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Nathan Heller #19
Too Many Bullets
Acclaimed "True Crime" detective Nathan Heller, whose cases have sold more than 1 million copies, returns to uncover the secrets behind Robert F. Kennedy's 1968 assassination in this brand-new novel from bestselling ROAD TO PERDITION author Max Allan Collins.
A HELL OF A FINALE TO A DECADE OF ASSASSINATION
It began with John F. Kennedy in 1963. Then Malcolm X in 1965. Martin Luther King in April 1968. And then, in June of the same year, President Kennedy's brother Robert fell before an assassin's bullets at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles.
But how many shooters were there, really? And who sent them? In this astonishing, meticulously researched novel, bestselling author Max Allan Collins – Mystery Writers of America Grand Master – takes Nathan Heller, "Private Eye to the Stars," from the scene of the crime to Hollywood's seediest haunts, from striptease joints to Washington D.C.'s corridors of power to a deadly desert showdown outside Las Vegas, all in pursuit of the truth about a conspiracy that may have put the wrong man in jail, let the real killers go free, and snuffed out the life of a man poised to become the next president of the United States.
A HELL OF A FINALE TO A DECADE OF ASSASSINATION
It began with John F. Kennedy in 1963. Then Malcolm X in 1965. Martin Luther King in April 1968. And then, in June of the same year, President Kennedy's brother Robert fell before an assassin's bullets at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles.
But how many shooters were there, really? And who sent them? In this astonishing, meticulously researched novel, bestselling author Max Allan Collins – Mystery Writers of America Grand Master – takes Nathan Heller, "Private Eye to the Stars," from the scene of the crime to Hollywood's seediest haunts, from striptease joints to Washington D.C.'s corridors of power to a deadly desert showdown outside Las Vegas, all in pursuit of the truth about a conspiracy that may have put the wrong man in jail, let the real killers go free, and snuffed out the life of a man poised to become the next president of the United States.
315 pages, Kindle Edition
First published October 10, 2023
27 people are currently reading
140 people want to read
About the author
Max Allan Collins
808 books1,323 followersReceived the Shamus Award, "The Eye" (Lifetime achievment award) in 2006.
He has also published under the name Patrick Culhane. He and his wife, Barbara Collins, have written several books together. Some of them are published under the name Barbara Allan.
Book Awards
Shamus Awards Best Novel winner (1984) : True Detective
Shamus Awards Best Novel winner (1992) : Stolen Away
Shamus Awards Best Novel nominee (1995) : Carnal Hours
Shamus Awards Best Novel nominee (1997) : Damned in Paradise
Shamus Awards Best Novel nominee (1999) : Flying Blind: A Novel about Amelia Earhart
Shamus Awards Best Novel nominee (2002) : Angel in Black
Japanese: マックス・アラン・コリンズ
or マックス・アラン コリンズ
He has also published under the name Patrick Culhane. He and his wife, Barbara Collins, have written several books together. Some of them are published under the name Barbara Allan.
Book Awards
Shamus Awards Best Novel winner (1984) : True Detective
Shamus Awards Best Novel winner (1992) : Stolen Away
Shamus Awards Best Novel nominee (1995) : Carnal Hours
Shamus Awards Best Novel nominee (1997) : Damned in Paradise
Shamus Awards Best Novel nominee (1999) : Flying Blind: A Novel about Amelia Earhart
Shamus Awards Best Novel nominee (2002) : Angel in Black
Japanese: マックス・アラン・コリンズ
or マックス・アラン コリンズ
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 39 reviews
April 6, 2024
Collins’ Nathan Heller series is a walk through twentieth century American history through the eyes of a fictional character, private detective Nathan Heller, who Collins seamlessly inserts into all kinds of historical events. In fact, the transition is so seamless that it is hard to tell if Heller ever really existed or not. Collins thoroughly explored the JFK assassination in earlier novels in this series. This time he turns his attention to the Robert Kennedy assassination at the Ambassador Hotel by Arab terrorist Sirhan Sirhan.
The various inconsistencies and conspiracy theories that swirled around JFK’s killing are well known to the point that nearly everyone knows about the magic bullet, the book depository, the grassy knoll, and the cast of odd CIA-linked characters who were around Oswald and Ruby. The same could not be said so much for his brother Robert Kennedy’s killing. Almost all know that Sirhan Sirhan was at the security-deficient Ambassador Hotel and got close enough to Kennedy to shoot him several times, wounding several bystanders. He was not killed before he could spill the beans (aka Oswald), but questions remain and Too Many Bullets, a title that references the fact that it is difficult to account for all the bullet wounds and the number of bullets Sirhan could have fired with his gun. Thus, despite the fact that the killing went down with dozens of eyewitnesses, many of whom were quickly swept up in pandemonium, there is a strain of thought out there that Sirhan was another patsy, that there were others involved, in particular a young woman in a polka dot dress, and, for some, there is just too much similarity to his brother’s killing to be ignored.
Here, Heller reluctantly agrees to bodyguard Robert Kennedy at the election day (primary day in California) celebration although pointedly Kennedy did not want any guns. Heller is right there, but he couldn’t stop history. Some time later, though, he is asked to look into it and see if there was anyone else involved. Reluctantly, he dabbles a bit only to find his curiousity piqued. Along the way, he meets a cast of characters and locales reminiscent of 1968 on the Sunset Strip and along the Strip in Las Vegas, including the reclusive Howard Hughes. It is a compelling read and a walk through some of the questions history leaves open. Another terrific selection in the Nathan Heller saga.
The various inconsistencies and conspiracy theories that swirled around JFK’s killing are well known to the point that nearly everyone knows about the magic bullet, the book depository, the grassy knoll, and the cast of odd CIA-linked characters who were around Oswald and Ruby. The same could not be said so much for his brother Robert Kennedy’s killing. Almost all know that Sirhan Sirhan was at the security-deficient Ambassador Hotel and got close enough to Kennedy to shoot him several times, wounding several bystanders. He was not killed before he could spill the beans (aka Oswald), but questions remain and Too Many Bullets, a title that references the fact that it is difficult to account for all the bullet wounds and the number of bullets Sirhan could have fired with his gun. Thus, despite the fact that the killing went down with dozens of eyewitnesses, many of whom were quickly swept up in pandemonium, there is a strain of thought out there that Sirhan was another patsy, that there were others involved, in particular a young woman in a polka dot dress, and, for some, there is just too much similarity to his brother’s killing to be ignored.
Here, Heller reluctantly agrees to bodyguard Robert Kennedy at the election day (primary day in California) celebration although pointedly Kennedy did not want any guns. Heller is right there, but he couldn’t stop history. Some time later, though, he is asked to look into it and see if there was anyone else involved. Reluctantly, he dabbles a bit only to find his curiousity piqued. Along the way, he meets a cast of characters and locales reminiscent of 1968 on the Sunset Strip and along the Strip in Las Vegas, including the reclusive Howard Hughes. It is a compelling read and a walk through some of the questions history leaves open. Another terrific selection in the Nathan Heller saga.
September 16, 2023
This book is more timely than it has any right to be. A book about the RFK assassination coming out now that RFK Jr is running for President, and Joe Biden is refusing to give him secret service protection seems incredible. Some people think we may be in for another wave of assassinations. A presidential candidate in Ecuador was killed a few weeks ago. Is it starting already?
The RFK assassination was part of a wave that most think started with JFK, and lasted probably until the early 1980's with the (barely) failed attempt at Reagan, and John Lennon's murder. Nathan Heller gets involved with this one when he is hired as RFK's bodyguard. Bad move. Almost everyone who hires Heller as a bodyguard is murdered. Even though he is there when the murder goes down, Heller investigates...and finds too many bullets for Sirhan Sirhan to have fired them all.
Too realistic to be comfortable. The press yelled "conspiracy theory" then just like they do now, to try to cover everything up. Actually scared me more than most horror novels.
UPDATE 9-15-2023--An armed man impersonating a US Marshal was arrested trying to get into a campaign event for RFK Jr.
The RFK assassination was part of a wave that most think started with JFK, and lasted probably until the early 1980's with the (barely) failed attempt at Reagan, and John Lennon's murder. Nathan Heller gets involved with this one when he is hired as RFK's bodyguard. Bad move. Almost everyone who hires Heller as a bodyguard is murdered. Even though he is there when the murder goes down, Heller investigates...and finds too many bullets for Sirhan Sirhan to have fired them all.
Too realistic to be comfortable. The press yelled "conspiracy theory" then just like they do now, to try to cover everything up. Actually scared me more than most horror novels.
UPDATE 9-15-2023--An armed man impersonating a US Marshal was arrested trying to get into a campaign event for RFK Jr.
September 21, 2023
Collins is one of my favorite authors, having read over 50 of his books, including his extension of the Mickey Spillane works and collaborations. I never was that interested in the Nathan Heller series, and this is only the third Heller book that I have read. I have come to believe that my disinterest was that I was trained as an historian (Asian) and that the blending of fact with fiction was not that appealing to me. (There is enough of that in what claims to be historical works as it is.) But I’ve become comfortable with Collins' introduction of historical events in his books, and have enjoyed discovering the cases embedded in his work.
So, Too Many Bullets. This is an exciting Nat Heller case where the PI investigates the RFK assassination in an attempt to discover who else besides Sirhan Sirhan may have been involved. Although I was 15 at the time of his death, I confess to not really being aware that, like the JFK killing, not everything may have been as reported. Like the JFK killing, the mob, unions, and CIA are suspects. This is extensively researched, and presented in a fast moving novel. The author provides some of his sources in the back, and I would not be surprised if readers are intrigued and read further.
Collins never lets the facts and research overwhelm the story. It’s an excellent read, and it is NOT necessary to have read other Heller books to enjoy Too Many Bullets. That said, I have already started adding other books in the Heller series to my to read pile. I highly recommend this book.
I would like to thank the author, Max Allan Collins (and publisher Hard Case Crime) for an ARC of the latest Nathan Heller book, in return for an honest review.
So, Too Many Bullets. This is an exciting Nat Heller case where the PI investigates the RFK assassination in an attempt to discover who else besides Sirhan Sirhan may have been involved. Although I was 15 at the time of his death, I confess to not really being aware that, like the JFK killing, not everything may have been as reported. Like the JFK killing, the mob, unions, and CIA are suspects. This is extensively researched, and presented in a fast moving novel. The author provides some of his sources in the back, and I would not be surprised if readers are intrigued and read further.
Collins never lets the facts and research overwhelm the story. It’s an excellent read, and it is NOT necessary to have read other Heller books to enjoy Too Many Bullets. That said, I have already started adding other books in the Heller series to my to read pile. I highly recommend this book.
I would like to thank the author, Max Allan Collins (and publisher Hard Case Crime) for an ARC of the latest Nathan Heller book, in return for an honest review.
October 26, 2023
Private Eye to the Stars, Nate Heller is back on the case in Max’s newest historical fiction. Heller is at the Ambassador Hotel and witnesses the assassination of his friend, Robert F. Kennedy. Heller goes on the hunt for a second gunman as there are just Too Many Bullets. One thing leads to the next, and Heller finds himself hunting for a woman in a polka-dot dress, shady hypnotherapists, and interviews figures such as Sirhan Sirhan and Howard Hughes. The amount of research Max does for his Heller novels is astounding. Not only are these novels entertaining, but they are immersive and educational.
“I thought I knew what she meant by ashamed: ashamed to be an American. For killing our own, our boys in Vietnam, our leaders at home. Ashamed to be a human being. If God created Man in his image, what kind of monster must He be? If we were the top species on this ant-farm planet, we must be the work of an underachiever among Supreme Beings.”
“Politics are just another racket as far as I’m concerned.”
–Max Allan Collins
“I thought I knew what she meant by ashamed: ashamed to be an American. For killing our own, our boys in Vietnam, our leaders at home. Ashamed to be a human being. If God created Man in his image, what kind of monster must He be? If we were the top species on this ant-farm planet, we must be the work of an underachiever among Supreme Beings.”
“Politics are just another racket as far as I’m concerned.”
–Max Allan Collins
December 25, 2023
I was so excited to see this book at my library. I'm a big fan of the Nathan Heller series. This works fine as a standalone book. Anything you need to know is covered in the story.
I didn't want this to end and dragged it out as long as I could. Well researched and a lot of interesting information here.
I didn't want this to end and dragged it out as long as I could. Well researched and a lot of interesting information here.
November 9, 2023
I love the Nate Heller books. Not only are they good hard boiled mysteries but full of history and personalities from the story’s period.
In this one, Heller is bodyguard to Robert Kennedy at the faithful night at the Ambassador Hotel. The candidate, as we know from history is killed, but evidence increasingly suggests that it was not accomplished by a lone gunman. Using evidence to the contrary of lone assassin, Max Allan Collins crafts a satisfying thriller.
My only suggestion is that the reader hang on! It takes a while to set the scene for the excellent conclusion. Thus the body of the book is mostly about Heller talking with various people (some real, some fictional) before the real action takes place.
Additionally, we get a sense of what the detective, who we see through the series, involved in vast historical events, is up to today. All in all, the novel slides “slam bang” into a satisfying conclusion.
In this one, Heller is bodyguard to Robert Kennedy at the faithful night at the Ambassador Hotel. The candidate, as we know from history is killed, but evidence increasingly suggests that it was not accomplished by a lone gunman. Using evidence to the contrary of lone assassin, Max Allan Collins crafts a satisfying thriller.
My only suggestion is that the reader hang on! It takes a while to set the scene for the excellent conclusion. Thus the body of the book is mostly about Heller talking with various people (some real, some fictional) before the real action takes place.
Additionally, we get a sense of what the detective, who we see through the series, involved in vast historical events, is up to today. All in all, the novel slides “slam bang” into a satisfying conclusion.
December 23, 2023
Part One is the RFK assassination. Part Two is the investigation, and implication that there was more than one shooter. Then essentially, Nathan “looking into Bob’s murder”. Yeah, they are on a first name basis.
Super conspiracy theory stuff in here. Sirhan firing blanks and being a “programmed assassin” through hypnosis. Multiple shooters. A coordinated assassination that was “Bolder than Dallas". The pieces of the puzzle in this story started to get blurry to me. Lots and lots of name dropping. Some paragraphs had nothing but famous people's names listed! And I started to wonder if the phrase “Private Eye to the Stars” had to be mentioned by each and every character that entered the book! Man, there should be a game - drinking whenever that phrase pops up in the story! You probably won’t finish the first eighty pages sober!
Nathan Heller is the Forrest Gump of detectives, literally connected to every famous person that existed during the timeline of this story. “Now, mama said there’s only so much fortune a man really needs… and the rest is just for showing off.” – Forrest
Super conspiracy theory stuff in here. Sirhan firing blanks and being a “programmed assassin” through hypnosis. Multiple shooters. A coordinated assassination that was “Bolder than Dallas". The pieces of the puzzle in this story started to get blurry to me. Lots and lots of name dropping. Some paragraphs had nothing but famous people's names listed! And I started to wonder if the phrase “Private Eye to the Stars” had to be mentioned by each and every character that entered the book! Man, there should be a game - drinking whenever that phrase pops up in the story! You probably won’t finish the first eighty pages sober!
Nathan Heller is the Forrest Gump of detectives, literally connected to every famous person that existed during the timeline of this story. “Now, mama said there’s only so much fortune a man really needs… and the rest is just for showing off.” – Forrest
October 15, 2023
The most tepid of the Heller “historical” mysteries, trying to drum up a conspiracy around RFK’s death. Aside from the implausibility of an assassination plot that never really takes shape, the book is structured as a slow moving series of interviews with various grifters, goniffs, strippers, supposed CIA men, and other unreliable narrators. Also, as before, Heller’s sex life and the Playboy life style stuff is cringey.
October 5, 2023
Another great entry in the Nate Heller saga (and maybe the last). This book was a refreshing and coherent pallet cleanser after reading The Enchanters by James Ellroy. Max Allan Collins is always a reliable writer and he hasn’t disappointed me yet.
November 25, 2023
I have read several Max Allan Collins books and this series stars Nathan Heller. Heller is a private detective with "a history" who seems to always find himself in a situation related to JFK or RFK in the late fifties and the sixties. These novels are formulaic, written in the classic Mickey Spillane noir style, and they tend to revolve around deep conspiracies and shapely women. "Too Many Bullets" fits the pattern around the assassination in 1968 of Robert Kennedy. There are plot twists but no real surprises. Laced with plenty of period correct points of view and stereotypes, the tone is consistent with the genre. Is this a great book? No, it is not. Does it provoke some memories with doses of conspiracy paranoia? If you are of a certain age, it probably does, Does it provoke rhetorical questions? Absolutely. If you like the genre and need a palate cleanse between weightier tomes, this should work.
February 12, 2024
Good times were had with this whip-smart slice of late-60s Americana and it's torn-from-the-headlines plot of a P.I. with ties to the RFK assassination. This book's commitment to time and place is thorough, and as such may raise a few eyebrows, but if it's authenticity you're looking for, you'll be rewarded. I love this writer's acknowledgements: he set out to write a different book, one with the RFK assassination as an envelope to the story he really wanted to tell, until he started researching. It's a labyrinth. And you know what they say: yesterday's conspiracy theories are today's realities. My appetite has been whetted for more - both of Collins' work, and a trip down the rabbit hole that is the singularly bad business accompanying the Kennedys in that most volatile of decades.
May 19, 2024
I will give this four stars, though, in truth, DNF. Having read the books on which Collins’ research is based, I already know the plot and his surmises. And the authors’ literary range is not sufficient to bear yet a fourth book unrelated topics. So enough is enough. I would be interested to try his Quarry at some point. What time to go on something else.
June 19, 2024
I've been enjoying the Nathan Heller series ever since "True Detective." I've followed him as he solved one great historical crime after another from the early 1930s onward. "Too Many Bullets" brings us to the late 1960s and the assassination of Robert F. Kennedy. More than once, Heller reflects on the parallels between RFK's murder and the assassination of Chicago Mayor Anton Cermak at the heart of "True Detective." By this point, though, Heller is over 60 and has a lot more to lose than he has in previous books. I'll definitely miss him if this is his last outing, but if it is, Max Allan Collins has given him a hell of a send off.
November 17, 2023
This is the first Nathan Heller novel I've read.
It's set in 1968-1969 and deals with the assassination of Robert Kennedy.
Heller is a P.I. who was a friend of Kennedy and in the pantry that faithful night. He later tries to find out just what really did happen that night.
This gave me Once Upon A Time In Hollywood vibes.
I did enjoy it. But knowing the subject/plot, I knew it would have a somewhat ambiguous ending...but it was still very entertaining.
It's set in 1968-1969 and deals with the assassination of Robert Kennedy.
Heller is a P.I. who was a friend of Kennedy and in the pantry that faithful night. He later tries to find out just what really did happen that night.
This gave me Once Upon A Time In Hollywood vibes.
I did enjoy it. But knowing the subject/plot, I knew it would have a somewhat ambiguous ending...but it was still very entertaining.
May 28, 2024
Another great Heller entry. This remains one of my favorite series of time. Sure, you have suspend a lot of disbelief, but its worth it as always.
February 21, 2024
Too Many Bullets is vintage Max Allan Collins.
Summary -
"...At the end of this narrative, certain guilty people go free. You may even feel I'm one of them. Some will pay, while others will not, enjoying the unearned happy remainders of their lives. And any reader inclined to dismiss everything ahead as a conspiracy-like robbery and rape, murder and treason-is a real crime on the books. History, I'm afraid, is a mystery story without a satisfying resolution.
But know this: I did get some of the bastards..."
The sixties were a decade that changed a country, if not the world. But change rarely happens quietly. No, change is violent and cruel and tragic. It began with John Kennedy in 1963. Then Malcolm X in 1965. Martin Luther King followed in 1968 and later that same year, in June of 1968, Bobby Kennedy was gunned down at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles, California.
Nathan Heller is often referred to as the Private Eye to the Stars. Being close to Hollywood in the sixties also meant being close to the Kennedys as well. Bobby Kennedy was more than another job to Nathan, he was a friend as well. So when Bobby asked Nathan to help provide security at a speech at the Ambassador Hotel, Nathan agrees. With the recent murder of Martin Luther King earlier in the year, Heller knew that tensions were running high. But what unfolded that night he could not have fathomed in all his nightmares.
In the aftermath of that night, Nathan is left with more questions than answers. The assassin simply doesn't fit. Another lone gunman? The eyewitness accounts of gunshots coming from different directions, the chaos that ensued and the simple fact that there were too many bullets to account for.
"...He stared at the sun glimmering surface of the pool. 'I was up all night, twisting the radio dial in search of any news about Bob and his condition, the arrest of the assailant, any damn thing. I stumbled onto a phone-in show on KABD and who should be the guest, but my old associate...Dr. Joseph W. Bryant.'
I frowned. 'This was about the assassination?'
'Not directly. But the subject came up, briefly, Bryant made an offhand comment that gave me a chill.'
'Yeah?'
Dark mournful eyes fixed on me. 'Bryant said it sounded to him like the assassin may have been acting under a post-hypnotic suggestion..."
Heller's investigation will go from Hollywood to Washington. To strip clubs and Psychiatrist's offices. To mobsters and CIA operatives. To Hollywood's elite and the deserts of Las Vegas. To a simple conclusion that the truth is yet to be revealed.
Review -
Growing up in the sixties, there was a visceral change to the country after the assassinations. Vietnam was taking center stage as the country was embroiled in a war that many thought should have easily been won. There was a real sense that hope was lost. The potential of what could have been hung like a shroud over so many people.
Too Many Bullets has the feel of that time. Of lost innocence. Of having the country's belief system shattered. It was the beginning of a people mistrusting it's government.
Too Many Bullets takes the road of a conspiracy plot against Robert Kennedy that ended in his murder and that Sirhan Sirhan, if he even was the shooter, did not act alone. If he did do it, there looms the probability of a Manchurian Candidate effect. A patsy brainwashed into committing the murder.
Nathan Heller is a terrific character. A throwback detective whose charms and physical presence are as much a part of his arsenal as his detecting skills. But in Nathan is also the emotional turmoil of a man who sees his good friend killed in front of him. A friend he was supposed to protect.
Other characters flow in and out of the tale and each memorable in their own way. So well written and crisp that the story move deftly right along.
Collins is heralded as the author of Road to Perdition and his grasp of Noire is firm and tight. This is a tragic and moving tale about friendship and death and the fleeting opportunity for redemption,
A really good read.
Summary -
"...At the end of this narrative, certain guilty people go free. You may even feel I'm one of them. Some will pay, while others will not, enjoying the unearned happy remainders of their lives. And any reader inclined to dismiss everything ahead as a conspiracy-like robbery and rape, murder and treason-is a real crime on the books. History, I'm afraid, is a mystery story without a satisfying resolution.
But know this: I did get some of the bastards..."
The sixties were a decade that changed a country, if not the world. But change rarely happens quietly. No, change is violent and cruel and tragic. It began with John Kennedy in 1963. Then Malcolm X in 1965. Martin Luther King followed in 1968 and later that same year, in June of 1968, Bobby Kennedy was gunned down at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles, California.
Nathan Heller is often referred to as the Private Eye to the Stars. Being close to Hollywood in the sixties also meant being close to the Kennedys as well. Bobby Kennedy was more than another job to Nathan, he was a friend as well. So when Bobby asked Nathan to help provide security at a speech at the Ambassador Hotel, Nathan agrees. With the recent murder of Martin Luther King earlier in the year, Heller knew that tensions were running high. But what unfolded that night he could not have fathomed in all his nightmares.
In the aftermath of that night, Nathan is left with more questions than answers. The assassin simply doesn't fit. Another lone gunman? The eyewitness accounts of gunshots coming from different directions, the chaos that ensued and the simple fact that there were too many bullets to account for.
"...He stared at the sun glimmering surface of the pool. 'I was up all night, twisting the radio dial in search of any news about Bob and his condition, the arrest of the assailant, any damn thing. I stumbled onto a phone-in show on KABD and who should be the guest, but my old associate...Dr. Joseph W. Bryant.'
I frowned. 'This was about the assassination?'
'Not directly. But the subject came up, briefly, Bryant made an offhand comment that gave me a chill.'
'Yeah?'
Dark mournful eyes fixed on me. 'Bryant said it sounded to him like the assassin may have been acting under a post-hypnotic suggestion..."
Heller's investigation will go from Hollywood to Washington. To strip clubs and Psychiatrist's offices. To mobsters and CIA operatives. To Hollywood's elite and the deserts of Las Vegas. To a simple conclusion that the truth is yet to be revealed.
Review -
Growing up in the sixties, there was a visceral change to the country after the assassinations. Vietnam was taking center stage as the country was embroiled in a war that many thought should have easily been won. There was a real sense that hope was lost. The potential of what could have been hung like a shroud over so many people.
Too Many Bullets has the feel of that time. Of lost innocence. Of having the country's belief system shattered. It was the beginning of a people mistrusting it's government.
Too Many Bullets takes the road of a conspiracy plot against Robert Kennedy that ended in his murder and that Sirhan Sirhan, if he even was the shooter, did not act alone. If he did do it, there looms the probability of a Manchurian Candidate effect. A patsy brainwashed into committing the murder.
Nathan Heller is a terrific character. A throwback detective whose charms and physical presence are as much a part of his arsenal as his detecting skills. But in Nathan is also the emotional turmoil of a man who sees his good friend killed in front of him. A friend he was supposed to protect.
Other characters flow in and out of the tale and each memorable in their own way. So well written and crisp that the story move deftly right along.
Collins is heralded as the author of Road to Perdition and his grasp of Noire is firm and tight. This is a tragic and moving tale about friendship and death and the fleeting opportunity for redemption,
A really good read.
October 29, 2023
This might have been Nathan Heller’s biggest case yet. And it might have been the one case he most wanted to succeed at but didn’t.
Presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy was not just Heller’s client, they were friends. It’s 1968, and Kennedy has just won the California primary. There’s a huge crowd gathered in anticipation of a big celebration at the Ambassador Hotel in Beverly Hills. The candidate is beaming his broadest smile as he works the room, shakes hands and signs autographs. Everyone is eagerly watching the results as they trickle in. Heller (dubbed Private Eye to the Stars) normally would be working at his office in Chicago, the main branch of the A-1 Agency, but Kennedy hired him as a bodyguard for this event. There’s just one catch: no one carries a gun. That’s a big ask. Without a gun, Heller feels naked. And rightly so. It turns out to be a fatal mistake.
We all know the outcome of that horrifying evening. A small Arab man named Sirhan Sirhan pulled a gun as Kennedy and his entourage were passing through the hotel’s Pantry toward the exit. What followed was chaos and bedlam. Gunshots rang out as people screamed, dove for the floor and raced to get out of the room. It ended with Senator Kennedy mortally wounded and five others in the crowd shot.
History tells us that Sirhan Sirhan was tried, convicted and sentenced to death. Heller was in the room when his friend went down. He watched in horror as the whole scene played out. So he saw it all. But what did he really see? He kicks himself because he failed, at least in his eyes; he let Kennedy down in the worst possible way. It was his responsibility to guard the man’s life, and he didn’t. But it isn’t long before the official narrative put before the public is questioned by some smart people.
Heller tries to calm the rumors but soon realizes that some of what’s being said makes a lot of sense. For example, there were too many bullets fired in that room to have all come from Sirhan Sirhan’s gun alone. That’s a hard one to explain away. In true Heller form, he can’t leave it alone, so he begins digging deeper. Was this way bigger than he could have imagined? Could it have been a conspiracy involving people in very high places?
Naturally, when one pokes one’s nose in where it isn’t welcome, it stirs up a hornet’s nest, which is exactly what Heller does. Just which button did he press that pulled the rug out from under him? Or, more accurately, got him bonked on the head? Was it his brief interview with Howard Hughes? Or maybe his pursuit of Marguerite, the topless dancer? Or the 400-pound Hypnotherapist to the Stars? The cast of characters is mind-boggling here. And the possibilities are staggering.
In the end --- (no) spoiler alert --- Nate Heller gets the girl. Really. He meets a woman in TOO MANY BULLETS who just might be the one. That in itself is a big deal for a famous womanizer like the Private Eye to the Stars. Heller does a top-notch job in this case, even if he himself doesn’t believe it. The what-ifs in Max Allan Collins’ riveting novel will keep readers’ minds working overtime.
Reviewed by Kate Ayers
Presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy was not just Heller’s client, they were friends. It’s 1968, and Kennedy has just won the California primary. There’s a huge crowd gathered in anticipation of a big celebration at the Ambassador Hotel in Beverly Hills. The candidate is beaming his broadest smile as he works the room, shakes hands and signs autographs. Everyone is eagerly watching the results as they trickle in. Heller (dubbed Private Eye to the Stars) normally would be working at his office in Chicago, the main branch of the A-1 Agency, but Kennedy hired him as a bodyguard for this event. There’s just one catch: no one carries a gun. That’s a big ask. Without a gun, Heller feels naked. And rightly so. It turns out to be a fatal mistake.
We all know the outcome of that horrifying evening. A small Arab man named Sirhan Sirhan pulled a gun as Kennedy and his entourage were passing through the hotel’s Pantry toward the exit. What followed was chaos and bedlam. Gunshots rang out as people screamed, dove for the floor and raced to get out of the room. It ended with Senator Kennedy mortally wounded and five others in the crowd shot.
History tells us that Sirhan Sirhan was tried, convicted and sentenced to death. Heller was in the room when his friend went down. He watched in horror as the whole scene played out. So he saw it all. But what did he really see? He kicks himself because he failed, at least in his eyes; he let Kennedy down in the worst possible way. It was his responsibility to guard the man’s life, and he didn’t. But it isn’t long before the official narrative put before the public is questioned by some smart people.
Heller tries to calm the rumors but soon realizes that some of what’s being said makes a lot of sense. For example, there were too many bullets fired in that room to have all come from Sirhan Sirhan’s gun alone. That’s a hard one to explain away. In true Heller form, he can’t leave it alone, so he begins digging deeper. Was this way bigger than he could have imagined? Could it have been a conspiracy involving people in very high places?
Naturally, when one pokes one’s nose in where it isn’t welcome, it stirs up a hornet’s nest, which is exactly what Heller does. Just which button did he press that pulled the rug out from under him? Or, more accurately, got him bonked on the head? Was it his brief interview with Howard Hughes? Or maybe his pursuit of Marguerite, the topless dancer? Or the 400-pound Hypnotherapist to the Stars? The cast of characters is mind-boggling here. And the possibilities are staggering.
In the end --- (no) spoiler alert --- Nate Heller gets the girl. Really. He meets a woman in TOO MANY BULLETS who just might be the one. That in itself is a big deal for a famous womanizer like the Private Eye to the Stars. Heller does a top-notch job in this case, even if he himself doesn’t believe it. The what-ifs in Max Allan Collins’ riveting novel will keep readers’ minds working overtime.
Reviewed by Kate Ayers
October 29, 2023
This might have been Nathan Heller’s biggest case yet. And it might have been the one case he most wanted to succeed at but didn’t.
Presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy was not just Heller’s client, they were friends. It’s 1968, and Kennedy has just won the California primary. There’s a huge crowd gathered in anticipation of a big celebration at the Ambassador Hotel in Beverly Hills. The candidate is beaming his broadest smile as he works the room, shakes hands and signs autographs. Everyone is eagerly watching the results as they trickle in. Heller (dubbed Private Eye to the Stars) normally would be working at his office in Chicago, the main branch of the A-1 Agency, but Kennedy hired him as a bodyguard for this event. There’s just one catch: no one carries a gun. That’s a big ask. Without a gun, Heller feels naked. And rightly so. It turns out to be a fatal mistake.
We all know the outcome of that horrifying evening. A small Arab man named Sirhan Sirhan pulled a gun as Kennedy and his entourage were passing through the hotel’s Pantry toward the exit. What followed was chaos and bedlam. Gunshots rang out as people screamed, dove for the floor and raced to get out of the room. It ended with Senator Kennedy mortally wounded and five others in the crowd shot.
History tells us that Sirhan Sirhan was tried, convicted and sentenced to death. Heller was in the room when his friend went down. He watched in horror as the whole scene played out. So he saw it all. But what did he really see? He kicks himself because he failed, at least in his eyes; he let Kennedy down in the worst possible way. It was his responsibility to guard the man’s life, and he didn’t. But it isn’t long before the official narrative put before the public is questioned by some smart people.
Heller tries to calm the rumors but soon realizes that some of what’s being said makes a lot of sense. For example, there were too many bullets fired in that room to have all come from Sirhan Sirhan’s gun alone. That’s a hard one to explain away. In true Heller form, he can’t leave it alone, so he begins digging deeper. Was this way bigger than he could have imagined? Could it have been a conspiracy involving people in very high places?
Naturally, when one pokes one’s nose in where it isn’t welcome, it stirs up a hornet’s nest, which is exactly what Heller does. Just which button did he press that pulled the rug out from under him? Or, more accurately, got him bonked on the head? Was it his brief interview with Howard Hughes? Or maybe his pursuit of Marguerite, the topless dancer? Or the 400-pound Hypnotherapist to the Stars? The cast of characters is mind-boggling here. And the possibilities are staggering.
In the end --- (no) spoiler alert --- Nate Heller gets the girl. Really. He meets a woman in TOO MANY BULLETS who just might be the one. That in itself is a big deal for a famous womanizer like the Private Eye to the Stars. Heller does a top-notch job in this case, even if he himself doesn’t believe it. The what-ifs in Max Allan Collins’ riveting novel will keep readers’ minds working overtime.
Reviewed by Kate Ayers
Presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy was not just Heller’s client, they were friends. It’s 1968, and Kennedy has just won the California primary. There’s a huge crowd gathered in anticipation of a big celebration at the Ambassador Hotel in Beverly Hills. The candidate is beaming his broadest smile as he works the room, shakes hands and signs autographs. Everyone is eagerly watching the results as they trickle in. Heller (dubbed Private Eye to the Stars) normally would be working at his office in Chicago, the main branch of the A-1 Agency, but Kennedy hired him as a bodyguard for this event. There’s just one catch: no one carries a gun. That’s a big ask. Without a gun, Heller feels naked. And rightly so. It turns out to be a fatal mistake.
We all know the outcome of that horrifying evening. A small Arab man named Sirhan Sirhan pulled a gun as Kennedy and his entourage were passing through the hotel’s Pantry toward the exit. What followed was chaos and bedlam. Gunshots rang out as people screamed, dove for the floor and raced to get out of the room. It ended with Senator Kennedy mortally wounded and five others in the crowd shot.
History tells us that Sirhan Sirhan was tried, convicted and sentenced to death. Heller was in the room when his friend went down. He watched in horror as the whole scene played out. So he saw it all. But what did he really see? He kicks himself because he failed, at least in his eyes; he let Kennedy down in the worst possible way. It was his responsibility to guard the man’s life, and he didn’t. But it isn’t long before the official narrative put before the public is questioned by some smart people.
Heller tries to calm the rumors but soon realizes that some of what’s being said makes a lot of sense. For example, there were too many bullets fired in that room to have all come from Sirhan Sirhan’s gun alone. That’s a hard one to explain away. In true Heller form, he can’t leave it alone, so he begins digging deeper. Was this way bigger than he could have imagined? Could it have been a conspiracy involving people in very high places?
Naturally, when one pokes one’s nose in where it isn’t welcome, it stirs up a hornet’s nest, which is exactly what Heller does. Just which button did he press that pulled the rug out from under him? Or, more accurately, got him bonked on the head? Was it his brief interview with Howard Hughes? Or maybe his pursuit of Marguerite, the topless dancer? Or the 400-pound Hypnotherapist to the Stars? The cast of characters is mind-boggling here. And the possibilities are staggering.
In the end --- (no) spoiler alert --- Nate Heller gets the girl. Really. He meets a woman in TOO MANY BULLETS who just might be the one. That in itself is a big deal for a famous womanizer like the Private Eye to the Stars. Heller does a top-notch job in this case, even if he himself doesn’t believe it. The what-ifs in Max Allan Collins’ riveting novel will keep readers’ minds working overtime.
Reviewed by Kate Ayers
October 24, 2023
Reading the Heller novels by Max Allan Collins never fails to inform about historical events--the very famous, as well as the not-so-well known.
Nate Heller's newest investigation can't get much more familiar, as the now 60+ year old PI finds himself attempting to solve the facts behind Robert F Kennedy's assassination with which he's found himself uncomfortably close .
Half a century later, most of the protagonists have passed on, with the notable exception of the man with the gun. Even the candidate's children have expressed varying opinions on their father's murder.
Collins' take on this event makes perfect sense, though the author allows readers to make up their own minds ... as a writer of fiction must, despite copious research.
Whether or not the reader agrees with Heller's conclusion is inconsequential. After all, this is crime fiction. But there remains enough unknown years later to make this novel worthwhile as fiction and as a look back in history-- speculative or otherwise.
This reader was fourteen years old at the time of RFK's murder. This entertaining and fast moving book took this reader back to a time where he was too young to really understand what was happening in American politics, as well as the direction America has moved since then.
A book like "Too Many Bullets" serves many purposes. It provides a first rate crime story, and illuminates a time in history half a century later, that still reverberates in today's society.
Nate Heller's newest investigation can't get much more familiar, as the now 60+ year old PI finds himself attempting to solve the facts behind Robert F Kennedy's assassination with which he's found himself uncomfortably close .
Half a century later, most of the protagonists have passed on, with the notable exception of the man with the gun. Even the candidate's children have expressed varying opinions on their father's murder.
Collins' take on this event makes perfect sense, though the author allows readers to make up their own minds ... as a writer of fiction must, despite copious research.
Whether or not the reader agrees with Heller's conclusion is inconsequential. After all, this is crime fiction. But there remains enough unknown years later to make this novel worthwhile as fiction and as a look back in history-- speculative or otherwise.
This reader was fourteen years old at the time of RFK's murder. This entertaining and fast moving book took this reader back to a time where he was too young to really understand what was happening in American politics, as well as the direction America has moved since then.
A book like "Too Many Bullets" serves many purposes. It provides a first rate crime story, and illuminates a time in history half a century later, that still reverberates in today's society.
April 10, 2025
The most recent Nate Heller novel brings us back to the Kennedys with Heller involved in the Robert Kennedy assassination. Long-time readers will know that Heller and Bobby Kennedy had worked together on the Rackets Committee, with Heller playing both sides against the middle, taking pay from both the Committee and from Jimmy Hoffa. Heller and Kennedy were also friends up until Marilyn Monroe's death. So it's shouldn't come as much of a surprise that he takes over as Kennedy's bodyguard at the Ambassador Hotel the night of the California primary in June of 1968. And it should come as no surprise that Heller gets drawn in to an investigation of his assassination, which turns out to be a bit more than it looks like on the surface.
I've said before that I was pretty tired of Kennedys in the Heller books. So I was expecting to be lukewarm to this one. But I really only knew the bare basics of Robert Kennedy's death and Collins, as usual, makes this a damn compelling book. And there's something to be said that there was more going on at the Ambassador than just lone gunman Sirhan Sirhan if for no other reason than the number of bullets exceeded the capacity of his firearm.
Apparently Collins intended to dispose of RFK in about 100 pages while writing the inevitable book about the disappearance of Jimmy Hoffa (another known associate of Heller). But as he dug in to the assassination there was just too much there and it became this book. So I suspect that we haven't seen the end of Nate Heller, private eye to the stars, and will likely get that Hoffa book, if not more. And of that, I'm glad. Because these books are just comfort food for a guy that loves both hard-boiled detectives and history.
I've said before that I was pretty tired of Kennedys in the Heller books. So I was expecting to be lukewarm to this one. But I really only knew the bare basics of Robert Kennedy's death and Collins, as usual, makes this a damn compelling book. And there's something to be said that there was more going on at the Ambassador than just lone gunman Sirhan Sirhan if for no other reason than the number of bullets exceeded the capacity of his firearm.
Apparently Collins intended to dispose of RFK in about 100 pages while writing the inevitable book about the disappearance of Jimmy Hoffa (another known associate of Heller). But as he dug in to the assassination there was just too much there and it became this book. So I suspect that we haven't seen the end of Nate Heller, private eye to the stars, and will likely get that Hoffa book, if not more. And of that, I'm glad. Because these books are just comfort food for a guy that loves both hard-boiled detectives and history.
April 3, 2024
This is the most recent in the long running Nathan Heller series. Heller is a detective who started out in Chicago in the 1930s. By 1968 he is living in Los Angeles as the president of a nationwide detective agency. He is profiled in "Life" magazine as "The Detective to The Stars".
The trick of the series is that Heller deals with actual historical figures. He is in the middle of every celebrity crime over thirty years. He has dealing on his cases with Al Capone, FDR, Lindberg, J. Edgar Hoover, Sally Rand, Huey Long, Amelia Earhart, Sam Sheppard, Eliot Ness and a cast of hundreds more.
In this latest book, Heller is providing security for his friend Bobby Kennedy at the Ambassador Hotel when he is assassinated. Heller becomes convinced that Sirhan Sirhan was not a lone shooter. Collins taps into a whole conspiracy subculture on this shooting. There is the "girl in the polka dot dress" theory and the too many bullets theory and the Manchurian Candidate theory and the police cover up theory. Thane Cesar and Sandra Serrano are actual witnesses who show up in this novel.
Collins has a habit of noting the suit worn by every man he meets. We get Gray Botany 500 suit, a Hart, Schaffner and Marx, or a "Cooper's case brown-and-orange" jacket. It gets distracting at times.
Collins tells an exciting story with hot women, tough guy cops, a crooked hypnotist and his stripper assistant. He does a good job poking holes in the RFK murder official story.
The trick of the series is that Heller deals with actual historical figures. He is in the middle of every celebrity crime over thirty years. He has dealing on his cases with Al Capone, FDR, Lindberg, J. Edgar Hoover, Sally Rand, Huey Long, Amelia Earhart, Sam Sheppard, Eliot Ness and a cast of hundreds more.
In this latest book, Heller is providing security for his friend Bobby Kennedy at the Ambassador Hotel when he is assassinated. Heller becomes convinced that Sirhan Sirhan was not a lone shooter. Collins taps into a whole conspiracy subculture on this shooting. There is the "girl in the polka dot dress" theory and the too many bullets theory and the Manchurian Candidate theory and the police cover up theory. Thane Cesar and Sandra Serrano are actual witnesses who show up in this novel.
Collins has a habit of noting the suit worn by every man he meets. We get Gray Botany 500 suit, a Hart, Schaffner and Marx, or a "Cooper's case brown-and-orange" jacket. It gets distracting at times.
Collins tells an exciting story with hot women, tough guy cops, a crooked hypnotist and his stripper assistant. He does a good job poking holes in the RFK murder official story.
January 2, 2024
A HELL OF A FINALE TO A DECADE OF ASSASSINATION It began with John F. Kennedy in 1963. Then Malcolm X in 1965. Martin Luther King in April 1968. And then, in June of the same year, President Kennedy's brother Robert fell before an assassin's bullets at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles. But how many shooters were there, really? And who sent them? In this astonishing, meticulously researched novel, bestselling author Max Allan Collins – Mystery Writers of America Grand Master – takes Nathan Heller, "Private Eye to the Stars," from the scene of the crime to Hollywood's seediest haunts, from striptease joints to Washington D.C.'s corridors of power to a deadly desert showdown outside Las Vegas, all in pursuit of the truth about a conspiracy that may have put the wrong man in jail, let the real killers go free, and snuffed out the life of a man poised to become the next president of the United States.
This is a powerful book. I have long been a fan of Collins and Heller. I had it in my head canon that Robert Kennedy would try to bring Heller on as a bodyguard because of Dr. King getting assassinated. I was wrong on that front, but the real story is much better. I also thought that I knew what happened to Robert Kennedy. That the case was open and shut. Turns out, that there are too many unanswered questions along with those too many bullets of the title. I don't know if Collins is right in his theory of what happened, but it's plausible. Do yourself a favor and give this book a read. You won't regret it. I hope this isn't the last we see of Nathan Heller, as I would love to see the Hoffa book.
This is a powerful book. I have long been a fan of Collins and Heller. I had it in my head canon that Robert Kennedy would try to bring Heller on as a bodyguard because of Dr. King getting assassinated. I was wrong on that front, but the real story is much better. I also thought that I knew what happened to Robert Kennedy. That the case was open and shut. Turns out, that there are too many unanswered questions along with those too many bullets of the title. I don't know if Collins is right in his theory of what happened, but it's plausible. Do yourself a favor and give this book a read. You won't regret it. I hope this isn't the last we see of Nathan Heller, as I would love to see the Hoffa book.
September 15, 2023
Another great Nate Heller story and a timely one at that. Timely because there is a great deal of mistrust in the mainstream media these days and it seems it is warranted. In this story Heller is present at the assassination of Robert F. Kennedy, who was a friend of Heller’s for many years, and finds himself tangled in the aftermath. Max Allan Collins puts the reader into the crowd as well with his powers of description painting the scene as accurately as any documentary. I love that I always learn something from the Heller books as Collins puts what is obviously a ton of research into every aspect of that time and place. I guess I didn’t realize how the open and shut case against Sirhan Sirhan as presented by the mainstream media of the time wasn’t so open and shut. Too Many Bullets was an eye opener for me and I’m certainly glad I read it.
April 5, 2024
If you've never read a Nathan Heller novel, you are missing out. He's a fictional detective inserted into real world events. I love this kind of thing, where you get kind of an alternate history of a real event and find out what really happened. In this case, Nate is now in his 60's (It sounds like this may finally be the last Heller novel after 19 of them.) and runs the successful A-1 detective agency in Chicago, L.A. and New York. His friend, Robert F. Kennedy, asks him to fill in at the last minute as the head of security at the Ambassador Hotel for his campaign event that night during the California primary. I'm sure you can see where this is headed. Nate's there when RFK is shot and begins to look into the case, where things don't appear on the up and up. Could there really be another conspiracy and cover up circling around another Kennedy? Read and find out.
October 4, 2024
This is a novel on the assassination of Robert Kennedy as told through the eyes of fictional detective Nate Heller (Private Eye to the Stars). I guess you could call this historical hard-boiled crime fiction? The story is fictionalized but the plot is rooted in facts (or at least as close to possible when trying to parse out conflicting accounts of history) with some liberties taken here and there. I’ve read fiction and I’ve read history but it’s a bit weird to have the two combined together so it was a new experience for me.
Anyways I enjoyed the novel and the exploration of a conspiracy behind RFK’s assassination (apparently there were more shots fired than the gun that Sirhan Sirhan fired to kill Kennedy). I don’t know if I buy all of it but the story was compellingly told.
Anyways I enjoyed the novel and the exploration of a conspiracy behind RFK’s assassination (apparently there were more shots fired than the gun that Sirhan Sirhan fired to kill Kennedy). I don’t know if I buy all of it but the story was compellingly told.
February 18, 2024
Too Many Bullets, Max Allan Collins [Hard Case Crime, 2023].
A historical novel of crime and political intrigue. After heading RFK’s failed security detail, Chicago P.I. Nathan Heller is hired by a journalist to uncover the truth about RFK’s assassination. Heller discovers a conspiracy that contradicts the official single shooter narrative. A middling entry in a great series.
***
Max Allan Collins is a Mystery Writers of America Grandmaster and multiple Shamus Award winner. His work includes The Road to Perdition, the basis of the Sam Mendes film with Tom Hanks.
A historical novel of crime and political intrigue. After heading RFK’s failed security detail, Chicago P.I. Nathan Heller is hired by a journalist to uncover the truth about RFK’s assassination. Heller discovers a conspiracy that contradicts the official single shooter narrative. A middling entry in a great series.
***
Max Allan Collins is a Mystery Writers of America Grandmaster and multiple Shamus Award winner. His work includes The Road to Perdition, the basis of the Sam Mendes film with Tom Hanks.
May 3, 2024
This was my first book from this author and I really liked it. It is part of a series called Hard Case Crime and reminds me of old 40's detective novels and that dry, cynical sense of humor. The hero is Nathan "Nate" Heller, founder of the A1 Detective Agency and known as the "Private Eye to the Stars." Nate is investigating the assassination of Bobby Kennedy because Bobby was a friend and stuff isn't adding up. The title of the book for example comes from the fact that Sirhan Sirhan's gun only held eight bullets, but there were at least thirteen shots. Good stuff!
October 28, 2024
Nathan Heller #19. In this latest book from Collins his hero Heller examines the assassination of Robert Kennedy in 1968. Everyone, including me, knows that Sirhan Sirhan was the lone murderer. Except maybe he wasn't. This amazing book examines in detail that terrible event and comes to some extremely interesting and unexpected conclusions. Collins has done his homework and the book, like all in the series, prints his bibliography and research sources. This book just blew me away. Highly recommended. 5 stars.
December 12, 2025
Really enjoyed the plot and the connections to known history. I also love an ambiguous ending. I was not a fan of the narrator, as I hardly ever read male protagonists written by men. There were many unnecessary comments made about women that added nothing to the story and seemed to simply be for the author’s titillation. I enjoyed the pacing and the protagonist’s thought process and enjoyed seeing the “behind the scenes” of a well known event. I love the concept of this type of historical fiction.
March 12, 2025
An entertaining tale which almost reads like a case study of the RFK assassination. Cleverly intertwined with the case being followed by fictional PI Nate Heller and a detailed look at the period in history, this is a well researched novel with plenty of fictional action. In retrospect, its strength is also its weakness in that it falls between two stools, a really good thriller and an historical analysis. Well worth a read.
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