Top Down: A Novel of the Kennedy Assassination, by Jim Lehrer
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Top Down: A Novel of the Kennedy Assassination, by Jim Lehrer
Best Ebook Top Down: A Novel of the Kennedy Assassination, by Jim Lehrer
In a riveting novel rooted in one of American history’s great “what ifs,” Jim Lehrer tells the story of two men haunted by the events leading up to John F. Kennedy’s assassination.
November 22, 1963. As Air Force One touches down in Dallas, ambitious young newspaper reporter Jack Gilmore races to get the scoop on preparations for President Kennedy’s motorcade. Will the bubble top on the presidential limousine be up or down? Down, according to veteran Secret Service agent Van Walters. The decision to leave the top down and expose JFK to fire from above will weigh on Van’s conscience for decades. But will it also change the course of history?
Five years after the assassination, Jack gets an anguished phone call from Van’s daughter Marti. Van Walters is ravaged by guilt, so convinced that his actions led to JFK’s death that he has lost the will to live. In a desperate bid to deliver her father from his demons, Marti enlists Jack’s help in a risky reenactment designed to prove once and for all what would have happened had the bubble top stayed in place on that grim November day.
For Jack, it’s a chance to break a once-in-a-lifetime story that could make his career. But for Van the stakes are even higher. The outcome of a ballistics test conducted on the grounds of a secluded estate in upstate New York might just save his life―or push him over the edge.
A compelling historical novel with the beating heart of a thriller, Top Down could only have sprung from the fertile imagination of Jim Lehrer. Drawing on his own experience as an eyewitness to the events described, one of America’s most respected journalists has crafted an engrossing story out of the emotional aftershocks of a national tragedy.
Top Down: A Novel of the Kennedy Assassination, by Jim Lehrer - Published on: 2015-09-08
- Formats: Audiobook, MP3 Audio, Unabridged
- Original language: English
- Number of items: 1
- Dimensions: 6.75" h x .50" w x 5.25" l,
- Running time: 5 Hours
- Binding: MP3 CD
Top Down: A Novel of the Kennedy Assassination, by Jim Lehrer From Publishers Weekly Lehrer (formerly the anchor of PBS's NewsHour) draws upon his experiences as a reporter in Dallas on November 22, 1963, for this unusual take on the Kennedy assassination. His fictional alter ego in the novel, Dallas Tribune reporter Jack Gilmore, is at Love Field when the Kennedys arrive. Fact-checking his story, Jack asks a Secret Service agent if the president's limousine will be traveling through Dallas with the plastic bubble top up or down. Since the top is intended only for use in the rain, and clear skies are expected, agent Van Walters indicates that it not be used. That reasonable choice (the top was neither bulletproof nor intended to protect Kennedy) naturally leads to feelings of profound guilt on Van's part after the fatal shots are fired in Dealey Plaza. Five years later, Van's 20-year-old daughter, Marti, asks for Jack's help reversing her father's depression, leading to a macabre reenactment in which the former agent tries to prove to himself that there's nothing he could have done differently. Lehrer doesn't say anything particularly profound here about the tragedy's long-lasting aftereffects, but his premise does make for a refreshing change from the usual conspiracy thrillers about the J.F.K. assassination. Agent: Will Lippincott, Lippincott Massie McQuilken. (Oct.)
From Booklist Lehrer has crafted a uniquely focused novel about the assassination of John F. Kennedy and the ripple effect it had on both individuals and the nation as a whole. Utilizing his firsthand knowledge and experience—he was actually a reporter in Dallas on November 22, 1963—the author shifts away from the big-picture event in order to zero in on two seemingly minor players in the national tragedy. Five years after Kennedy’s death, reporter Jack Gilmore is approached by Marti Walters, the daughter of former Secret Service Agent Van Walters, the man responsible for assessing the weather and making the decision on whether to keep the presidential limo’s plastic bubble top up or down on that fateful day. Plagued by guilt and suffering from debilitating post-traumatic stress syndrome, Van is physically and psychologically on his last legs. In a race against time, Jack and Marti attempt to re-create the events of that day in order to prove to Van once and for all that he was not responsible for the president’s death.HIGH-DEMAND BACKSTORY: Fifty years after the assassination of JFK, the tragic events of that day still resonate with the nation. Lehrer’s unique story-within-a-story approach provides a fresh fictional perspective that will appeal to readers who can never get enough Kennedy. --Margaret Flanagan
Review Praise for Top Down “Lehrer (formerly the anchor of PBS’s NewsHour) draws upon his experiences as a reporter in Dallas on November 22, 1963, for this unusual take on the Kennedy assassination. . . . A refreshing change from the usual conspiracy thrillers about the J.F.K. assassination.”—Publishers Weekly “A nice fictional counterpoint to the [many] nonfiction books coming out this year to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the assassination.”—BookPage “PBS newsman and veteran fiction writer Jim Lehrer asks an intriguing question. . . . What if the Secret Service agent who decided not to equip the presidential limousine with its bubble top ended up blaming himself for John F. Kennedy's assassination? . . . It’s a promising plot, especially as a cultural take on the event that rocked the country a half-century ago.”—Associated PressPraise for Jim Lehrer Super “Sheer delights . . . combines the rolling suspense of Murder on the Orient Express with the high jinks of [Lehrer’s] lighter novels.”—The Kansas City Star Oh, Johnny “A warmhearted evocation of the road not taken.”—Kirkus Reviews Eureka “A nutty, likable romp [that] quickly takes on a deeper resonance that is certain to please readers . . . quite moving.”—The Washington Post The Phony Marine “A story of emotional depth and unexpected twists of plot . . . [Lehrer] delivers a convincing and compelling story.”—The Oklahoman The Franklin Affair “A serious-minded yet breezy detective story . . . perfectly suited to beach reading and deep enough to raise lasting questions about life, liberty and the pursuit of historical accuracy.”—The Miami Herald
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Most helpful customer reviews
20 of 21 people found the following review helpful. Not much to review...not much to entertain By rgregg I vividly remember where I was when JFK was assassinated and I like Jim Lehrer as both a newsman and a writer so when I saw the title of this book, I was excited to see what kind of take Mr. Lehrer would bring to this tragedy.This book is slight in both length(184 pages) and in plot.Normally I try to avoid spoilers in my review but a spoiler is generally something surprising or dramatic and there is little to spoil in this story.Essentially, Jack Gilmore is a Washington based reporter who was in Dallas on that fateful day in November of 1963. The story opens in 1968 when he is approached by the daughter of one of the Secret Service agents who was part of the President's protection detail. That agent, Van Walters, was the one who decided not to use the bubble top on the limousine for the motorcade. The daughter Marti tells how her father is suicidal and feels he is the one responsible for the death of the President. He thinks that had the bubble top been used in the motorcade, the President would have survived.And that's about it. We learn about the days and years following November 22 and how Walters and the family were transferred to many cities, how Marti had to deal with high school students who blamed Dallas for killing JFK. Gilmore eventually meets Van Walters and becomes determined to re-enact the incident with the bubble top attached to the car.That process takes up much of this rather meaningless novel with Jack trying to find the exact weapon, the exact bubble top, the exact angle and more. And when the recreation does happen, he doesn't even have the matches that he needs.The only character that strikes caring for the reader is Van Walters himself. He is somewhat charismatic as a tortured soul who failed in his job of protecting his President. That leads to one imagining how the actual agents who were on duty on that sad day feel about what happened and there are books written by those people which would be far more fascinating and informative than this drivel.The author feels compelled to throw in a romantic relationship between Marti and Jack Gilmore which is neither interesting or important to the story.There are times when you feel Lehrer is writing a novel aimed at tweeners as he explores the angst of growing up in different cities and going to different schools. But it just wastes time and ink.If you know anything about the events of November 22, you will gain no new knowledge after reading this novel. If you know nothing about it, you will only know the basics which you can read about online to save yourself $26 when this book is published.It's a fast read because there is nothing for the reader to absorb and when you are done, you'll echo the words of an old song called "Is That All There Is?"Jim Lehrer is a much better writer than this piece of lazy writing indicates. Hoping for better stuff next time.
13 of 14 people found the following review helpful. Kennedy Assassination is Peripheral By James R. Spitznas When I ordered the book I had expected that the assassination of JFK would be the focal element of the story. Not so. Rather the story chronicles the direct impact of the assassination on one of the Secret Service agents assigned to protect Kennedy and indirectly to his family. In an effort to help the agent recover from his debilitating PTSD the agent's daughter and a reporter that covered Kennedy's arrival at Love Field end up testing the hypothesis that if the plexiglass top had been installed on the Presidential limousine it would not have stopped the bullets aimed at JFK. While it was mildly disappointing that there was not more what-ifs or alternate theories about the assassination, this book is more about the journey than the destination and it was an enjoyable ride at that.If you are looking for novels that deal more intimately with the Kennedy assassination I can highly recommend both "11-22-63" by Stephen King and "The Third Bullet" by Stephen Hunter.
10 of 11 people found the following review helpful. Not much to see here By Evelyn Uyemura I had pretty high hopes for this novel--it's the 50th anniversary of the Kennedy assassination, and I am always interested in this topic, and here's a book by Jim Lehrer, of PBS, who was a reporter in Dallas on the day of the assassination in 1963. If he's going to bother to write a book, even a fictionalized version of the events, I expect that he has some new insight or interesting angle.And there is an angle: it's fully explained in the 2-3 sentence blurb--in actuality, he heard a Secret Service agent give the "order" to remove the plexiglas bubble top from the presidential limousine that day in Dallas. The fictional part is that Lehrer goes on to imagine that the agent is haunted by guilt and what might have been, despite the fact that the "bubble" was not bullet-proof and was intended only to protect from weather, not bullets. From there, the story-telling goes downhill quickly. The reporter, who is and is not Lehrer himself, gets a call from the agent's 20 year old daughter that he might be able to save this man from death by guilt, if he can come to Kinderhook, NY and convince him that Kennedy's death was not his fault.Of course, we know it was not his fault, because the decision to have an open car was not actually made by the agent, and because the plexiglas was never intended as a safety measure. But on and on the story goes, with a feeble love interest thrown in to keep the story going for the slim 185 pages.And in the end, well, nothing happens. The reporter does not fulfill his desire for the girl (she's too young--he's 30 and she's 20, and besides she's a "source." Ho-hum.) And then the two non-lovers meet up 50 years later, and nothing much happens then either. Instead, the novel ends with the reporter thinking about writing his story as a novel.There is no new insight here, once you know that the bubble was not a protective device. And so maybe it would have deflected the bullets? Or maybe not?Really a big let-down, to me. A fast read, very pedestrian writing, and not much to say.
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