DESTINY OF THE REPUBLIC: A TALE OF MADNESS, MEDICINE AND THE MURDER OF A PRESIDENT

By Candice Millard (Doubleday, 339 pages, $28.95)

The history books list Charles Guiteau, a delusional religious fanatic, as the assassin of President James Garfield. But Guiteau had an unwitting accomplice, writes Candice Millard in this fascinating account of Garfield's shooting: Dr. Doctor Bliss (his real name) didn't believe in germs and treated the president for 2 1/2 agonizing months before Garfield died. The autopsy showed it wasn't the bullet that killed him, but rampant infection fed by Bliss' probing of the wound with unwashed fingers and instruments. Had Garfield been an ordinary citizen without access to medical care, he probably would have survived.

Millard vividly relates how the story gripped the nation in 1881: Alexander Graham Bell scrambling to invent a metal detector in time to find the bullet; the crazed Guiteau trying to save his own neck by pleading insanity (justifiably, so it seems); and corrupt Vice President Chester Arthur who, inspired by the letters of a strange invalid, rose to become one of the White House's greatest reformers. And then there's Garfield himself -- a man of such unusual character and intelligence that, Millard convincingly argues, he might have been a candidate for Mount Rushmore had his presidency not been cut tragically short.KEVIN DUCHSCHERE, Metro reporter

TONY & SUSAN

By Austin Wright (Grand Central Hardcover, 336 pages, $24.99)

This novel is a story within a story, and unfortunately neither is ultimately rewarding. The best thing about the book, originally published in 1993, is the writing, which is lyrical and lovely, though odd in what is ostensibly a thriller. Susan Morrow receives a manuscript in the mail from her ex-husband, Edward; he is seeking her opinion on the novel, titled "Nocturnal Animals." Edward's book, which makes up the majority of this novel, begins with math professor Tony Hastings taking his wife and daughter on a trip to their New England cabin. They run into a group of thugs on the road, and the situation quickly gets out of control. As Susan gets further into her reading, it is apparent that there are supposed to be parallels in the story she is reading with her marriage to Edward, but they are difficult to discern. Tony's adventures are interesting, but they aren't really the point of this book. In the end, I enjoyed "Nocturnal Animals" more than "Tony and Susan" and was frustrated in trying to understand how the stories intertwined.

JUDY ROMANOWICH SMITH, NEWS DESIGNER