The Shot

Rating:
Summary: About average for Kerr; he can do better
Review: At this point, I have read all of Philip Kerr's in-print works with the exception of the Berlin Noir trilogy (which I have but have not yet read). "The Shot" ranks about average among those works; it's pretty good but doesn't have either the deepness of thought exhibited by "A Philosophical Investigation" or the sheer energetic violence of "The Grid."

The plot, such as can be described in a short review, has been adequately set forth in other reviews: essentially, the anti-hero, Tom Jefferson, is a former U.S. marine turned hitman who in 1960 accepts a contract from the Mob and the CIA to kill Cuban revolutionary Fidel Castro. That is, until he learns that President-elect Kennedy slept with his wife. All of a sudden, Jefferson is off to kill Kennedy, and the Mob is in the strange position of having to work to protect Kennedy, whom they helped to elect by rigging the election in exchange for calling off the government dogs.

The fact that we know that Kennedy wasn't assassinated in 1960 actually doesn't affect one's enjoyment of the book, because Kerr does a good job of moving the plot along, and because his (for the most part) meticulous research about events in 1960 creates a feeling of verisimilitude. [Someone should tell Kerr that it's the Second Amendment, not the First Amendment, that allegedly guarantees the right to bear arms.]

One gets the feeling that Kerr's spark for writing his novels is something along the lines of "What if . . ." So, we have: (1) What if we could identify a physical characteristic linked to serial killers ("A Philosophical Investigation"); (2) What if there was a building run by a psychopathic supercomputer ("The Grid"); (3) What if there was a supercontagious blood-borne virus for which there was a cure, but the rich purposefully rationed the cure ("The Second Angel"); (4) What if I [Philip Kerr] tried to write a novel like Elmore Leonard ("A Five-Year Plan"); and (5) What if I [Kerr] tried to write a novel like Michael Crichton ("Esau")?

Along those lines, "The Shot" seems to have been inspired by two separate lines of thought: What if I [Kerr] tried to write a novel about an anti-hero like Patricia Highsmith's Tom Ripley; and what if I [Kerr] tried to write a Kennedy conspiracy novel?

"The Shot" was compelling enough that I read the last 150 pages in a single sitting. But if you haven't read Kerr before, I would suggest starting with "A Philosophical Investigation" or "The Grid," depending on your sensibilities.

Rating:
Summary: Enjoyed immensely
Review: Contrary to some of the other reviewers here, I enjoyed this a great deal. It was an interesting concept, well executed. It really holds your attention, and while you might suspect it's another "what if" historical novel, it's not that at all. Revealing the ending would ruin the read, so I'll merely suggest that you read and enjoy. I would concur with others though who suggest The Shot is not up to his Berlin Noir trilogy. I think they may be the best detective novels of the century.

Rating:
Summary: pretty good read
Review: i enjoyed the shot, although the ending was a let down.psfort sam houston is in san antonio, not dallas.

Rating:
Summary: Phony as a three-dollar-bill
Review: I had high hopes for this work because I really enjoyed Kerr's "Berlin Noir" trilogy, but I was very disappointed with "The Shot." The concept was interesting: A paid assassin is contracted to kill Castro, but changes targets when a pre-presidential JFK sleeps with his wife, who happens to be a campaign worker for JFK. The dialogue in the book, particularly the conversations of the gangsters, rings horribly false - more like privileged writers concepts of how gangsters talk. Page after page has that over-writerly feel, if you know what I mean. When a book is really good, you are not really conscious of the writer. In this book, you can practically sense Mr. Kerr patting himself on the back for another great line. The main character, a hit man named "Thomas Jefferson" comes off as an extremely labored, mannered creation. Compare this character with "The Jackal" in Fredrick Forsyth's book, and you will see what I mean. One seems extremely believable and real, one seems like a writer's concept of a killer. I don't normally pick details, but the whole book turned silly for me when the author had a character "thumb back the safety" on a Smith & Wesson .38 revolver. This is kind of a classic writer's blunder that I didn't think any writer could make anymore, what with the advent of quick Internet research, but apparently it still happens. Revolvers do not have safeties. This alone would not have tanked the book for me, though. It was just kind of indicative of the essential falseness of the work.

Rating:
Summary: Good twist on some old themes
Review: I really enjoyed this read. The Kennedy/CIA/FBI conspiracy and Cuba/Castro/CIA themes have been done so may times it was hard to pick up this book, however I was really glad I did. With great characters, good plot developement and some great twists in the plot I really didn't know what to expect at the end. I think the mix of very familiar history with fiction worked very well.
This is a great summer read!!!
I just wish the Brits would learn how to spell color and harbor (no "u") and words that end in ize (not ise) :)

Rating:
Summary: What a juicy, fun story!
Review: i'm beginning to think that thrillers like these should carry some kind of disclaimer. WARNING FROM THE LITERARY COUNCIL: do not get too excited. This material contains an ending which may disappoint. Because in almost every other respect, The Shot is not only Kerr's finest, most thrilling, best plotted and fascinatingly peopled work to date - it is a fine and worthy and exciting thriller in its own right. A "new take on the plot to kill JFK", The Shot takes you beneath the surface of the 1960 presidential election and the Cuban Crisis, providing a fascinating look at the mob, FBI, CIA and Cuban-related shenanigans going on at the time. In the middle of it all is professional killer Tom Jefferson (all his other aliases are president names too - nice touch!). Here, Kerr displays what seems to be an almost disturbing understanding of the lives, methods and motivations of professional killers. There are actually three sharply-drawn assassins in this book, each with enough depth, charisma and drawing power to carry a whole thriller on their own. That aspect of The Shot is outstanding - you get the sense that Kerr has either done a great deal of research or has a genius mind for creating believable and ingenious detail. But none of that can make up for the way I feel about The Shot having just finished it. Most of the action takes place between the latter part of 1960 and the beginning of 1961. And as everybody knows, JFK was assassinated in 63. So it's as you draw closer and closer to the last page, and it's still only January 1961, that you begin to get this sinking feeling that this isn't all leading where you hoped it might. And without giving away the end of the book, when everything resolves itself (in an extremely rushed fashion, I might add) the sense of disappointment is enormous. I can't help feeling that if somehow this book had been stolen from me and never recovered, somewhere around page 350, I might have gone on thinking it one of the best thrillers i'd ever read.

Rating:
Summary: Felt Rather Dashed Off
Review: Kerr's WWII-era Berlin Trilogy (March Violets, The Pale Criminal, A German Requiem) is some of my favourite 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, 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 a lot 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 amazingly 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.

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.