I got around to reading this novel by Bryce Zabel, with a "JFK lives" premise, and I absolutely could not put it down. I'm usually a slow reader, but I literally finished this book in a day, because it was that much of a page-turner.
I can't help but compare it to the other JFK lives story that we got last year, around the 50th anniversary of Dallas, "If Kennedy Lived" by Jeff Greenfield. While I consider them both good in terms of realism and plausibility, they offer two very different takes. While Greenfield chose to assume that Oswald was acting alone, and focus on what an uninterrupted Kennedy presidency would look like, Zabel makes it all about the likelihood that Oswald wasn't acting alone. Whereas Greenfield focuses on the assassination not changing much, Zabel postulates that the assassination would've shaken up everything about how the Kennedys approached things.
It's all about how Jack and Bobby react to shooting, and become convinced that some of Jack's powerful enemies (and that's a huge list!) had to have been the ones who tried to kill him in broad daylight. They try to investigate, balance it with moving on with JFK's presidency and putting on a reassuring face, and delve into the corruption and intrigue going on in 1960s American politics. Of course, I won't give away the ending here, but I will say that while I didn't exactly find it realistic, it was certainly unique, original, and actually quite moving.
All in all, while Kennedy living has long been a favorite WI topic, I think that last year gave us the two definitive published works which explore that, with Greenfield and Zabel's books. Equally good in realism and understanding of historical details, but highly different in interpretation.
In the meantime, anyone else read Surrounded by Enemies? What did you think?
I can't help but compare it to the other JFK lives story that we got last year, around the 50th anniversary of Dallas, "If Kennedy Lived" by Jeff Greenfield. While I consider them both good in terms of realism and plausibility, they offer two very different takes. While Greenfield chose to assume that Oswald was acting alone, and focus on what an uninterrupted Kennedy presidency would look like, Zabel makes it all about the likelihood that Oswald wasn't acting alone. Whereas Greenfield focuses on the assassination not changing much, Zabel postulates that the assassination would've shaken up everything about how the Kennedys approached things.
It's all about how Jack and Bobby react to shooting, and become convinced that some of Jack's powerful enemies (and that's a huge list!) had to have been the ones who tried to kill him in broad daylight. They try to investigate, balance it with moving on with JFK's presidency and putting on a reassuring face, and delve into the corruption and intrigue going on in 1960s American politics. Of course, I won't give away the ending here, but I will say that while I didn't exactly find it realistic, it was certainly unique, original, and actually quite moving.
All in all, while Kennedy living has long been a favorite WI topic, I think that last year gave us the two definitive published works which explore that, with Greenfield and Zabel's books. Equally good in realism and understanding of historical details, but highly different in interpretation.
In the meantime, anyone else read Surrounded by Enemies? What did you think?