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Mind Games: The Assassination of John Lennon - Volume 2
254 pages, Paperback
Published June 13, 2026
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June 19, 2026
I loved the first volume of Mind Games (published in 2023) and was so excited to hear the second instalment had been published this month (June 2026). This book consists of edited Substack posts which the author has written over the past couple of years and some new evidence surrounding the question of whether or not Lennon was moved to a different location after being shot. We learn more about the mysterious characters working at the Dakota at the time of Lennon’s death and several theories in the first book are expanded on. However, I did have a few issues with this book.
1) Whelan introduces a mysterious unnamed artist who supposedly became friends with Jose Perdomo (the Dakota’s doorman) in the months leading up to John’s death. The two met outside the Dakota while Perdomo was on duty at the door, and the artist worked on paintings of the Dakota on the sidewalk. We’re told that, very consistently, from September right up to December 8th, this artist would talk to Perdomo outside the Dakota and often drive him home. However, in the first volume of Mind Games, Whelan states that “around the time of John’s assassination, Perdomo had not been working the door at the Dakota every night.” He almost presents Perdomo being on door duty on December 8th as being quite suspicious, when it now appears he was there all along.
Admittedly, that’s a relatively small inconsistency. The next one is harder to overlook.
2) One HUGE revelation in the first edition of Mind Games is the fact that when Dr. David Halleran attempted to save Lennon’s life in the Roosevelt Hospital emergency room, he and two nurses on duty noticed that the bullet entrance wounds were in John’s chest, not his back, as the official narrative goes. This matters because it proves Chapman couldn’t have shot the fatal rounds, because he was behind John the entire time. In Book #1 Whelan states that he got this information directly from Dr. Halleran in December of 2022. Chest entrance wounds, presented as rock solid fact.
However, in Volume 2, Whelan now reveals that during that same 2022 interview with the doctor, Halleran said he now had doubts about whether the entrance wounds really were in the chest—he could have been wrong. The reason for this is because John’s autopsy report had suddenly been revealed to him and Dr. Elliott Gross, who performed the autopsy, recorded the entrance wounds as being in John’s back. While I too question Gross’ credibility and find it very suspicious that the autopsy report has only seen the light of day very recently (after Halleran did some tv interviews mentioning the CHEST entrance wounds) I feel like Whelan wasn’t honest with his readers in Volume 1. We only got half the story about Halleran’s professional opinion.
For those reasons, I’ve given the book 4 stars. On a positive note, Whelan is certainly an engaging writer and he has my admiration for delving into this mystery. I hope he continues to research and write more books, about John Lennon and other celebrities.
1) Whelan introduces a mysterious unnamed artist who supposedly became friends with Jose Perdomo (the Dakota’s doorman) in the months leading up to John’s death. The two met outside the Dakota while Perdomo was on duty at the door, and the artist worked on paintings of the Dakota on the sidewalk. We’re told that, very consistently, from September right up to December 8th, this artist would talk to Perdomo outside the Dakota and often drive him home. However, in the first volume of Mind Games, Whelan states that “around the time of John’s assassination, Perdomo had not been working the door at the Dakota every night.” He almost presents Perdomo being on door duty on December 8th as being quite suspicious, when it now appears he was there all along.
Admittedly, that’s a relatively small inconsistency. The next one is harder to overlook.
2) One HUGE revelation in the first edition of Mind Games is the fact that when Dr. David Halleran attempted to save Lennon’s life in the Roosevelt Hospital emergency room, he and two nurses on duty noticed that the bullet entrance wounds were in John’s chest, not his back, as the official narrative goes. This matters because it proves Chapman couldn’t have shot the fatal rounds, because he was behind John the entire time. In Book #1 Whelan states that he got this information directly from Dr. Halleran in December of 2022. Chest entrance wounds, presented as rock solid fact.
However, in Volume 2, Whelan now reveals that during that same 2022 interview with the doctor, Halleran said he now had doubts about whether the entrance wounds really were in the chest—he could have been wrong. The reason for this is because John’s autopsy report had suddenly been revealed to him and Dr. Elliott Gross, who performed the autopsy, recorded the entrance wounds as being in John’s back. While I too question Gross’ credibility and find it very suspicious that the autopsy report has only seen the light of day very recently (after Halleran did some tv interviews mentioning the CHEST entrance wounds) I feel like Whelan wasn’t honest with his readers in Volume 1. We only got half the story about Halleran’s professional opinion.
For those reasons, I’ve given the book 4 stars. On a positive note, Whelan is certainly an engaging writer and he has my admiration for delving into this mystery. I hope he continues to research and write more books, about John Lennon and other celebrities.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Displaying 1 of 1 review