- Paperback: 456 pages
- Publisher: Orion, London (6 July 2000)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0752834487
- ISBN-13: 978-0752834481
- Product Dimensions: 17.2 x 11 x 3.4 cm
- Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 108,761 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Description
Review
"The Midwest Book Review
An exciting historical fiction that blends real events and Sixties rumors into a taut political thriller....A new intriguing conspiracy theory.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Product Description
As President Jack Kennedy takes power, the mob decide to succeed where the CIA has failed and take out Fidel Castro. They despatch a hit man, but it soon turns out that he has his own agenda and target - the President. But is the hitman operating alone, or does someone else want Kennedy dead?
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Helmut Gregor feared the sound of his real name as another man might fear the name of his worst enemy. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Excerpt | Back Cover
Helmut Gregor feared the sound of his real name as another man might fear the name of his worst enemy. Read the first page
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
10 of 11 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
KERR'S WWII-ERA Berlin Noir Trilogy is some of my favorite historical fiction, so I figured I'd give one of his more recent thrillers a chance. This one is set in 1960, mainly in Havana, Miami, New York, with side trips to Vegas and Chicago and takes place over the course of the Nixon/Kennedy election and the buildup to JFK's inauguration. Kerr weaves a fairly elaborate plot around the JFK assassination conspiracy mythos, involving a top assassin, the mob, Cuban intelligence, crooked CIA and FBI agents running amok, inept Secret Service, and a bevy of sexpots-all building up to an attempt to kill Kennedy prior to the inauguration. There are two major, major reversals (ie. unexpected plot twists), and many reviewers are inexplicably revealing the first of these in their summaries. I will not, but suffice to say, it's these two reversals that keep the pages turning. Of course, we all know what happened in Dallas, several years later, and Kerr manages to produce an ending to explain that as well.
Some reviewers have complained that since we know the assassination doesn't take place, there's no suspense. Personally, I found that creating and building the suspense in the face of such knowledge is Kerr's most impressive achievement in this case. Much like Frederick Forsyth's The Day of the Jackal, the reader is drawn into the world and methodology of the killer and those tracking him. Unfortunately, plot seems to be occurring at the expense of character. There's no one to really root for or care about, which is fine in some types of fiction, but doesn't usually work so well in thrillers. Not only is there no one to care about, there's scant characterization to begin with-the male characters all have the same tired tough-guy patter, and the women are exclusively characterized as sex objects (and not surprisingly, banal ones at that). Kerr's attention to cultural icons and detail, which was a wonderful element in his Berlin Noir trilogy, proves to be far less interesting when applied to America in the 1960s (perhaps because it is so much more familiar). When you combine these weaknesses with several linguistic anachronisms, and a total absence of the wonderful turns of phrase in his earlier work, you get the feeling this was a rather dashed off bit of fluff for Kerr.
6 of 7 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
Perhaps the worst Philip Kerr work so far. Tired, obvious and meretricious this is way below the standard of the Bernie Gunther/'Berlin Noir' sequence, and has none of the cerebrality of 'A Philosophical Investigation'. The ending is predictable, the characters two-dimensional and the peppering of 'insider' JFK Assassination jokes lame.
Even as a throwaway airport paperback this would be second-rate: for someone like Kerr, who at his best writes stylish and exciting prose, it's a sad waste of time and effort. There's a definite sense of a multi-book publisher's contract being completed on automatic pilot, by an author with all the obvious conspiracy theory books on one side of his keyboard, and Berlitz guides to NYC and Boston on the other. Buy Don DeLillo's 'Libra' or James Ellroy's 'American Tabloid' instead.
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
I have read a few books by Philip Kerr about life in Germany before the second world war. This is quite different. It centres on the period before JFK is inaugurated as President of USA. It has an inetesting insight to the polotics of the time and the supposed involvement of the MAfia in politics. It also offers some insights into American foreign policy, such as it was.
Worth a read, but a little disappointing, ultimately.
Worth a read, but a little disappointing, ultimately.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Not his best but very readable.
Kerr is one of my favourite writers but I felt the plot was over elaborate at times but still a decent read.
Published on 7 Nov 2009 by Mr. Peter Nelson
superb holiday reading
I got this book in audio version and loaded it onto my ipod for holiday listening. I had never heard of this author before and was more than slightly dubious about the book - WHAT... Read more
Published on 2 Aug 2008 by Lydia Bates
Almost Unputdownable
Although I thought this started off fairly slowly, the plot/action/tension increases dramatically in part two of the story. Read more
Published on 1 Jan 2008 by Charlie_Crocker
Great thriller
I bought the book on a hunch and I was blown away. Great character depiction and a perfect story. Almost alternative history stuff. One of the best books I ever read. Read more
Published on 8 Oct 2007 by Marios Guevara
Found this book in Spain - Great!
Having never heard of the author or the book before, I decided to give it a go, not one for read alot of books, but this was brilliant! Read more
Published on 15 July 2003 by "richard@waitcentral.com"
An excellent assasination yarn with a good twist
I haven't read any of the other books by this auhtor but if they're half as good then they are worth a read. Read more
Published on 6 July 2002
Imaginative thriller set in the turbulent 60's of N America
If you are inquisitive as to the nature and political background of the Assasination of John F Kennedy then this is an alternative and surprising viewpoint. Read more
Published on 31 Dec 2001 by Andrew Fyfe
...Philip Kerr, writer.
Philip Kerr arrived on the scene with the excellent Bernie Gunther novels, set in pre-war Berlin. "The Shot" is iredeemable rubbish: the story line is totally... Read more
Published on 10 Feb 2001
You can't please all of the people all of the time
First rate, top notch, brilliant... I refuse to sit back and let this get just a one-star average as it is one of the finest crime novels out there at the moment. Read more
Published on 6 Nov 2000
Read this book. Read it now.
An excellent book, marked out by superb characters, brilliant pacing and the ability to tell a story with style and humour. Read more
Published on 15 Jan 2000
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