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152 reviews for:
The JFK Conspiracy: The Secret Plot to Kill Kennedy—and Why It Failed
Brad Meltzer, Josh Mensch
4.07 AVERAGE
152 reviews for:
The JFK Conspiracy: The Secret Plot to Kill Kennedy—and Why It Failed
Brad Meltzer, Josh Mensch
4.07 AVERAGE
emotional
informative
inspiring
tense
fast-paced
First, thanks to Macmillan Audio, #partner, for this complimentary audiobook!
What a great and New to me story of another conspiracy to assassinate JFK. This is my first Meltzer book and it read with so much ease and gave really great back story to the events that led to the thwarted attempt. I have never spent much time looking deep into the Kennedy presidency or his assassination but now I am most intrigued!
What a great and New to me story of another conspiracy to assassinate JFK. This is my first Meltzer book and it read with so much ease and gave really great back story to the events that led to the thwarted attempt. I have never spent much time looking deep into the Kennedy presidency or his assassination but now I am most intrigued!
This was a fantastic and entertaining audiobook. If you are a history junkie, I would absolutely recommend. I learned so much about the Kenney’s that I had no idea about.
The political climate was so similar to today’s, which seems wild to me. This was such an interesting book!
The political climate was so similar to today’s, which seems wild to me. This was such an interesting book!
informative
medium-paced
challenging
informative
reflective
sad
medium-paced
While at first glance the title of the book sounds like your run-of-the-mill ‘whodunit’ in the John F. Kennedy series, The Kennedy Conspiracy is actually about a lesser-known assassination attempt that took place before President Kennedy’s inauguration.
Richard Pavlick, a retired postal worker from New Hampshire, resented President-elect John F. Kennedy’s victory, political beliefs, and religion. Deciding to take matters into his own hands, he packed his car full of dynamite and found Kennedy in Florida. Had his plot not been thwarted, America never would have seen Kennedy take office. This book focuses on Pavlick’s plot but also supplies a good amount of history of the days just after the 1960 election with an emphasis on Jacqueline Kennedy as between election day and inauguration day, she gave birth to John F. Kennedy Jr.
I don’t recall ever hearing about this assassination attempt. If I have, it was in passing. In the grand scheme of things, a failed attempt has become a footnote. Though I suppose the motives stay a similar realm as the 1963 assassination, this story has a much different tone. There were fewer question marks, and the motives were clear: hate. It struck me how much of Pavlick's disdain stemmed from his hatred of Catholicism. It feels like in modern times, Kennedy's religion and the discrimination he faced during his election (as well as in office) gets brushed off.
What I found most interesting was the psychology of it all. For a man who so hated John F. Kennedy, he spent so much time thinking about him, following and tracking him, talking about him, and above all, was willing to sacrifice his own life in the name of hatred. Of course, now we see this every day. It's an illness that now runs rampant in our society, and it was haunting to realize when similar events happen today, most people don't bat an eye. It might be considered tame. We are desensitized. I appreciated the way this book was able to maintain a shock value in this retelling.
It was interesting to read something new in the Kennedy field. It did feel like it was more about Jackie than Jack aside from him being the target, but everything ties together by the end. I’ve read this author team once before and I enjoyed their work just as much this time. Good research and a unique topic. I listened to the audiobook version and thought the narrator did a fantastic job and kept the narration engaging.
Thanks to Macmillan Audio and NetGalley for providing a free audio-ARC of the book.
Richard Pavlick, a retired postal worker from New Hampshire, resented President-elect John F. Kennedy’s victory, political beliefs, and religion. Deciding to take matters into his own hands, he packed his car full of dynamite and found Kennedy in Florida. Had his plot not been thwarted, America never would have seen Kennedy take office. This book focuses on Pavlick’s plot but also supplies a good amount of history of the days just after the 1960 election with an emphasis on Jacqueline Kennedy as between election day and inauguration day, she gave birth to John F. Kennedy Jr.
I don’t recall ever hearing about this assassination attempt. If I have, it was in passing. In the grand scheme of things, a failed attempt has become a footnote. Though I suppose the motives stay a similar realm as the 1963 assassination, this story has a much different tone. There were fewer question marks, and the motives were clear: hate. It struck me how much of Pavlick's disdain stemmed from his hatred of Catholicism. It feels like in modern times, Kennedy's religion and the discrimination he faced during his election (as well as in office) gets brushed off.
What I found most interesting was the psychology of it all. For a man who so hated John F. Kennedy, he spent so much time thinking about him, following and tracking him, talking about him, and above all, was willing to sacrifice his own life in the name of hatred. Of course, now we see this every day. It's an illness that now runs rampant in our society, and it was haunting to realize when similar events happen today, most people don't bat an eye. It might be considered tame. We are desensitized. I appreciated the way this book was able to maintain a shock value in this retelling.
It was interesting to read something new in the Kennedy field. It did feel like it was more about Jackie than Jack aside from him being the target, but everything ties together by the end. I’ve read this author team once before and I enjoyed their work just as much this time. Good research and a unique topic. I listened to the audiobook version and thought the narrator did a fantastic job and kept the narration engaging.
Thanks to Macmillan Audio and NetGalley for providing a free audio-ARC of the book.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Infidelity, Religious bigotry, Pregnancy
Moderate: Child death, Hate crime, Miscarriage, War
Minor: Chronic illness, Fire/Fire injury
Brad Meltzer and Josh Mensch do it again! This is their fourth book together and they just keep getting better. I love how they take a story from history that most people have never heard of and put it to page in a way that reads more like a story compared to most history books. They've done it with Washington, Lincoln, Roosevelt, Stalin, and Churchill, and now they've done it with JFK. Everyone knows JFK was assassinated, but how many knew there was another attempt on his life after being elected and prior to taking office. I had heard how he was the first Catholic President but I never understood why that was such a big deal, but it became much clearer after reading this book. Also, I learned so much about the relationship between him and Jackie that I never realized before. Their relationship was much different than most typical marriages for the time. I was drawn into this novel and had a hard time putting it down. Definitely made me want to learn more about both JFK and Jackie as well. I would highly recommend this book to anyone who loves history and looking for a good read.
Thank you NetGalley and Flatiron Books for this ARC in exchange for my honest review of this book.
#NetGalley #FlatironBooks #BradMeltzer #JoshMensch #JFKConspiracy
Thank you NetGalley and Flatiron Books for this ARC in exchange for my honest review of this book.
#NetGalley #FlatironBooks #BradMeltzer #JoshMensch #JFKConspiracy
emotional
informative
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
I won this book from a giveaway I don’t remember entering, but man am I glad I won it. I honestly had no idea there was an attempted assassination in 1960. This is a nonfiction book but it’s not written in just factual terms, it’s written like a story. I really enjoyed this and learned a lot.
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
informative
reflective
medium-paced
Scott Brick is forever the greatest narrator of our lifetimes. Meltzer and Mensch knocked it out of the park with this. I was new to the history of JFK beyond the bare facts, and they swept me right up into the world. By the end of it I cared so much for these historical people I will never actually meet. They gave an excellent history lesson on a lesser known moment in the JFK whirlwind, and I loved every second of it.
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Thanks to NetGalley and Flatiron Books for the digital copy of this book; I am leaving this review voluntarily.
I’ve read so much about John F. Kennedy that I had heard of an attempted assassination attempt that was thwarted before he took office, but in all the books I’ve read, the story was not given much detail. The JFK Conspiracy reveals the whole story of Richard Pavlick and his obsession with killing Kennedy.
To say I was riveted would be an understatement. The book alternates chapters involving Pavlick, and the goings on of Jack and Jacqueline Kennedy from the days leading up to the 1960 election. As Election Day approaches, Pavlick gets more agitated, and when Kennedy gets elected, he starts making plans. Pavlick’s behavior is unhinged, yet it reminds me of so many modern-day Proud Boys. To say that he was anti-Catholic and antisemitic is putting it mildly.
Brad Meltzer and Josh Mensch write the story in such a way that the tension slowly builds, and even though the reader knows that at least this one assassin didn’t succeed, you have to keep turning the pages to find out what eventually happens to Pavlick.
It’s a little-known story in the annals of JFK’s history, and I’m glad it’s getting the attention it deserves. The Secret Service thwarted a killer so the United States could have 1000 days of Camelot.
Thanks to NetGalley and Flatiron Books for the digital copy of this book; I am leaving this review voluntarily.
I’ve read so much about John F. Kennedy that I had heard of an attempted assassination attempt that was thwarted before he took office, but in all the books I’ve read, the story was not given much detail. The JFK Conspiracy reveals the whole story of Richard Pavlick and his obsession with killing Kennedy.
To say I was riveted would be an understatement. The book alternates chapters involving Pavlick, and the goings on of Jack and Jacqueline Kennedy from the days leading up to the 1960 election. As Election Day approaches, Pavlick gets more agitated, and when Kennedy gets elected, he starts making plans. Pavlick’s behavior is unhinged, yet it reminds me of so many modern-day Proud Boys. To say that he was anti-Catholic and antisemitic is putting it mildly.
Brad Meltzer and Josh Mensch write the story in such a way that the tension slowly builds, and even though the reader knows that at least this one assassin didn’t succeed, you have to keep turning the pages to find out what eventually happens to Pavlick.
It’s a little-known story in the annals of JFK’s history, and I’m glad it’s getting the attention it deserves. The Secret Service thwarted a killer so the United States could have 1000 days of Camelot.
informative
medium-paced
The JFK Conspiracy
By Brad Meltzer and Josh Mensch
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.5
Thank you NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for the advanced listener copy of this book. All opinions are my own.
This is not my first look at JFK, nor my first Brad Meltzer book.
I enjoy Brad’s writing and his commitment to research. I enjoyed learning about JFK through the lens of Jackie O and Clint Hill, in various previous reads.
This was something altogether different but no less enjoyable. The book begins with Jack’s military service and a look at some lesser-known acts of heroism. I was instantly intrigued.
Then, as the campaign for the Presidency heats up with religion and civil rights being at the forefront, I was struck with some similar parallels between this past November 2024, and late 1959-early 1960. What poignant timing.
The second half of the book looks at the Kennedy ascension to the Presidency and a widely unknown foiled assassination attempt by ex-postal worker and anti-Catholic Pavlick. The storytelling through parallel timelines was really well done.