I've been a fan of all Brad Meltzer's fiction books and I've been pleasantly surprised by his ability to leverage that experience in his non-fiction writing. The first half of the book provides the background on JFK and the climate at the time. It's a little dry, but informative. Around the halfway mark, it picks up and starts telling the story of Richard Pavlick and his quest to assassinate JFK.

The most surprising piece of the book for me was that I had never heard anything about this. It's not mentioned in the cultural zeitgeist or in any history class I took. Not only was it interesting to learn about the attempt, the book also offered a very compelling look into JFK and his life. As someone born well after his time in office, I appreciated getting an understanding of who he was and how he captivated a nation, becoming the first Catholic president.

Again, the first half dragged on a bit, but it was necessary for the payoff and emotional impact once they got into the story of the assassination attempt. Overall, another quality story from Meltzer and Mensch. Between this book, the Nazi Conspiracy, and The First Conspiracy, there's a good story for any time period you're interested in reading.

Another great book by Brad Meltzer and Josh Mensch. This shows a whole different attempt on JFK, and the lead up, and follow up. Very informative. Can't wait for their next book.

I knew a little about JFK before this book, but I was so surprised by all the things that I did not know. I never knew he was in the military in 1943 and that before he becomes commander-in-chief, John F. Kennedy is a lieutenant, in command of a PT-109 boat during World War II. Assigned to battle in the Solomon Islands, he leads his crew on treacherous rescue missions. When their ship is cut in half by a Japanese ship, Kennedy and his men must swim to an island for survival. I also didn't know they made a movie about this called PT-109.

I also didn't know that in the late months of 1960, a retired postal worker tried to assassinate JFK after the election and before his inauguration. This book is well written and held my attention throughout. I would definitely recommend this to anyone interested in history.

Thank you, Net Galley, and Flatiron Books for allowing me the opportunity to read this ARC. Thank you, Brad Meltzer and Josh Mensch, for writing such an interesting book.

A new perspective on the life of JFK and the early attempt at his life that is thwarted by none other than Jackie herself. As an avid Kennedy fan, this brings a little known piece of their history into a clarity not seen before. For a piece of nonfiction, it is also a remarkably easy read! Thanks to NetGalley for this one!

Brad Meltzer is a master! He dives deep into his topics and really shares the details and the history behind the events he writes about. This one tells of the first assassination attempt on President Kennedy, shortly after the election. It was interesting to read and I learned a lot about something I knew, but had not read much about previously.

I don’t know if it is because I live in the Dallas area or my parents have reminisced about that November 22nd so many times, but I have always been fascinated with the Kennedy assassination. I fall into the category of a conspiracist, I DO believe there had to be a second shooter. After everything I have seen and heard, how could there not have been?

When I saw Brad’s (Yes, I call him by his first name. I feel like we have know each other for a very long time. Whenever I see him, I remembers me immediately. I’m going to take that as a friendship instead of good acting in his part! He helped connect me with the illustrator of his wonderful I Am… biography series, Chris Eliopolus for a coloring book I helped to create in 2017.) new conspiracy book was on JFK, I just knew it was going to be about 1963, and then I read the sub-title:The Secret Plot to Kill Kennedy-and Why it Failed. I was absolutely shocked! I had no idea there was an assassination plan prior to the inauguration of Kennedy. I learned about parts of the young Kennedy’s lives of which I was not aware. I especially enjoyed reading about Mrs. Kennedy’s special bond with her Secret Service Agent, Clint Hill. The personal accounts of Mr. Hill brought a unique insight into the First Lady.

Brad creates a story that makes you believe you are reading a novel, a work of fiction; however the meticulously documentation proves otherwise. I didn’t realize the irony of reading this book about the 1961 Presidential inauguration mere days before the 2025 inauguration.

Leave it this crew to knock it out of the park again with another well researched, edge of your seat non-fiction account of the events leading up to JFK’s first assassination attempt. It’s a little known story that’s brought to life with a fascinating account of events before Kennedy’s inauguration. Brad Meltzer and Josh Mensch bring to life another page turner and in return deliver a great piece of non-fiction. The story guides us through a little known event surrounding the first assassination attempt on John F. Kennedy, in the days before his inauguration. Everyone knows of his assassination in Dallas in 1963. The JFK Conspiracy is a fascinating look into a lesser known assassination attempt on then President-Elect Kennedy in Florida. It’s a must read for any history buff and thriller junkie. Meltzer fans will rejoice!

Thank you to NetGalley and Flatiron Books for the advanced copy, set to come out on January 14th, 2025.

Not many people seem to know that in the late months of 1960 a retired postal worker named Richard Pavlick was stopped from killing then president elect John F. Kennedy. If not for the information from a postal worker in the small town Pavlick was living in delivered to the local Secret Service and the police in Palm Beach, Florida the attack might have actually happened. Pavlick was determined to carry out his attack as he was upset that the young, Catholic man had won the presidency and was determined that he not take the office of the President. This book tracks the planning by Pavlick and the path he undertook to make it happen. It also tells the story of JFK and his wife during the months preceding the election and the months following. Then it tells of the months that JFK was president up to and including the actual assassination that did happen. Very interesting read for anyone interested in the history of the events.

Most of us know more about John F. Kennedy than about most other U.S. presidents, and there are tons of books out there for those who want to learn even more. This book, however, details how his presidency almost ended before it even began. After his election, but before he was sworn in, a retired postal worker was determined to prevent that inauguration from happening. He knew Kennedy’s schedule, down to the minute, and had a plan that, had it been successful, would have changed history.

I was a young child when Kennedy was assassinated, so I don’t remember anything at all about the fervor that surrounded the 1960 election, but the relevant parts of this book made me feel like I was there. The authors also give us more than a glimpse into the personal lives of the Kennedys, even going back to show how some of Jack’s personality traits were passed down from his father and grandfather. We also get part of the story from the POV of the Secret Service agent in charge of Jackie’s protection detail.

The book does not end when this plot against Kennedy was contained, but continues on until the events in Dallas in November 1963. The SS agent’s POV from that day was riveting, but most of the rest of what’s reported here is familiar material.

I have read and enjoyed all of this author pair’s Conspiracy books and look forward to whatever/whoever they tackle next.

This book details the true, little-known story about the first assassination attempt on John F. Kennedy, right before he was inaugurated. The would-be assassin was a retired postal worker named Richard Pavlick, who waited in his parked Buick on a quiet street in Palm Beach, Florida. His plan was simple - drive his car straight at JFK when he saw him leaving his Palm Beach residence, and ignite the sticks of dynamite in his car, blowing Kennedy and himself up. Due to a chain of events, he was thwarted and John F. Kennedy became our 35th U.S. President.

This book was absolutely fascinating. I am a history buff anyway, but I found a treasure trove of facts I was previously unaware of in this captivating biography. It was interesting (and disturbing) to see some of the parallels between the Kennedy/Nixon election and the Harris/Trump election we just witnessed. There was also a lot of backstory about both John F. Kennedy & Jacqueline Kennedy and what shaped them. The book ends after he was assassinated in Dallas riding in a motorcade in 1963. If you are a history buff like myself, then you will definitely want to add this to your TBR pile. You will love it!

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.

An enjoyable read of a little known attempt to assassinate President Kennedy shortly after his election. The book follows Kennedy during his days in WW II, his run for President and the fact that he was Catholic, and the attempted assassination while he was in Palm Beach. I thought the description of Mamie Eisenhower was fascinating especially since I knew nothing about her. The book does not delve into Kennedy's time as President but is focused on his life up to being sworn in as President.

This books discusses the possibility of JFK's assassination in 1960 by a mad man with a car bomb. It was interesting to read but didn't really give me any aha moments. The story was a bit slow for my taste but I know it will be perfect for a history buff.

Before Dallas, November 22 1963, even before JFK's inauguration, January 20 1960, the controversial President-elect came within moments of being blown up by a dynamite laden Buick driven by an anti-Catholic fanatic ex-postal worker (possibly the first case of someone "going postal").

In The JFK Conspiracy, Josh Mensch and Brad Meltzer tell the story of this plot to kill Kennedy and why it failed. You can look it up on Wikipedia, so I'm not spoiling anything by telling you that just as he was ready to floor it and drive his car into Kennedy's, Jackie unknowingly put herself in the crossfire. The would-be assassin aborted because he did not want her to be collateral damage. In fact, you could just get the whole story on Wikipedia if you wanted to.

But to properly tell the story of this moment that has been relegated to something even less than a historical footnote, despite its gravity, the authors have to provide a lot of background on how JFK came to be a presidential candidate, how he had to overcome anti-Catholic sentiment, and how Jackie Bouvier Kennedy became his future first lady. They do a wonderful job of weaving that tale.

But -- in thanking Net Galley for providing the ARC in exchange for an honest review, I have to provide a review that is honest. I have to warn readers to read the title carefully and check the summary, because if you're looking for a history of JFK's actual assassination, this is not it.

That shouldn't be an issue, this is still an interesting read, except for the appearance of the word conspiracy in the title. Correct me if I'm wrong, but can you have a conspiracy that involves only one person? And is it a secret plot if the lone wolf plotter tells a fellow postal worker about it, which is how law enforcement learns about the plot? And is it an actual plot when the plotter just kind of wanders around with a car full of dynamite waiting for a chance to blow it up?

So if you're looking for a secret conspiracy like the ones people have speculated endlessly about JFK's actual assassination, you're not going to find it here. Or more simply, if you think this will be about his actual assassination and you're hoping from the title to learn that it actually failed, you're not going to find it here.

(BTW, it is not with flippancy that I write that his actual assassination plot may have failed. I read a book recently that speculates that it did fail, at least insofar as Oswald's shots may not have been fatal, the kill shot possibly discharged accidentally by a hung over Secret Service agent in the trailing vehicle. Yet another JFK conspiracy theory.)

Another problem I have with this book is the use of present tense to tell the story. This is not a novel, although the intent is clearly to make it read like one. But it is history, and parts of the story are quotes from sources that post-date the events and are therefore in the past tense. To mix them in with the present tense narrative was (at least for me) a constant distraction.

These events happened 64 years ago and are so far in the past that literally no one other than historians like Mensch knew it ever happened, overshadowed as it was by a serious air crash that happened on the same day. It would have read better than way, as something that happened well into the past.

I was fortunate enough to read The Nazi Conspiracy by these two authors, which was an excellent account of a failed plot to kill FDR, Churchill, and Stalin, a plot that has also become a mere footnote in history despite its gravity. That was an actual conspiracy, with an incredible back story that needed to be told, including a broad analysis of WWII as a whole.

This story is really just a footnote. It's perfect material for JFK conspiracy completists, but I feel there are better books about the most important parts of this story -- the 1960 election and Jackie Kennedy.

I have in the past few months read four different books that include a lot of JFK in them -- just by happenstance of availability on Net Galley, not because I'm particularly obsessed with him (not that you could tell from this review). Though the others are about the well known aspects of his presidency and assassination, the novelty of this story does not elevate it past the others.

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

The JFK Conspiracy by Brad Meltzer and Josh Mensch
History is not my usual reading matter, but THIS transcends. I wish my history classes had been even half this interesting. The prose and storytelling are stellar, and the lessons are real. The look behind the scenes added so much context to what I already knew. The cost to family for dedication to public service seems overwhelming, even without the ultimate price, and the courage to keep going is awe-inspiring.
This book took me back to 9th grade, reading HUCK FINN, hearing the shattering announcement of events in Dallas, and thinking that Civil Rights efforts played a part in the assassin’s hatred (still valid IMHO). JFK’s campaign was the first I really paid attention to, and like so many, I was inspired, and then crushed by the loss. I was aware of the “control from Rome” objections, but having been Baptist until age 10 and then Catholic and knowing how little control we ever felt, I dismissed that worry. Hate, though, is an ongoing and even more terrible concern. We need the lessons this book provides.

I recently read The JFK Conspiracy by Brad Meltzer and Josh Mensch. This nonfiction book is about a plot to kill John F. Kennedy after he was elected but before the inauguration. It was a planned assassination that most people don't know about. Brad Meltzer has a way with history. Even in his fiction books, he has a certain way of relating the importance of a place, time or event. While I favor thrillers I was completely entertained. This well researched story is told in human terms, making me wish all textbooks could be written in this manner. I found myself flipping pages faster and faster, and in tears by the end. We all know what happens to JFK but reading the specifics of a nation's future wasted and a family crushed, seemed so personal.

If you lived through the Kennedy era you should read this, I bet there is lots you don't know. If you weren't around in the early 60's, you should read The JFK Conspiracy to learn more about what we almost had. It will make you wonder if it is still possible and hope for the future.

Despite my loving all Meltzer's books, I think this one will stick with me for a very long time.

Many thanks to NetGalley, Flatiron Books, and Brad Meltzer and Josh Mensch. Your time machine was amazing.

Historians bring us the past so we can learn not to make the same mistakes.

This book was absolutely absorbing with a profound sense of the beauty and darkness detailing the lives of Jacqueline and John F. Kennedy. Two people wanted to bring Americans together for the love of our country.

We know what happened. The question for years was: “Where were you when you heard that President Kennedy was shot?” I was in third grade watching my teacher cry; she was heartbroken in front of the class. For a week, we watched on our black and white TV --the tears, the darkness, the funeral with Jackie covering her face with the black veil with her two children next to her. There were only three channels all showing the same footage. Everyone was in shock.

Jacqueline Kennedy wanted us to remember her life with John F. Kennedy as if they were playing the leading parts of the popular movie, Camelot, where there was great love and tragedy. We know about the Dallas incident that is replayed over and over again. But there was another assassination attempt and this book told the story that was buried in the news.

The writing helps you to understand the key points that happened during this time that are rarely told. It makes the reader remember this period when President Kennedy was hoping to get support for the Civil Rights Movement. He was leading the way for the younger generation to get involved with the Peace Corps.

It’s very well written and one that stays with you. You’d think with all the books over the years that every piece of the Kennedy story has been told. Yet, this provided readers with a renewed sense of what lead up to the day the President was shot

Why now? Why are we reading the JFK story again? Are people paying attention? This is the first book that I’ve read by Brad Meltzer and won’t be the last. I’m now listening to “The Nazi Conspiracy” which is also excellent.

My thanks to Flatiron Books and NetGalley for the opportunity to read an advanced copy of this book with an expected release date of January 14, 2025.

This was such a interesting nonfiction book about the JFK assassination, it was well written and was invested in learning the information. Brad Meltzer and Josh Mensch was able to create a unique take on the JFK assassination and thought the research was well done.

I was so excited when I received an ARC of this book. I admit I have always been fascinated by the JFK conspiracy. I couldn't wait to download this one. I have read books by Meltzer before, and I was not disappointed. This was an excellent deep dive into the whole of the JFK story. I thought it was well researched, and it was written so well. I couldn't put it down. I will be recommending it to other readers. Thank you Net Galley ARC!