The Shot

by Philip Kerr

When a mob hitman slated to take out Fidel Castro disappears, the underground rumor mill begins to circulate word that the missing assassin is now gunning for JFK himself. Reprint.

Genres: Fiction, Thriller, Historical Fiction, Crime, Mystery, Espionage, Audiobook

480 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published November 18, 1999

About the author

Philip Kerr was a British author. He was best known for his Bernie Gunther series of 13 historical thrillers and a children's series, Children of the Lamp, under the name P.B. Kerr.

Librarian’s note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.

Reviews

[Paromjit · Rating 4 out of 5]

Philip Kerr brings his trademark attention to detail and impeccable historical research in this blend of fact and fiction, a standalone espionage thriller with its mix of real and fictional characters from early 196os America. These are turbulent times, with its strident anti-communism, reds under every bed, in the midst of the bitterly fought cold war with Russia, feeding the paranoia and fear of the Cuban Revolution led by Fidel Castro, that brings the dangerous commie influence right onto the American doorstep. Castro has upset key influential US figures and corporations, with his nationalisation policies, and the mob is unhappy at having their casinos and more taken from them, leading to numerous attempts to kill the Cuban leader. The young and charismatic JFK has been competing with Richard Nixon for the race to the presidency and emerges victorious, an election the mob have helped fix for him.

Kerr imagines an alternative history, a history that just might go some way towards explaining the disturbing assassination of JFK in 1963, with the secret service and intelligence agencies unable to address their failures, and, even worse, leaving the president in the dark. Ex-military Tom Jefferson is a skilled and gifted assassin for hire, married to the beautiful half Chinese and black Mary, a Democratic party worker in Miami. Tom has just carried out the successful assassination of a Nazi in Buenos Aires, off the back of which he is offered a bigger and more lucrative assignment by the mob, led by Sam Giancana, in partnership with the CIA, with the full knowledge of JFK, to kill Castro. As he begins to plan for the job, Tom hears surveillance tapes, intended to ensure JFK submits to the mob's wishes, that derail everything and change his target. In this twisted narrative, hunting Tom for the mob is an ex-FBI investigator intent on ensuring that JFK remains safe, whilst Tom relentlessly and determinedly implements plans to make the critical shot.

Kerr evokes the period culture and atmosphere of a misogynist and racist 1960s America, with a wide and diverse cast of characters, hardly any of which are likeable, and a JFK who cannot control himself when it comes to other women, to the extent that he is willing to endanger his own security. Kerr does a stellar job in setting the scene for understanding the Bay of Pigs invasion and just why so many in the American establishment and the mob were so hell bent on doing whatever they could to kill Castro. Kerr weaves a beguiling and intriguing story of a hitman, corruption, betrayal, security and intelligence agencies who barely communicate with each other, double agents, double crosses and more at every turn, and twists that continue right up to the unexpected ending. Many thanks to Quercus for an ARC.

[Andrew Smith · Rating 4 out of 5]

Tom Jefferson is good with a rifle. Scratch that, Tom is an expert marksman and having fine tuned his skills as a sniper serving his country he’s now making a tidy living hiring out his ability to deliver sudden death to anyone with deep enough pockets. Set in 1960/61 the man with the money on this occasion is mobster Sam Giancana and his target is Cuba’s political leader Fidel Castro. And so this tale begins, with a mix of known facts (names and events most readers will recognise), blended with fictional elements comprising a number of rumours that have done the rounds for years and a plot line in the mould of Frederick Forsyth’s The Day of the Jackal.

This book was originally published some twenty years ago and I’m somewhat surprised I haven’t stumbled across it before. The author, Philip Kerr, wrote a highly successful series of books featuring Berlin detective Bernie Gunther, a series I’ve dabbled with over the years. I’ve always enjoyed a good political thriller and here Kerr gets the feel of the time spot on with his characters, his settings and above all the dialogue, it’s really well done. There are plenty of twists and turns too, which kept re-setting my expectations of what was to come.

I’ve read quite a bit about the Kennedy clan and indeed Castro too over the years and Kerr expertly weaves elements I’ve come across before into this tale. If I were to offer a criticism at all it would only be to say that the book is on the long side and it does feel a little slow in places. But by the end of the book I felt myself totally captivated as Jefferson sets himself up for a fateful pull of the trigger. It’s an entertaining and mostly engrossing tale, I liked it a lot.

My thanks to Quercus Books and NetGalley for providing a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

[Razvan Banciu · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent opera, probably better than any of Bernie Gunther stories. The staging is as usual, a mixture between reality and fiction, so are the characters, the plot is interesting and the final is more than unexpected.
So, we have many ingredients for a memorable novel, the best specific feature which shows that is your empathy towards Tom or Nimmo, or even with both of them. Or , that's the real sign of falling in love with a book. The other one is the not so common feeling of sadness at the end, a true mark for a solid work. A book I highly recommend...

[Baba · Rating 3 out of 5]

My 2008 one sentence review said: 'Well paced JFK conspiracy explaining why the Bay of Pigs failed. An assassin, the mob, FBI, CIA and Secret Service are the main players, so nothing really new added to the conspiracy theory but an interesting take.' Yet again a book I have completely forgotten makes me feel that that's for reason, as some of the better 2008 reads I remember very well. Although this is one of the higher rated books I've forgotten, it's most likely the JFK subject matter that earned the 6 out of 12.

[Kieran · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Shot is a book I would recommend as far as entertainment goes, and there's a lot of it. But as far as plot structure and narrative, it's flabby, loose ended fluff with a disappointing ending - which I will not reveal. Kerr seems to skirt over the geo-political issues in favour of strong characterisations and a highly interesting and ambiguous title character (who ultimately shows himself to be less ambiguous in the final chapters), with a truly reprehensible supporting cast - the light dusting of political forecasting and satire is distracting. The novel was mainly let down because the narrative is loose and flabby, the suspense goes wide of the mark, and the plot structure is superfluous.

What isn't at all distracting is the overall quality of the writing and dialogue. Kerr has a keen ear for vernacular, and the descriptive scenes interlaced with historical references are fantastic, here is a writer of genuine quality with no delusions of pretentions and artsy aspirations - his concise style is easy, accessible and very good.

On the whole, this is well written, well told and excellently characterised fluff (with too many loose ends) - that loses focus in the interest of a poor ending that is trying way to hard to be satirical. Kerr needs to control his plotting, keep his focus and provide more of that excellent dialogue.

[Matt · Rating 3 out of 5]

Dear Lord, what a mess. I think I was one of three people who really liked Esau, and I tried to read one of the Bernie Gunther series and kept groaning at the sheer goofiness of it all, so I'm all over the map with this dude.

Let's start with the problems. There are two protagonists (oh, yeah; the book abruptly changes focus halfway through). This in and of itself wouldn't be a problem if either one of them were remotely interesting. Instead, we get a complete cipher of an assassin and a disgraced, bent FBI agent. Several major characters are left dangling (in one case, somewhat literally). It's too damn long. (I thought about elaborating, but some dude said brevity is the soul of wit.)

On the other hand, the ending is a stunner that neatly integrates with known historical facts.

I probably would have stopped reading this one halfway through if I didn't have an unhealthy interest in the Kennedy assassination.

[Robert Ronsson · Rating 3 out of 5]

I’m a big fan of Philip Kerr’s Bernie Gunther series. I’m also a collector of all books, fiction and non-fiction, about the assassination of President Kennedy. I’ve visited the Dallas Book Repository, surveyed Deeley Plaza from the ‘sniper’s nest’ and sat watching the traffic on the grassy knoll. So it was inevitable that I’d read this book that uses a quote on the jacket from The Times review that describes it as “a cleverly contrived reworking of the Kennedy assassination myth”.
I’m feeling a little short-changed because The Shot is not that book – it describes ‘events’ while Jack Kennedy was still President Elect and does not take us anywhere near Lee Harvey Oswald or Jack Ruby. There is no doubt that Philip Kerr has been as assiduous in his research as he was when he wrote about Germany in the 1930s and 1950s. I missed his notes at the end that would have helped me understand how many of the hoods and CIA and FIB operatives were drawn from real life. I recognised a number of the Mob big-hitters’ names but the secret service personnel, not surprisingly were no more than ciphers.
It’s clear though that Kerr scoured the current TV listings and film release schedules in the hope of providing period authenticity to the diversions available on-screen. But these details were sprinkled throughout the text a little too liberally for my taste. Also, on the negative side, I was brought up short by a POV shift in a cringe-inducing sex scene when Kerr was suddenly fixated by the concept of ‘penetration’.
Kerr is not at his best here – the plotting is over convuluted in my opinion and there is a point at about the three-quarter mark where the twists come faster than on an F1 circuit. I wasn’t able to negotiate all of them without hitting the Armco a few times. At this stage I felt that the central character underwent such a massive transformation in terms of allegiances and motivations that the driver had totally lost control and driven us all over a cliff. (End of over-extended metaphor.)
As a wristwatch enthusiast I enjoyed Kerr’s references to the hierarchy of brands. A flashy mobster sporting a ‘chunky Girard Perregaux’ is all fur-coat and no knickers; while the hood wearing the Rolex may act like the top-dog, the guy with the understated Patek Philippe is the real boss.
So, lots to enjoy, but it was always going to be difficult for me to be totally won over when I had been expecting something more intriguing.

[Alison · Rating 2 out of 5]

I enjoy Philip Kerr’s Gunther series but this was a disappointment. As it is set in 1960, the reader knows that neither Castro nor Kennedy will be assassinated. So what is the story? A complicated, unproductive little plot which takes ages to unfold and involves a host of nasty characters. Some of the writing has Kerr’s familiar wit but a lot of it is dull. I didn’t like the surprise ending, either, as it seemed illogical and only necessary because Kennedy couldn’t actually be shot and Jefferson (the assassin) couldn’t have missed. I’m sure the research into Cuba and the ‘mob’ is thorough and well interpreted but I wasn’t that interested in it. A shame as I’d looked forward to the book - have to say I thought it was about JFK’s assassination but I didn’t mind that it wasn’t - just that it didn’t seem to be about much at all!

[Tom · Rating 5 out of 5]

It seems everyone has a take on the JFK assassination. Officially, it was kooky Oswald. Or the Mob. Or the Cubans. Or the Russkies. Or LBJ. Or Norma Jean.
Philip Kerr, writing at the end of the 1990s (more history only seems to bring more confusion), takes a shot at JFK, but comes up blanks. That's because in his elegantly written thriller, the assignment is just an attempt to stop Kennedy, not kill him. But if all the abbreviation apparati - CIA, FBI, LCN, SS, DSI, DSS - keep him uniformed or poorly protected, will the outcome be November 22, 1963?

[A.K. Kulshreshth · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm a huge fan of the Bernie Gunther series, and I started listening to The Shot with high expectations. There's something a bit "off" about this work, I would say.

If I have it right, this one was written much before the Gunther series and the writing seemed a bit less fluent. Kerr mixes straightforward action with a lot of social comment and history. The points of view change very frequently in this book. It starts off with a mercenary sniper with the unlikely name of Tom Jefferson doing most of the telling. Mr. Jefferson accepts a contract to kill Castro, but he disappears with the down payment, and it becomes clear that he is out to assassinate Kennedy instead. The P.O.V. shifts to that of a former FBI man, who is charged with hunting down Jefferson before he knocks off the US President. In between, there are a few other P.O.V.s as well. Through all of it, there's no one character that one would really root for.

On the other hand, there is a lot of atmosphere and setting, between Cuba and a few North and South American cities. There are interesting bits about the CIA, FBI and the mob collaborating for what they see as the greater good, and about the mob's role in politics.

The twist close to the end is a neat touch.

Overall, The Shot is a smarter version of a plain vanilla action novel.

The audio book that I listened to made excellent use of the medium, for example by using a different tone for tape recordings and phone conversations.

[Mel · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is going to read like a rant I'm sure. But this book made me almost angry so I've got to let it out.

The book is really not very good. What an unfortunate attempt on Kerr's part. Not only are there silly mistakes (citing the First Amendment as the right to bear arms), but there's quite a lot of useless filler that adds nothing to the story. Sorry Mr Kerr. But it takes a bit more than Google Maps to paint a picture of a city. There are two main characters in the book and I suppose it's a mark of good characterization that the usual "bad guy" turns out to be the one you root for and the good guy is the reprehensible one.
A big problem I had with this book was the two dimensional drawing of the genders. It seems that all men are racist scumbags who will always find time to play grabass with any female that crosses their path. Oh and pretty much every woman will offer up her body for the right price or the right cause. To Kerr, women have realized their place and usefulness in society and aren't afraid to harness this for their own gain. It's a beyond disturbing. After all, women are only there for sex and have no other use besides, according to these men. Even John Kennedy (Jack to everyone in the book, none of whom know him on any level). This is another small flaw in the book since JFK was rarely called Jack by the "people" or in print so it made little sense to have everyone referring to him this way. The book depicts the president as little more than a poon hound unable to control his urges long enough to get anything done. It's suggested that he won by a very small margin only because he was in bed with mob. JFK was portrayed as completely corrupt but a handsome man who gave good speeches. Not completely accurate. But all the men in the book are creepy, often lapsing into graphic diatribes about sexual exploits or body parts. At one point, a guy who is doing an autopsy describes how an STD affects a woman's "pussy." There's very little likelihood that a doctor who is examining the body as an object of science would use such terms. He even suggests that the other man have sex with the corpse. My suspension of disbelief ran out at that moment. All the men in the book (cops, lawyers, doctors, gangsters, and hotel clerks) freely use the N word and every other racial slur to describe anyone not like them. I know it's the 60s but for Kerr to assume that every American talked this way is just biased and silly. Perhaps if Kerr would have offered some diversity in his characters, it would have improved the book. But ALL the men had similar characteristics just as all the women did.

In addition to the unlikable characters, there's quite a bit of unrealistic dialogue which surprised me coming from Kerr. One of the main guys is a dirty cop asked to find and kill the other main guy by the mafia. This is a guy who hasn't worked with this particular mobster before and he's still a cop, if a dirty one. Kerr has the cop pushing the gangsters around and speaking to them with complete disrespect. This might be excusable but what isn't is the mobsters openly discussing their crimes and the crimes of others. They breezily discuss hits they've pulled and even explain the concept of omerta... To a cop... An outsider. Cursory research by Kerr would have shown that this would never happen in any crime family. Another very annoying thing about this book is that some of the dialogue doesn't make much sense. He has immigrant goombas quoting from the Bible and insecure cops discussing Greek mythology. Kerr devotes pages to inane dialogue that is wordy and hard to follow at times. Not to mention the Britishisms in the mouths of these American characters (bonnet, windscreen, etc). It's lazy writing and careless editing.

This brings me to the final issue with this book. The author really seems to have very little respect for Americans. There are quite a few vivid descriptions of how stupid they are and how messed up their country is. You can feel the vitriol leaping off the page. It becomes very clear that Kerr may have been going through an I Hate America period at the time of the writing. I think perhaps he would have written a better book if he would have tried to put that aside and written a bit more objectively.

[Eric_W · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have read almost everything that Kerr has written. Normally I shy away from "whatif" historical novels, preferring the reality of history to what might have happened if only if. . . . I had begun reading this book some years ago while waiting for someone in a local library and resolved to complete it eventually. I'm glad that I did.

Kerr does a great job leading the reader down all sorts of blind alleys. Tom Jefferson, a hit man who uses the names of presidents as aliases, has been approached by a man with reputed mob connections to do a feasibility study (the dreaded F word) on killing Castro. The mob is ostensibly interested in returning Havana to its former glory as a gambling Mecca when they had considerable control. Tom, snooping around, discovers his contact also has CIA connections, so he begins to become wary. He is paid $150,000 up front, a huge amount in 1959, as a down payment on the contract, after the mobsters review his plan. Then, intending to revel in their common prurient interest in Marilyn Monroe, one of the contacts promises to let Tom listen to a tape of JFK making love to Marilyn. What he hears on the tape, however, horrifies him. The mobster got the wrong tape and Tom hears his own wife, Mary, a Democratic party campaign worker, taking Kennedy every which way. Mary is found dead, an ostensible suicide, and Tom disappears from the mob's radar, taking the money with him. and the mob now fears that he will take his revenge on Kennedy. They hire Jimmy Nimmo, an ex-detective, to find Jefferson. The mob, having spent millions to assure Kennedy's victory in the election because of his vigorous anti-Castro stance, can't afford to have him killed. Nimmo's investigation reveals that Mary had been murdered very cleverly, in such a way as to make it look like suicide. The reader assumes that Tom has killed her vindictively for her fling with JFK. In the meantime, Tom has contacted an old friend at the FBI, Alex Goldman -- the FBI used Tom for its own purposes on occasion -- for information he needs to set up the hit on Kennedy. Goldman willingly cooperates. There are enough double twists and triple crosses to keep everyone satisfied except review writers who try not to reveal what happens -- you'll just have to read or listen to the book to get the scoop. I'll only disclose that Jefferson, after substantial effort and the best-laid plans, lines up a perfect shot on Kennedy's head as he visits Harvard and pulls the trigger three times.

The result will surprise you as it did me and make you wonder about the Cuban Memorandum. That should make you want to read the book. It's very plausible. Kerr, much as he did in Berlin Noir— an outstanding series of detective novels set in pre- and post-war Germany) weaves in fascinating period detail making Havana steam and Cambridge freeze.

[Lu Etchells · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book starts off by following Tom Jefferson, a professional hit man, unstoppable sharp-shooter and mercenary as he takes out a Nazi, and then gets hired to perform a hit for the mafia. Then, about halfway through, we also pick up another strand of the story, as a disgraced and really rather pathetic ex FBI guy tries to stop Tom from blowing his next target’s brains out.

That feels a bit brief for 480 pages, but that does sum it up.

Oh, except lots of irrelevant details, no doubt gleaned from either TripAdvisor or Google Maps in an attempt to give local “flavour” to the myriad of places mentioned throughout. I gave myself a headache with all the excessive eye-rolling I had to do when reading this.

In case you can’t pick up on my tone, I really didn’t think this was very good at all. It was messily put together, it rambled in a lot of places, the plot was a hot mess and at the end I genuinely didn’t understand what the point was of any of it.

On top of that, as a woman, I upsicked a little at the idea of a professional, who whilst performing an autopsy, describes what effects an STD can have on a woman’s “pussy”. Really? I mean, REALLY?! Honestly, I should have stopped reading there and then.

I could easily have given this a one, because I had absolutely no enjoyment whatsoever in reading this. However, it gets a one purely for the effort the author has clearly gone to in doing his research. So much so that he had to include every, single, minute detail!

[Stefan · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Shot was a startling vivid read that mixed gore, profanity, a interesting plot, a lonely but brilliant sniper, and the JFK assassination. A book so shocking it forces the reader to think and contemplate the strange passage of history. Philip Kerr did an excellent job at creating a thriller that seems excitingly genuine, carefully crafted and well balanced. The startling implications of the ending made this an even more disturbing, yet thrilling work of fiction.

[Gram · Rating 4 out of 5]

A marvellous story about an assassination plan on JFK - BEFORE he became president. All sorts of dirty tricks from the usual suspects - CIA, FBI, the Mafia, anti-Castro Cubans and Castro's intelligence service. Lots of false trails, twists and turns with a cast of characters almost all of whom are definitely not to be trusted and most of whom have blood on their hands. I've read all of Philip Kerr's Bernie Gunther books but this was a new one on me - and I'm glad I decided to read it.

[Greville Waterman · Rating 5 out of 5]

Rather than carp and criticise that this is not as good as the Bernie Gunther series one should start by saying that very little is. Instead I would like to commend the author for the range and scope of his subject matter.

The plot has been dissected by many more before me on Goodreads so all I will say is that as a conspiracy thriller and a what-if, it was exciting, well written, oroginal, pacy and plausible.

More than enough for me.

[Koen · Rating 3 out of 5]

‘What if’-geschiedenis en de samenzweringstheorieën rondom de aanslag op JFK. En ook nog eens geschreven door Philip Kerr. Daar zou weinig aan kunnen misgaan, ware het niet dat dit boek veel minder goed geschreven is dan zijn latere Bernie Gunther serie. Onaangename en oninteressante karakters, nodeloos lang en veel herhalingen in matige dialogen. Daarom toch maar drie sterren, ondanks het mooi geschetste tijdsbeeld.

[John M. · Rating 3 out of 5]

The story was good in concept, but it was way overwritten. It could've used a heavy edit.

[Tom Vater · Rating 3 out of 5]

Philip Kerr can do better than this. The Shot (2000) is written on autopilot. The author of the incredible Bernie Gunther novels, gripping dramas featuring a hardboiled German detective during and after Nazi Germany, must have written this one for laughs. I’m not saying it’s a bad book, I enjoyed reading it. It’s just not the author’s best shot (pun intended!)

The story follows hitman Tom Jefferson who is hired by the mob and the CIA in the late 1950s to assassinate Fidel Castro. I don’t want to go give too much away, because it’s a great yarn how Jefferson pulls the plug in the Castro hit and guns for Kennedy, the young, and incredibly horny President-elect, instead.

On his way to his rendezvous’ with the young president Kerr maneuvers through three hundred pages crammed with a disorienting crowd of sleazy cops, brainless Italian heavies, nasty mafia dons, crooked and pernicious politicians and CIA agents who have long lost both the moral (expected) and political () compass. Throughout the entire roller coaster of a killer’s tale, its author intones again and again that America in the late 50s and early 60s was an awful place, run by a semi-hidden nexus of intelligence agents, organized crime, the military, industry, corrupt unions, a body politic interested only in creaming off the top and getting pussy and the odd decisive hitman. Philip Kerr, it appears doesn’t like the US much. And while he utilizes every writing trick Chandler, Hammett et al invented, he is an outsider looking in, detached from the American Dream and shining a cold European light on it.

The only letdown is the writing. Some of the metaphors are too British and some passages (I loved the one about STDs) read like Kerr copied and pasted them from Wikipedia. Perhaps he got bored hammering it together after conceiving of the story. Kerr weaves an interesting, intricate, dark, and for the most part historically accurate story around a topic he clearly relishes – presidential assassinations – and many of his hoods and CIA guys are real people who once engaged in the nefarious activities he describes so well. So why be sloppy on the writing?

Perhaps The Shot, which was first published in 1999 was written before the Bernie Gunther novels which also sound Chandleresque but are crafted, stylistically speaking, in a much more polished and consistent manner. Or perhaps the slightly sardonic undertone of the writing – a little reminiscent of Lawrence Block’s work and Jim Thompson’s lighter stuff – is simply a reflection of what Kerr thinks of the US – a superficial, inconsistent, ultimately ridiculous, evil place run by people who never know when enough is enough or too little is too little and don’t mind killing on a whim.

The Shot is interesting because it lacks the usual patriotism, no matter how suppressed or turned on its head, that an American writer writing about America has to wrestle with. Tom Jefferson, Kerr’s protagonist who changes his name from one president’s name to another as often as he kills is a psychotic murderer as well as a specialist in his chosen profession who has no compunction of killing anyone by any method that’s opportune in between watching movies, reading books and sleeping with beautiful women. He is cultured, you see, unlike everything around him. Perhaps this is why the reader guns for this coldhearted immoral bastard, hoping he won’t get caught, hoping even that he will accomplish his mission, no matter that it’s killing the charismatic, philandering Kennedy. Like Kerr, Jefferson knows America isn’t what they make it out to be. I don’t know if James Ellroy would be detached enough to tell that kind of tale. Or whether he’d even want to.

IF you like this review, check out my Noir and Pulp blog The Devil's Road my link text

[Rich B · Rating 3 out of 5]

A stand-alone thriller from the author of the Bernie Gunther series set at the end of 1959, as a US hitman embarks on a mission to shoot the newly elected president JFK.

It’s a decent enough read, and I do like the creativity of alternative timeline and “what if” history books, but this was a little bit of a struggle in places.

On the plus side, great character outlines with a cast of cops, mafia thugs and Cuban and Latin America spies. And though none of the main characters technically meet JFK himself, he's in the book by association, and you get a view on what he might have been like behind the scenes. The book does a good job of capturing the spirit of the time, and making you get a sense of what life was like.

However, there’s a lot of cultural references wedged in, that felt overdone. Not sure you need to know every TV show and movie that the main characters watch every evening. A few times it would have been fine for atmosphere, but it happened so often, there’s a few sections where I felt I was reading the 1959 TV Guide.

There’s also a couple of jarring plot jumps, where I found myself suddenly having to read back a few pages to see what I’d missed. Nothing terrible, but enough to pull you out of losing yourself deep in the plot.

It’s a decent, enjoyable read, just not as compelling as other books from the same author.

[Karl Jorgenson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Kerr continues to amaze me with his range. All his books are suspenseful and thrilling, but the settings, characters, times and themes cover a lot of ground. Here he takes up the struggle of the U.S. to cope with Fidel Castro and his turn to Communism, right at the transition from Ike to Jack. The CIA has hired the Mafia to hire a sniper to kill Castro, but things are going to go wrong. What begins as a simple plot, likely to succeed, morphs into a plot against president-elect Kennedy. Nobody is who they seem to be, Russian agents, Cuban agents, CIA agents, and independent agents muddy the water and kill and double-cross each other with impunity.
What makes this super-complicated novel somewhat unsatisfying is the sheer number of characters and the fact that none can be relied upon or identified with. Should I cheer for the guy who's going to kill Kennedy, or the misogynist, murdering mobster trying to stop him? Meh. The final twist-on-a-twist-on-a-twist ending is clever, if a bit unrealistic and shows me where my loyalty should have been all along. Finding out your suffering had a purpose, however, does not lessen the discomfort.

[Hazel · Rating 1 out of 5]

My thanks to NetGalley and publisher Quercus Books for the ARC.

Well, I have to be honest, this really wasn't for me - not that the premise of the story couldn't be interesting, but because of the inordinate amount of irrelevant narrative interjected which was just so frustrating. I only continued - in fits and starts - because I requested it and wanted to give a fair review.

I couldn't get on with the enormous amount of Spanish words/phrases which appeared to be deliberately placed - unnecessary, despite the locations. Every room that Tom Jefferson entered was described in the minutest of detail, name-dropping manufacturers in particular. There's loads of narrative containing reminiscences and musing; detailed description of geography, along with tedious history of the regions, and irrelevant diatribes from cartel members - I cannot call it dialogue because it actually wasn't.

So, overall I find this read to be characterised by frustration from all the periphery which did nothing to either enhance or support the actual story.

Sorry, but there it is.

[Jo · Rating 2 out of 5]

I like Kerr’s writing, but thought this one dragged on too much. I’ve come to have higher expectations for Kerr. Anyone else had written it I’d have given it 3 stars. (I wonder what Fifi B would have thought about finding himself on these pages. Yeah, I’m from Chicago.).

And to those who were offended by the racist/sexist aspects of this book - get over it. Most of us realize that this existed in the 60’s, as it does in the present. Writing about it isn’t the same as condoning it, and ignoring it doesn’t make it go away. You probably should stay away from Conrad and Kipling as well.

[Kat · Rating 1 out of 5]

Not a good read. I thought it would be suspenseful, something I'd really enjoy (I mean it's snipers, who wouldn't?). I was wrong.
Not only could I get into the story, but I just couldn't wrap my mind around the main character for some reason.
I skimmed the pages of this after page 150- and I think I absorbed just as much as I would have if I really delved into the story.
Philip Kerr, you disappointed me :C

[Paul · Rating 3 out of 5]

The story is exciting, and the theory that Kerr puts forward in the book is an original one. Still one gets the impression that this storyline has been dealt with better by other authors, James Ellroy with his Underworld USA Trilogy, in particular.

[Kristian · Rating 4 out of 5]

pretty cool kennedy assassination thriller.

[Moravian1297 · Rating 4 out of 5]

I should have written this review nearly a week ago, but I unfortunately became very ill, and although I'm still not one hundred percent, I thought I'd better get something down while I still have a little vestige of my mojo for the book left, haha!

So, yes, 'The Shot' was my first stand alone Philip Kerr, out with his peerless Bernie Gunther series. Therefore comparison while reading, could not be helped, but which I'll try to avoid here, besides saying that 'The Shot' would also very much fall into the 'noir' genre.
Obviously then, it was dark, extremely gritty, with sometimes excruciatingly uncomfortable racism and misogyny, and at times it could also be somewhat confusing. As the narrative of the last few chapters, with the turn of a page to the next chapter, could swing fully around, without any initial explanation, and the characters were doing the exact opposite of what had just been talked about in the previous chapters!
My head near exploded a couple of times, when this happened. I was like, WTF? But fortunately, as the chapter progressed, the picture became clearer, and you found yourself saying, 'Aaah! Right! He's actually a Communist! Excellent, well played chaps!'
Mind you, there had been hints early doors, like when hit man, Tom Jefferson's FBI contact, Alex Goldman had came out with this rather candid statement about the hit on Fidel and Raul Castro, 'Wouldn't that just suit everyone? The Mob, CIA, the big corporations, the government. Everyone except the Cuban people, I guess.' I had thought that to have been a rather odd thing for an FBI agent to admit to, but really it was just one of the first clues that all was not what it seemed. We were straying into very, very murky waters.

Although I found the racism and misogyny extremely uncomfortable, for example, when The Mafia bosses whom had hired Tom Jefferson and the private investigator attack dog, Jimmy Nimmo, whom they had hired to find Tom once he'd went missing, had thought that Tom had murdered his wife, Mary Jefferson, due to him hearing a tape of her shagging John Kennedy and were discussing the situation thus,

'Kill her, yeah, I can understand that' mused Rosselli. 'Why not? Lots of guys kill their wives. Hell it's not exactly un-American. It's not like he's a Communist or anything. But this thing with Castro. That was for the government. It was a matter of national security, he could have killed her and nobody would have minded. We would even have helped him dispose of the body, if he'd wanted that. But not seeing through the job, that was a dereliction of duty!'

My mind simply boggled at the utter disregard for the sanctity of life, and the lives of women in particular from these people, but thankfully the misogyny and racism were still just contained within the narrative of the POV of the book's characters. So as uncomfortable as it was, and unlike books I've read from John Grisham and James Ellroy the novel itself wasn't racist (see my reviews of 'A Time to Kill' by John Grishim and 'L.A. Confidential' by James Ellroy).

And speaking of other books I've read recently, when the afore mentioned Jimmy Nimmo and some extremely egregious Mob henchmen had just finished torturing, with lit cigarettes on his tongue, Tom Jefferson's ex army buddy and weapons supplier, the appropriately named Colt Maurensig,

'Nimmo lit another cigarette which Maurensig regarded as Winston Smith might have regarded a rat in Room 101. The worst thing in the world.'

I shouted out, 'Yes! I get the reference! 'Nineteen Eighty Four'! Woohoo! I f*cking LOVE reading books! Haha!

In one of the book’s final ironies, the FBI ask their man in Miami, Alex Goldman, whom they are unaware is batting for the other side, and because he's used Tom Jefferson for hits in the past, if Alex can help find the hitman? They have now figured out that Tom is, in all likelihood, working for the Russians or the Cubans or indeed, both and are hoping to find and turn him, before the Mob get to him, and kill him that is. So, I really enjoyed this speech Alex gave to Jim O’Connell, the man the FBI sent down to ask him to find Tom, on how he first became acquainted with Jefferson in the first place,

'So then, 1956. The FBI's counter-intelligence programme, COINTELPRO, is initiated and I'm asked to handle it here in Miami. At first it was just harassment, and disruption of people who were considered to be subversives. Ruining careers, bankrupting businesses, planting stories, smearing reputations, f*cking with people's lives, all routine intelligence stuff. But then, the following year, we got this secret directive from Constitution Avenue to make things a lot rougher, so I began to look around for guys to help me with that kind of thing.....'

Brilliant! All the dirty washing, fairly and squarely hung out to dry, haha! I’m sure COINTELPRO are the same crew that were doing experiments with LSD and the counterculture and had Charles Manson as an asset. Something journalist and author Tom O’Neill stumbled upon when researching an article on The Manson Murders, and goes into in some detail in his excellent book ’Chaos’.

So, 'The Shot' really gets deep down in the rabbit hole and delves into the dirt and the grit, where it leaves you feeling soiled and somewhat dazed and in definite need of a shower at times. But once out on the other side, your eyes are shining bright in awe and amazement! Superb.

[Dave · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Shot is an underrated and relatively unknown thriller by the legendary Philip Kerr. Tom Jefferson is a hitman living it up in Miami in 1960 with his beautiful wife Mary. He's an unsavory character but never totally unlikeable. He's contracted by the Mafia in conjuction with the CIA to kill Castro, but mysterious things happen. Upon returning home, he discovers his wife, who's a Kennedy campaign worker, dead.

It becomes obvious that she's been suicided like Marylin Monroe, and that she has had intimate affairs with the president-elect. Tom switches gears and joins up with the Cuban Intelligence Agency to kill the man who screwed and presumably killed his wife.

Enter Nimmo, a corrupt FBI agent working for the Mafia. Angered that Tom walked out on their deal, Nimmo searches high and low for Tom. Added to the cast is another corrupt FBI agent working for the Cubans and helping Tom with his mission.

The Shot isn't a perfect book but it is interesting and unique enough to deserve a read. It's not a Hollywood style book, there is no "likable" hero but that's what makes it interesting. That and the immersive atmosphere you soak up while reading the book, making you feel like you were in late 1960 and early 1961.

I read some criticisms that are pretty dumb like "too much cursing" (well duh it's a Philip Kerr novel) and "the author mistakingly says the First Amendment grants the right to bear arms." I don't know what edition this reader had, because the one I read clearly said the Second. Most likely the reader misread and placed the blame on the author instead of with themselves, where it belonged.

The ending is a little meh and I'm still a little shaky on Tom's ultimate motives, but I did enjoy The Shot from the first page to the last. Give it a read.

[Mike White · Rating 5 out of 5]

“The Fontainebleu was the Cadillac of Miami hotels., a great gleaming white confection of modern American styling, with every conceivable extra, at an inconceivable price. Situated right on the golden beachfront, among carefully tended avenues of bougainvillea and neatly raked gravel paths, it soared twelve stories above an Olympic-sized swimming pool and a series of cool cabanas where wealthy New Jersey matrons worked on achieving the colour of aged Seminole Indians.”
1960s America. Kennedy wins the Presidential election and will be inaugurated soon. Tom Jefferson is a skilful hit-man working for the Mafia and the CIA but with connections to the FBI, all three organisations having cordial links. The story opens with a hit on an ex-Nazi in Buenos Aires, arranged for Mossad; the recent kidnapping of Eichmann having made Argentina too hot for Israelis.
A story of politics and murders, planned and executed. Kerr’s trademark cynicism and the corruption of the politicians and the agents tasked with their protection makes the hit-man Jefferson the sympathetic hero of the tale. Interesting and illuminating; knowledge of events to come does not detract from the excitement.

[Simon Langley-Evans · Rating 4 out of 5]

Set in 1960, JFK has just been elected, and top assassin Tom Jefferson is contracted by the mafia to assassinate Fidel Castro. Jefferson is at the top of his game, an expert marksman with a proven track record of eliminating Nazi war criminals, corrupt politicians and anybody for whom the right price is offered. What Jefferson's employers do not know is that he is secretly a communist and has no intention of eliminating Castro, he has another target in mind, namely the philandering president-elect whose victory has been orchestrated by the mobsters.
This is thriller writing of a very high standard. Plenty of brilliantly unpredictable twists, good detail and compelling and well-developed characters. Kerr researches his books well and alongside the main narrative there are always little bits of obscure historical detail to pique the interest. The things that grated a bit were the long dialogues between the mobsters, which were delivered in a style redolent of Jimmy Cagney and Edward G. Robinson. I dunno, did 1960s gangsters really talk like that? That irritation notwithstanding tis was a pretty good alternative history of the Kennedy assassination.