A
Necessary End
StarDust
Press
Release
Date: March 12, 2007
The plot to
assassinate President Lincoln
with a paranormal
twist
in this haunting
romance!
Can
be ordered from
www.stardustpress.com
ISBN:
978-981-05-8058-2
Washington
D.C., 1865
Shakespearian actor John Wilkes Booth is famous, charming, and so
sexy, brokenhearted women have attempted suicide over him. But the
image he shows his adoring public is nothing like the real Booth. A
tragic, troubled man, he leads a secret life, far from the
theater’s applause and lights. By day, he’s a Confederate spy
and courier, taking dangerous missions so that his beloved South can
fight the North in the war that has torn the nation in two. An even
darker secret plagues him–he believes he’s the reincarnation of
Brutus, the man who slew the tyrant Caesar, and Booth’s destiny in
this life is to murder the tyrant who’s ravaged the
South—Abraham Lincoln. In obeying the spirit of Brutus, Booth
devises a plot to assassinate the tyrant.
But, as many tragic heroes have surrendered their hearts to a
beautiful woman, Booth falls in love with Alice Grey, an actress
from the North who’s been hired to spy on Booth and thwart his
murderous plans. Both he and Alice become torn between their
loyalties to their countries and their growing love for each other.
As Booth struggles to ward off Brutus’s controlling spirit, he
realizes he can’t escape his fate. He’s destined to live and die
the life that’s given him.
Will Alice’s love for Booth win out over her duty to protect the
President from assassination? A surprise twist at the end seals
Booth’s fate, which we know from the history books, but did it
really end that way? The open question remains: did Booth die in the
burning barn that night, or did he escape and return to his beloved?
Reviewed
by WWW.ROMANCEDESIGNS.COM
Date
of Review:
May 26, 2007
Reviewed by: Lettetia
Another side to
actor John Wilkes Booth is successfully captured by author Diana
Rubino. His life as an actor, his belief that he is the
reincarnation of Brutus, and the love of his life, Alice Grey; all
are touched on in this fictional look at one of the most notorious
villains in our nation’s history.
John Wilkes Booth is famous on the stage; he has presence and
charm and sex appeal. Behind the façade he shows the world is a
very troubled man. Booth is obsessed with stopping President Lincoln
and his influence on the country; by day he is a Confederate spy
assisting his beloved Southern brothers in the fight to defeat the
Union Army. You see, Booth believes he is the reincarnation of
Brutus whose mission it was to slay Caesar; so Booth is to take down
Lincoln
just as Brutus slays Caesar. But there is also a love in Booth’s
life; Alice Grey, a Northern actress who is torn between her mission
to spy on Booth and love him as her heart desires.
A thought provoking read to be sure; A NECESSARY END made this
reader think about Booth’s side of the story. Though he is an
infamous villain in the history books, I was able to sympathize with
the man and understand what drove him; to put a stop to the war any
way he could so his Southern brothers could escape the hellholes of
Northern prisons. Booth’s love for
Alice
is poignant; his struggles to overpower the “voices” of Brutus
very aptly portrayed. Her endeavor to maintain focus as a protector
of
Lincoln
and her love for this man is a emotional one.
* * *
Reviewed By
WWW.TWOLIPSREVIEWS.COM
Date of
Review: June 5, 2007
Reviewed
by: Frost
|
In
September 1864, John Wilkes Booth, actor, pleads with
President Abraham Lincoln to pardon his lifelong friend,
John Beall. Many others, including Booth's future
father-in-law, Senator Hale, have pleaded previously for
Beall's amnesty, but Lincoln has demurred. Somehow, Booth
sways the president's heart, and Lincoln agrees to the
pardon; yet Beall is hanged on the prison compound of
Governor's Island off the coast of Manhattan.
Two
months later, Booth seeks the attentions of Nettie Colburn
Maynard, famed medium to the White House, to determine the
path of the President's future. Still reeling from the
sudden execution of his friend after the pardon had been
assured, he doesn't receive the information he expected.
Instead, the medium repeats the same statement a gypsy had
declared over him in childhood: that a guiding spirit would
appear to lead him to his true destiny. The gypsy
fortune-teller had predicted a short life full of sorrow
leading to a bad end, and such is to prove the case, for
John Wilkes Booth is determined that if he cannot right the
wrong of his friend's execution, he may at least avenge it.
A
Necessary End is an intriguing historical which aptly and
vividly examines the meaning and background behind the
history texts' version of the assassination of President
Abraham Lincoln. Delineating the assassin, John Wilkes
Booth, in great detail both emotionally and mentally, author
Diana Rubino skillfully weaves in elements of the paranormal
as well, to round out the novel's appeal. History buffs and
mystery fans alike will benefit from A Necessary End.
*
* *
Reviewed By
WWW.COFFEETIMEROMANCE.COM
Date of
Review: July 15, 2007
Reviewed
by: Maura
Rating::
3 Cups
Alice Grey is a famous actress and musician currently
playing Cleopatra in Washington City. She is a strong
supporter of the Union and an admirer of the famous actor
John Wilkes Booth.
John Wilkes Booth is as devoted to the cause of the
Confederacy as he is to his acting, both appeal to the drama
in his soul. The death of a childhood friend spurs him to
take an even more active role.
The events leading to the murder of President Abraham
Lincoln are shrouded in mystery. John Wilkes Booth and his
co-conspirators are assisted from the beyond in their task
by someone well versed in revenge.
This is an extremely well written book with very vivid
characters and good dialogue. The setting is particularly
well done; I had no problem visualizing any of the places or
people involved. The time period is that of great drama and
intrigue and the many supporting characters are often
strange in an interesting way. I did have a hard time
wrapping my mind around Booth as the hero of the piece and
the cursed coin seemed an excuse for the inexcusable,
especially since he recklessly gave it away numerous times
without thought to what would happen to the people who
received it. The love scenes between Booth and Alice are
well done also. I enjoyed the story for the most part, but
prefer it when an author does not rewrite history this way.
* * *
|
Reader Reviews:
Your stuff is so preposterous to me that I drove on to the end
with a real vigor. It held my astonished interest. Never have I seen
the story so twisted, so well. -- William Richter, Historian and
Author
I have just had
the pleasure of reading Diana Rubino's well
researched historical novel, 'A Necessary
End'. What surprised me most about this book
is how much I enjoyed it and how invested I
became in the characters she drew. For me, a
die-hard skeptic and liberal northerner, this
paranormal book about John Wilkes Booth starts
with two strikes against it. But to continue
the baseball analogy, Ms. Rubino has hit a
home run.
Despite Booth's infamy, and having
assassinated a beloved president, I found I
had sympathy for the character because Diana
Rubino showed us how Booth might have thought
of himself--a hero--a good guy wanting only to
support his cause and save the confederate
soldiers from torture and dying of starvation
in Union prisons.
His first inclination was to capture Lincoln
and exchange him for the captured confederate
soldiers, but after five or more failed
attempts and the end of the war with the South
humiliated, I can see how Booth viewed his
fate and came to a necessary end. I no longer
see Booth as the evil assassin, but as a
troubled man living in troubled times.
The one quibble I have with this novel is that
it's in electronic format only. I prefer my
fiction to be printed, and hope Stardust Press
will release this book at least as a
paperback. I will be first in line to buy a
printed copy.--Joan Szechtman, author WWW.JOANSZECHTMAN.COM
Rating: 
[5 of 5 Stars!]
In A Necessary End, Diana Rubino sets
herself a big task, and she meets the
challenge. She takes a genuine historical
character, John Wilkes Booth – a man no
American can feel indifferent about; a man
whose action brought about results that are
still with us more than 140 years later –
and makes him (or her version of him) a
living, believable human being. In doing so,
she recreates the intense passions that still
in some way inform and divide our nation just
as the aftermath of the Big Bang is still
evident in the way our Universe works itself
out. Weaving into her story strands of the
supernatural, the sensual and the frankly
erotic while never losing sight of her aim –
to offer an explanation (which you are free to
take or leave alone) of Booth's motivation,
she creates a wholly believable story that a
lesser writer could only dream of achieving.
For this reader, at any rate, A Necessary End
was unputdownable. Highly recommended. --
Amanda Brown
Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
Ms. Rubino has woven quite a thought
provoking take on one of history's most famous
events. I was intrigued by the idea of telling
the Lincoln assassination story from John
Wilkes Booth's point of view with an added
paranormal twist. I wasn't disappointed in the
result. Congrats on a job well done! -- Eve
Desmarais
Rating: 
[4 of 5 Stars!]
THE UNIVERSE WORKS IN STRANGE WAYS!
I received this letter from a new
StarDust author:
Dear Diana,
Thank you so much for the warm welcome.
And I owe you much more thanks than that.
Just before I first saw your letter in
FF&P listserve, I’d signed up for Second
Life, an online role-playing society.
They let you choose your first name and they
choose your last name. I ended up being
Arianna Stardust.
I’d decided to submit to the e-publishers,
and was submitting to several when I saw your
letter announcing your sale to SD. Of
course, it was the STARDUST that snagged my
attention. I submitted, and here I am,
in line for publication.
I have you to thank.
THANK YOU, Diana, from the top and bottom of
my heart.
If ever
I can do anything for you, send me a letter.
It’s done.
Michele Hart, www.iloveshapeshifters.com
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