Brad Meltzer is driven to find out the truth behind every subject put before him. He and Josh Mensch have explored subjects such as Nazi Germany and Abraham Lincoln. This time, they set their sights on John F. Kennedy and a little-known plot to kill him before he ever took office.

THE JFK CONSPIRACY spends an appropriate amount of time digging deeply into Kennedy’s past and how his character was built primarily on his heroic efforts as a Navy officer. That, along with the reputation of the Kennedy name made famous by his wealthy father, propels the likable young man for a White House run against Vice President Richard Nixon. It is a tough, contested battle and the tightest race in modern election history. Kennedy is 43 years old and the first Catholic ever to assume the presidency.

"Knowing the outcome prior to starting THE JFK CONSPIRACY in no way lessens the impact of this story. Meltzer and Mensch are pros at reenacting the past and providing eye-opening details into events that most readers were never aware of."

Anti-Catholic sentiment is widespread throughout the US. Groups are protesting the election results, driven by the support of non-Catholic evangelists like Billy Graham. The hateful sentiment has all but consumed Richard Pavlick, a 73-year-old retired postal worker. He has made it his personal mission to eliminate Kennedy and is willing to make the trip from New England to Palm Beach, Florida, where the family is staying in the months between the election and the inauguration.

Pavlick has acquired a fair number of explosives and equipped his vehicle to function as a moving bomb --- a deadly weapon to be driven into Kennedy or any vehicle he is in and wipe him out completely. Meltzer and Mensch take us inside the sick mind of this twisted individual, and his quest to kill Kennedy reads like crime fiction, even though we know that his efforts were unsuccessful.

The FBI is already involved, as well as the Secret Service. The latter is assigned to protect the First Family, and they deal with the endless hate mail and threats that Kennedy receives daily. Thomas Murphy, a New England postmaster who was aware of Pavlick’s obsession with Kennedy, shares what he knows with the FBI before Pavlick can do any damage.

Knowing the outcome prior to starting THE JFK CONSPIRACY in no way lessens the impact of this story. Meltzer and Mensch are pros at reenacting the past and providing eye-opening details into events that most readers were never aware of. This book is a fun and fast read, and it’s a great way to interact with American history and a dark chapter that had gone all but unnoticed until now.