Rating: 
Summary: Great Concept! Poor Novel.
Review: The concept of The Shot is brilliant - fictional hitman Tom Jefferson shuffling behind the scenes of actual history - sort of like the underworld's own Forrest Gump. This turned out to be a grand example of "don't judge a book by its cover", because like a box of chocolates... well, The Shot was not what I expected.There are flashes of great literary candy here, but all too often the effort feels mediocre. Many of the characters, especially the faceless mob men, were so flat they could have been completely interchangeable. Even the anti-hero seemed limp in every way but his actions. One could honestly feel as though they don't know anything about Jefferson, and maybe that's the point, but in actuallity it left this reader not caring about him, his deeds, or his fate. Most of Jefferson's motivation is still a mystery to me. It seemed too simplistic to say he merely did it ONLY for the money. The Shot will initially appeal to many a conspiracy theorist, but even that angle seemed somewhat weak. The Kennedy assassination is almost an afterthought in the wake of the many behind-the-scenes meetings between the movers and shakers of "organized" crime.
Rating: 
Summary: How it all might have happened
Review: The Cuban Revolution, Castro, the Mob, the CIA, the FBI, JFK, RFK, Monroe, Sinatra, Hoffa, and the 1960 election. Havana, Miami, Las Vegas, Palm Beach, New York, and Harvard. Capitalism, communism, Khrushchev, spy versus spy, double agents, triple agents, moles, and one Tom Jefferson (alias Marty van Buren) (alias Franklin Pierce), hit man. This rip roaring trip back to the early '60s, complete with movie stars, gangsters, politicians, entertainers, ball players, blue suede shoes, and cherry coca will immerse you into nostalgia like few thrillers do. Characters that made the headlines some 40 years ago walk off the pages as you listen in on the plotting and back stabbing of the then-famous power brokers.
Kerr's work is not so much a page turner of what happens next as it is a rich tapestry of the hows and whys of history in the making. Eavesdrop on bigger-than-life hoods and pols maneuvering for advantage. Watch while the little people get caught in the crossfire. And wonder if it really did happen this way. But don't look for a protagonist: it's not here. What is here is the early '60s milieu, in spades - and that's your leading character.
Rating:
Summary: Very Clever Turnabout, And Extremely Well Documented
Review: The five stars here are for a well constructed, fun to read twist, on a topic most would consider exhausted. This is my first read of this Author's work, but not my last. The JFK story is one that has been beaten well beyond death. When I first saw the cover, my thought was, "more garbage". I could not have been more wrong. The book is not one that can be reviewed easily as the plot is so precise, well paced, and consistent, that any specifics would begin the guessing before you got to the book. In a sense this would be fine as the direction the book takes is not one you will have seen before, or would guess. General commentary, or a bit about the story would kill the fun. Many of the names in the book will be familiar from other JFK conspiracy theorists; Sam Giancana, Tony Accardo, Meyer Lansky, Bugsy Segal, OSS, FBI, CIA, MIRR, but that is where the similarity ends. A talented mind can always find a new perspective. The Author recreates the time down to the guests on specific talk shows, and popular television programming at the time like, "Mr. Ed", or movies that were playing like "Psycho". The dialogue at times is razor sharp, and the pace of the book will leave you missing at least one night of decent sleep. An all around great read. Highly recommended!
Rating: 
Summary: Told A Story from A Different Angle. Not Bad.
Review: This is actually a very good story. The only problem is with too many wisecracking sentences, really too much, Mr. Kerr. Those unnecessary wisecrackings had made the reading a bit tiresome.
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