This was a well told 'tale'. I was so enthralled in the story line that I believed it possible. I'm not a conspiracy theory type person but the unfolding of JFK's assignation by Mr. Hunter is as plausible as some of the other opinions I have heard over the years. Well, except for Bob Lee Swagger's part. I really enjoyed this book. Fifty years later and I'm still mad and sad.
Maybe the best Hunter I've read. Raises a theory, especially about Oswald's incompetence that causes thought.
It's hard to write a review when I didn't finish the book. The premise of the book was ok, it had numerous possibilities for a a good novel but missed them all. Bob Swagger, as the "hero" of the series, is getting older and to tell the truth a bit unbelievable even for a novel. His world wide infiltrations of some of the world's most notorious crime organizations and the relative ease in which he does it is just too far fetched to make a good story line. I would say stick to the earlier books but in each one Swagger's Superman ability grows and grows.
Another outstanding entry in the Bob Lee Swagger saga. This one was very reminiscent of Point of Impact where Bob Lee was set up to take the fall for an assassination attempt. In this one, Bob is pulled into the possible conspiracy to kill President Kennedy when an author (similar to Hunter) was researching a book on the Kennedy assassination and was killed by a hit-and-run driver. The researcher had come upon some possible evidence that another shooter was involved in the killing. He had heard about a coat that was stashed in the Dal-Tex building (close to the Book Depository in Dallas) with gun solvent spilled on the coat indicating that there may have been another shooter in the Dal-Tex building. Swagger is drawn into this by the author's widow who felt that he was killed because of his knowledge about the coat. Swagger ends up going to great lengths to see if it was possible that another shooter was involved including a trip to Russia to followup on the car ambusher. Swagger comes up with a theory about the shooting that indeed sounds very plausible. It turns out that the team that set up Swagger in Point of Impact was also involved in the Kennedy killing. I found this one to be quite engrossing even though it didn't have as much action as some of the previous novels. High recommendation for me!
Even if you love the Bob Lee Swagger character, when you set out to read about him trying to prove that Lee Harvey Oswald did not act alone when shooting President Kennedy, you have to be skeptical. You have to expect to find the story preposterous and never finish reading it. Well, surprise, surprise, surprise....I found it hard to put down. The plotting is intricate, the details and logic of the mechanics of shooting are facinating, and Bob Lee spends months rather than days ferreting out the "truth." And the truth is, you may become a conspiracy believer when you are done with the book! Four stars for sure.
Mr. Hunter, there is a lot of redundancy in this book. The book would have been better with more Bobby Lee Swogger and less Hugh. You were carried away with your vivid descriptions of everything. The firearm information was of interest to me, but I wonder how many others would share my interest. (A lot of redundancy regarding the firearms.). The first part of the book setting up the theory was fascinating. Then, it descended into the unbelievable and the ridiculous.
The book earned three stars because of Stephen Hunter and the first part of the book.
The book earned three stars because of Stephen Hunter and the first part of the book.
