The JFK Conspiracy: The Secret Plot to Kill Kennedy—and Why It Failed by Brad Meltzer
I’ve been away from this column for a few months, which makes the latest nonfiction tome from the great Brad Meltzer the perfect lead to mark the return of the Thrill List. And, man, does The JFK Conspiracy: The Secret Plot to Kill Kennedy — and Why It Failed ever thrill!
I know what you’re thinking: the plot to kill JFK didn’t fail. Actually, though, another would-be assassin had every intention of killing him before he was inaugurated and long before the name Lee Harvey Oswald became a fixture of history. You’ve never heard the name Richard Pavlick, but he came oh so close to rendering the pseudo-conspiracy that haunts us to this day moot. It was December of 1960 when Pavlick got closer to our thirty-fifth president than Oswald ever did.
How that happened, and what bought JFK those extra three years, is laid out in exquisite, superbly researched detail. Meltzer, writing in tandem again with Josh Mensch, has fashioned a thriller every bit as riveting as his fictional tales, a real-life Day of the Jackal or The Eagle Has Landed. As riveting as it is relentless, The JFK Conspiracy is a masterpiece of form and function. An instant classic.
The Big Empty by Robert Crais
For a more traditional fictional thriller, look no further than Robert Crais’ brilliant and bracing The Big Empty, the twentieth book to feature the team of Elvis Cole and Joe Pike.
Such a momentous occasion deserves something special and Crais has served up, arguably, his most complex, highest-stakes tale yet. Elvis’ client this time out is super successful social influencer Tracy Beller, haunted by the disappearance of her father a decade before. If there’s nothing to Tracy’s insistence that her father didn’t disappear on his own, why does a rogue’s gallery of thugs surface when Elvis picks up a trail that winds along an increasingly dangerous road. Good thing he’s got Joe Pike to accompany him on that road that leads to unexpected places as our stalwart heroes confront an evil like none they’ve faced before.
Robert Crais is the best crime writer alive today — period and end of sentence. Only this generation’s Raymond Chandler and Dashiell Hammett could fashion hardboiled noir from the glitz of Los Angeles. The Big Empty is filled with everything that makes for a great thriller.
Arkangel by James Rollins
James Rollins’ Arkangel was published a few months back, but it was new to me and, if it’s new to you too, you’re in for a treat. Rollins never disappoints but he’s done himself one better this time out, in large part because he’s diverted a bit from his own winning formula.
Instead of a mystery rooted in speculative science, Arkangel reads like a more traditionally grounded thriller, opening with the murder of a Vatican archivist thanks to a world-changing, and potentially world-ending, discovery. It’s left to Commander Gray Pierce and his crack Sigma Force team to sort through the morass amid a maelstrom of violence. Along the way, we’re treated to a lost civilization, a mysterious treasure and a missing cache of books.
As with any Rollins tale the fun lies in truly having no idea what’s going to happen next. Reading Arkangel makes you feel like a kid again, curled up on your bed with nothing on your mind but the pages turning before you, because Rollins is the best storyteller of this or, maybe, any generation.
Angel of Vengeance by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child
Better late than never, right? Because, somehow, I also missed Angel of Vengeance, the latest in the iconic Agent Pendergast series from Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child. What better time to read a summer book than in the dead of winter, though?
Actually, there’s never a bad time to jump back into another series that, like fine wine, keeps getting better with age. Complex mechanizations aside, this is a deeply personal tale that pits Pendergast and company against serial killer Enoch Leng who’s terrorizing New York City. I say “and company” because a lot of the action is driven by the iconic FBI agent’s protégé, Constance Greene, whose emotions are trumping her judgment thanks to her sister falling prey to Leng, the most cerebral of his kind since Hannibal Lecter.
Twenty-two books in, this series shows no signs of fatigue or repetition. Angel of Vengeance continues that trend by adding layers of emotional tumult and angst to the well-established formula. With each successive title, Preston and Child offer a master class in establishing the perfect mix between plot and characters, and their latest is an exercise in nail-biting tension and pitch-perfect pacing.
The Body Brokers by Brian Cuban
Brian Cuban’s The Body Brokers is a seismic shift of a thriller sure to stay with you long after the final page is turned.
The book’s hero, lawyer Jason Feldman, has long been battling his own addiction demons when his girlfriend dies of a fentanyl overdose. Or did she? That’s the setup for a wondrously personal mystery in which Feldman risks everything, life and career included, to get to the bottom of the death of the woman who pretty much saved his life, even as he fights to retain his own sobriety. Feldman’s quest takes him deep into the surprisingly dark world of addiction treatment and the centers that form the backdrop of the book.
In addition to being a terrific mystery, The Body Brokers makes for a searing, penetrating character study. A darkly, disturbing tale that stands as one of the best thrillers of 2024 that’s addictive in its own right. Not to be missed.
Unbalanced by D.P. Lyle
We now interrupt this coverage of dark thrillers for a tale with a much lighter touch. D.P. Lyle’s lovable ex-baseball player turned beach bar and grill owner Jake Longly is back in Unbalanced.
Jake just wants to soak up the sun and surf on Alabama’s Gulf Shores. He’s got a girlfriend he loves and an ex-wife he can’t get rid of. Nor, it seems, can he get rid of his private detective father, who drags him into yet another murder investigation. In a style and fashion worthy of Carl Hiaasen, Jake ends up involved with unscrupulous real estate developers (are there any other kind?), duplicitous government officials, and the general rogue’s gallery of miscreants typical of this outstanding series that’s now seven books in.
As always, Lyle’s staccato prose and whip-smart dialogue crackles with humor. Unbalanced is like junk food for the brain: as soon as you finish it, you want more. A book can’t be more fun to read than this.
Dangerous Play by Elise Hart Kipness
Elise Hart Kipness has fashioned a terrific cutting-edge thriller in Dangerous Play, featuring a starkly original backdrop — sports reporting.
Our hero, Kate Green, is back on the job after a hiatus caused by her involvement in a story where murder had its own byline. Her comeback gig, fortunately, is on the turf of women’s Olympic soccer, familiar to Kate thanks to her own stint as a championship athlete. In fact, she was teammates with the team’s current coach. What could go wrong? How about the murder of a third teammate inside the team’s locker room? As Kate pursues her own investigation, she both bumps heads and joins forces with her NYPD detective father, with whom she enjoys a difficult relationship at best.
There is no shortage of mysteries these days, only good ones. And Dangerous Play stands out for its originality in whisking into a world we have very little knowledge about. Kipness delivers on everything she promises in creating one of the most magnetic and interesting heroines we’ve seen in a long time.
Chain Reaction by James Byrne
James Byrne is rapidly establishing himself at the forefront of high-stakes, high-concept thrillers, the reasons for which are all in display in the polished, pointed, and prescient Chain Reaction.
Once again, Dez Limerick takes center stage. Dez is a musician first and country-saving hero second, much preferring his original avocation over his latest one. He jumps at the chance to play a gig for a friend, and has just reached the site when, before he can even tune his guitar, the venue is seized by terrorists. Before you can say “Die Hard,” Dez systematically fights a one-man mission to take back the Liberty Center before any lives are lost. But there’s plenty of skullduggery afoot, leaving Dez with a mystery to solve as well as lives to save.
The exceedingly well-paced and beautifully crafted Chain Reaction is sure to propel Byrne further up the thriller ladder, a force of seminal talent to be reckoned with in this crowded genre.
