very well as a movie and I understand there is a book two in process. I was given a copy-this is my own opinion.

[Helene · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting bit of history. Plans to assassinate Lincoln started even before he took office. The underground networks for both sides were busy.

The book focuses on two women who are the first female detective working for Pinkerton. The challenges they face trying to thwart the assassination are sometimes complicated by their gender but sometimes give them an advantage.

The women have a complicated relationship - boss-subordinate, mentor-mentee, partners, teammates, competitors and perhaps friends.

[Heidi · Rating 3 out of 5]

What a crazy story. I like the women characters. Van Lente has definitely used his modern imagination and foisted it on mid 19th century women, which added to the humor of the book. Again, a male writing female characters seems a little rough around the edges combined with an action-packed sequence of events made it decently enjoyable.

My biggest complaint with this book is the SUPER THICK pages!!! The library hardcover was so hard to hold onto and keep open, because they pages were so flippin' thick. What gives?? Use normal pages next time.

I also appreciated that this is set during the civil war - there aren't many mysteries during that time period, let alone funny, female-centered, action-hero style mysteries. So, win.

It reminds me of PJ Brackston's "Brothers Grimm" mysteries. Love those books!!

[Kyle · Rating 5 out of 5]

Incredibly exciting and historically well rendered start to a promising new series. Van Lente created welled fleshed out characters with Kate and Hattie, the first two Pinkerton agents. His historical setting of pre Civil War America was very vivid and gritty in its realism. The plot was fantastic. I highly recommend this and am anxious for book two.

[Eugenea Pollock · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting novel based loosely on an excellent factual account found in “Lincoln on the Verge: Thirteen Days to Washington” by Ted Widmer—but this book is rough, gory, and pretty disgusting during the storyline involving “The Prophet” and his minions, all of whom are cruel diehard Confederate supporters. I cannot recommend this.

[Sally · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.25. I enjoyed it at some level but there was something missing. I think maybe the characters were flat and I never cared much for any of them, which meant I never got involved. The character I liked the best died, so there went that piece.

[Yarelis Rivera · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was so good! It kept me anxious and stressed. It also made me reflect on a lot of things that enslaved people had to go through . It’s not surprising that a lot of the themes from this book still applies, and that are still happening.

[Chris Johnson · Rating 3 out of 5]

A semi-fictional story showcasing the work of Americas first female detective. As she goes on a journey to gather intelligence on a separatist plot to assassinate Lincoln, she is handed a protege who she must train in the arts of deception! Will they succeed in their mission?

[Andy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am biased due to loving Fred Van Lente's comic book work for years. His prose novel is a pretty good tale about trying to stop an assassination of Lincoln with some good plot devices.

[Joshlyn · Rating 2 out of 5]

By the end I regretted all of my decisions to finish this book. It was so horribly gruesome. The storyline had so much potential but the ending was brutal. All the blood. I remember nothing else.

[Rebecca O'Shea · Rating 1 out of 5]

I started this book but could not relate to the characters or the writing style and decided not to finish it.

[Alicia]

Read in 2023 while on committee assignment.

[Collyn]

Interesting, but I didn't like it.

[Pat Braun · Rating 5 out of 5]

I like the close connection to real historically significant people.

[Gracie Wall · Rating 2 out of 5]

Idk I listened to it at work. If you ask me what happens in the first 75% of the book I probably couldn’t tell you but the last bit got really interesting at least

[Jocelyn Iske · Rating 2 out of 5]

Interesting concept but hard to follow as an audio book!

[Eva-Lynn · Rating 5 out of 5]

First time reading this author. Based on a true story it was exciting and very interesting to learn about this history.

[Eva · Rating 4 out of 5]

Kate Warn is the only female detective in the employ of Allan Pinkerton’s National Police Agency. She’s also one of Pinkerton’s best, which is why she is tasked with rooting out dissidents who are plotting to assassinate President-Elect Abraham Lincoln as he tours the country before his inauguration. But she’s also saddled with a new recruit – the second female detective in the agency, Hattie MacLaughlin. The two ladies find themselves embedded as spies in pro-secession Baltimore on the brink of war, one in high society, the other in the peripheral farming community.

The political climate in this version of Baltimore on the verge of war is terrifyingly similar to today’s highly polarized atmosphere, with wild rhetoric sweeping people up into hysteria, and I have no doubt that this similarity is intentional. Both Kate and Hattie are complex and interesting characters, and excellent foils for each other. The plot was a little slow to get started, but once it did the book was a fast-paced read. Overall it was excellent and I was very excited to see that it’s the first in a series.

CW: slavery and all the horrors that go along with it, including torture, murder, degradation, and biblical justification for white supremacy; sexual harassment and assault; gore

I received an advance copy of this ebook from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.