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hayesstw 's review for:
Winter Kills
by Richard Condon
An almost unbelievably naive protagonist, Nick Thirkield, hears the dying confession of a man who claimed to have murdered his half-brother, former US President Tim Kegan, and decides to go in search of the people behind the killing. He suspects, rightly, that there has been a cover-up. As the privileged son of a rich businessman, he has almost unlimited resources with no financial constraints.
He goes to visit those he suspects of involvement in his brother's killing with no apparent misgivings, and they seem quite willing to confess to him their involvement in a crime, which, if proved, would carry a severe penalty. and are quite happy to point him to other people involved, with no apparent fear of repercussions. And even when there are repercussions, Nick blunders on, undeterred.
The author clearly intended it to reflect the Kennedy assassination by incorporating details of that, right down to the "grassy knoll" whose function is equally obscure in both cases.
I took this book out of the library because [a:Andre Jute|299033|Andre Jute|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1299276087p2/299033.jpg], in his book [b:Writing a Thriller|18168325|Writing a Killer Thriller An Editor's Guide to Writing Compelling Fiction|Jodie Renner|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1373233465l/18168325._SY75_.jpg|21873681] said that [a:Richard Condon|214583|Richard Condon|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1220128306p2/214583.jpg] was one of the best thriller writers around. So I, wanting an example of a paradigm case thriller, read this book. But there was little that was thrilling about it. And it broke one of the cardinal rules that books about writing thrillers lay down: no info dumps. This entire book was an info dump.
He goes to visit those he suspects of involvement in his brother's killing with no apparent misgivings, and they seem quite willing to confess to him their involvement in a crime, which, if proved, would carry a severe penalty. and are quite happy to point him to other people involved, with no apparent fear of repercussions. And even when there are repercussions, Nick blunders on, undeterred.
The author clearly intended it to reflect the Kennedy assassination by incorporating details of that, right down to the "grassy knoll" whose function is equally obscure in both cases.
I took this book out of the library because [a:Andre Jute|299033|Andre Jute|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1299276087p2/299033.jpg], in his book [b:Writing a Thriller|18168325|Writing a Killer Thriller An Editor's Guide to Writing Compelling Fiction|Jodie Renner|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1373233465l/18168325._SY75_.jpg|21873681] said that [a:Richard Condon|214583|Richard Condon|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1220128306p2/214583.jpg] was one of the best thriller writers around. So I, wanting an example of a paradigm case thriller, read this book. But there was little that was thrilling about it. And it broke one of the cardinal rules that books about writing thrillers lay down: no info dumps. This entire book was an info dump.