Due to a sudden, unexpected passing in the family a few years ago and another more recently and my subsequent (mental) health issues stemming from that, I was unable to download this book in time to review it before it was archived as I did not visit this site for several years after the bereavements. This meant I didn't read or venture onto netgalley for years as not only did it remind me of that person as they shared my passion for reading, but I also struggled to maintain interest in anything due to overwhelming depression. I was therefore unable to download this title in time and so I couldn't give a review as it wasn't successfully acquired before it was archived. The second issue that has happened with some of my other books is that I had them downloaded to one particular device and said device is now defunct, so I have no access to those books anymore, sadly.

This means I can't leave an accurate reflection of my feelings towards the book as I am unable to read it now and so I am leaving a message of explanation instead. I am now back to reading and reviewing full time as once considerable time had passed I have found that books have been helping me significantly in terms of my mindset and mental health - this was after having no interest in anything for quite a number of years after the passings. Anything requested and approved will be read and a review written and posted to Amazon (where I am a Hall of Famer & Top Reviewer), Goodreads (where I have several thousand friends and the same amount who follow my reviews) and Waterstones (or Barnes & Noble if the publisher is American based). Thank you for the opportunity and apologies for the inconvenience.

Camelot revisited...

It’s the summer of 1964 and the Democratic Convention is on the horizon, when they’ll have to decide whether they will support President Jack Kennedy as their nominee for another four years. Scandal is beginning to swirl around him, though – over vote-rigging and corruption in the last election, over his increasing health problems and questions about his mental stability, over the many women with whom he is rumoured to have had affairs. When young journalist Jean Boyd is found dead, her mother can’t believe the official line that Jean committed suicide. So she asks Mitch Newman, an old lover of Jean’s, to look into it. Mitch’s investigations will soon take him to Dallas where, back in the previous November, Jean had been following a lead relating to the President’s visit there...

If you’re confused, don’t be. This is an alternative history, based on the premise that JFK did not die in November 1963. Ellory speculates as to how the Presidency would have played out if Kennedy had remained in office – would the scandals of which we’re all now aware have become front and centre during his re-election campaign? Was he fit, physically and mentally, for another four years? Would the Democrats have stuck by him if he lost the Camelot glamour that inspired a generation? Would Jackie have been able to tolerate another four years of his blatant philandering? All interesting questions, and Ellory’s research felt solid to me so that, although he perhaps takes some aspects a little further than my credibility was wholly willing to follow, it nevertheless felt mostly chillingly possible.

The other strand of the story is Mitch’s investigation into Jean’s death, and unfortunately this worked less well for me. Mitch has never got over Jean although they split up when they were barely adults, and we are treated to endless descriptions of his feelings of guilt, loss and self-loathing, all of which bored me to distraction. Ellory even chooses to include several of the love letters Mitch sent to Jean after their break-up, all of which reveal nothing more startling than that he was sorry and still loved her. (Poor Jean – if she was anything like me, she probably only read the first three...) Ellory repeats and repeats how Mitch feels today, how he felt back then, how he felt when he was in Korea during the war. The book could have lost ninety per cent of all this, and been considerably better for it.

It’s a pity because otherwise this strand is interesting too. Basically, it’s the story of the real assassination, only changed to reflect the fact that in the book the assassination doesn’t come off. But real people show up – Jack Ruby, Lee Oswald, etc. – and Ellory treads a line between the official account and the various major conspiracy theories. I’m not hugely knowledgeable about the details of the event, but it all seemed to tie in well with what is known as far as I could tell.

It all leads up to a satisfying thriller ending, which again teeters precariously on the edge of credibility but doesn’t quite fall off. The whole presents a dark, dark picture of the Kennedy clan, exaggerated in places (I assume) to achieve a thriller effect, but sadly mostly only too believable. If you can put up with all Mitch’s endless regrets or, like me, skim read past most of them, then the what-if? features make this an interesting and enjoyable read. 3½ stars for me, so rounded up.

NB This book was provided for review by the publisher, Orion.

What if John F. Kennedy had not been assassinated in November 1963, would America be a different place today? And is the collective memory of this man, who served less than three years as president of the United States, an over-romanticised vision of the man?

As this story kicks off it’s clear that the attempt to kill JFK in Dallas on that fateful day has failed. Kennedy is still alive and in office and is planning for the forthcoming Democratic National Convention, hell bent on securing nomination for the upcoming presidential election. His brother Bobby is still the powerhouse behind his support team and he’s trying to rein in his elder sibling’s philandering which he perceives represents a significant risk to a second term, should it become known to the wider public. Bobby is confident they can pull it off, but winning the nomination is certainly not a given.

In parallel to this, photographic journalist Mitch Newman is drowning his sorrows and lamenting just how badly his life has run off-track. He knows he made a rash decision to abandon study and to leave the love of his life, Jean, at home as he chased fame and fortune as a war reporter in Korea. It didn’t work out for him in Korea and he returned home traumatised and heavily regretting his decision to leave. To rub salt in the wound, Jean had pulled the plug on the relationship whilst he was away and didn't reply to his many pleading letters. Now, some while later, a new level of grief has descended on him as he’s discovered that Jean has committed suicide. Can things possibly get any worse?

As Mitch struggles to deal with this latest blow he begins to learn more about how Jean spent the last months of her life. It seems that she had become a journalist herself after obtaining her degree and had become somewhat obsessed by the rumours surrounding the way in which Kennedy had narrowly won election to the presidency. Had something untoward taken place, had the election result somehow been rigged? It seems that she’d travelled to Dallas in late ’63 as she sought answers to these questions and soon after had taken her own life. But Mitch just couldn’t see the girl he’d admired and loved taking this drastic course of action; he knew he’d have to know more about her last days, if only to put his mind to rest and obtain some sort of closure.

As the tale unfolds the key figures from the time make their appearance: Jack Ruby, Lee Harvey Oswald and also those close to and working for JFK. The political intrigue is deftly handled as the Kennedy brothers and their team plot their way toward the key DNC showdown, and as the lovelorn Mitch gradually starts to piece together the events leading up to Jean’s death the tension racks up exponentially. We know that the two elements of the story will eventually collide but it’s by no means clear how this will all play out.

I’ve long admired Ellory’s ability to spin a yarn, I truly believe him to be a master storyteller. He’s like a British Stephen King in the way he’s able to grab a reader by the neck and haul them through to the end, breathless and gagging for more. This is certainly one of his most inventive novels and probably one of his very best. Highly recommended.

Mitch and Jean were an item; engaged and heading for a life together until early in the 1950's Mitch, a photo journalist made the decision to head off to Korea. It was a mistake, one that cost him his relationship with Jean and when he returned 4 months later, his attempts to rekindle their romance were met with rejection, letters remained unanswered and he had to accept she was no longer part of his life. Nobody was more surprised than him when on Independence day 1964, over a decade later he received a phone call from her mother telling him that Jean had taken her own life. But things don't quite add up, her mother claims its a lie, why are the police on the door of her apartment, who are the people who falsely claimed to be colleagues of hers and removed all her papers, why had investigative journalist Jean been in Dallas and what did current President John F Kennedy have to do with it?

Retelling history as it may have come to pass if those fatal shots fired on 22 Nov 1963 hadn't happened, this book is part fiction, part fact. Set in a period of history that still raises a lot of questions that theme is cleverly followed through in this latest book by RJ Ellory.

Three Bullets is not just a fictional account of a journalists obsession with uncovering the truth about what happened to the woman he loved, its also a well researched and well written journey into the dark side of the powerful Kennedy Administration.

As his suspicion that something is very definitely not right about Jeans death grows Mitch finds himself obsessed with seeking out the truth. This book had me reading long into the night as I followed Mitch on his journey, worried that he may himself end up in the crosshairs and become another statistic in the political cover ups.

An interesting read, totally recommended for anyone interested in the Kennedy era - from start to finish this one had me engrossed and unable to put it down. One of those books that you'll remember reading.

My thanks to the Publisher and NetGalley for the advance copy for review purposes.

I have always thought that RJ Ellory was an exceptional thriller writer who has never received the acclaim he rightfully deserves.

Hopefully things will change and Three Bullets is an exceptionally clever, original, well thought through and plotted book which, it goes without saying, is also beautifully written.

I will not reveal the plot but just imagine if JFK had not been assassinated and what might have happened in that instance?

Read it and find out for yourself and you really will not be disappointed!

I was drawn to this book because it's alternate history, but it's much more than that. Three Bullets is set in a world of early 1960's USA where the plot to assassinate President Kennedy in Dallas failed. The, now infamous, date of 11th November 1963 and the man Lee Harvey Oswald hold no significance. We follow Mitchell as he investigates his ex-girlfriend's apparent suicide; Jean was a journalist who seems to be investigating something to do with JFK himself. This book is crime fiction, political thriller, with touch of a love story.
I was worried that the story revolved around US politics and that it would be a bit dry and preachy. Luckily, it is neither. The author doesn't even allude to the current political climate in the US, which I was happily surprised at! I was also concerned that i would struggle to understand what was going on if the story revolved around the American political system, but the story is woven around the politics and it works really well as a novel. There is a theme of "What if?" in the novel; the obvious one being "What if JFK had lived through that fateful day in Dallas?". But we're also presented with other questions: "What if Jackie had married Bobby Kennedy instead?" or "What if Mitch hadn't gone to Korea?".
Mitch and Jean's relationship is explored in an effective way. We look back as their doomed romance unfolds, and Ellory explores the motivation, emotions, and heartbreak, that are within a relationship. It's a good way to keep the story grounded and on a human scale...an alternate history of such a major event could have been too big to handle, but the exploration into Jean and Mitch's history means it maintains the humanity. The love letters were a nice touch and the reveal towards the end was very clever and meant our perceptions of them changed.
This novel has a very smart mix of real people and events, and fictional characters and fictional events. There are a few threads that I'm sure are based on theories and suspicions about JFK, but they written about in a clear and concise way that adds to the story, instead of the sounding like the ramblings of a conspiracy fanatic. I loved the reveal near the end where we learn what this has really been about. Overall, the ending was both good storytelling and realistic.

What if the assassination of President John F. Kennedy never happened - but there was a conspiracy? What might have occurred in Dallas on November 22, 1963 is the premise of R.J. Ellory's latest novel "Three Bullets". Instead of the death of a popular young president, we are presented with the dark side of "Camelot , the court of JFK with his brother Bobby and the "Irish Mafia" fighting a desperate battle to ensure Kennedy wins the Democratic nomination and gains a second term as President of the United States.

We meet Mitch Newman, a washed-up photojournalist based in Washington, D.C. One night he receives a phone call from Alice Boyd, mother of Mitch's former fiancee Jean. Mitch and Jean broke off their engagement when he left to go to Korea as a war photographer. After a breakdown which brought him home just a few months later, Mitch tried desperately to reconcile with Jean, to no avail. Now, her mother tells him that Jean has taken her own life.

From then on, things start to get weird. All of Jean's papers in her apartment are taken away by a policeman and men claiming to be work colleagues of Jean - except they weren't who they said they were. Mitch reads material written by Jean at her mother's home. Those documents also disappear. With only a few sketchy clues to work on, Mitch - fired by his undying love for Jean - starts to investigate, beginning with a trip to Dallas. It seems she was working on an expose of the Kennedy family's rigging of the election which elected JFK. Mitch becomes convinced that her death was not suicide.
Writing about Kennedy v Nixon election, which Kennedy won by the narrowest of margins, Jean makes a damning observation: "The only good thing about whichever candidate wins this election is that it the other one didn't."

So begins a journey into the dark heart of the U.S.A's political landscape in the 1960's - an alternative history of the Kennedy presidency after November 1963. There are details of Kennedy's countless sexual liasons with women and his reliance on various pills and potions - all of which were barely mentioned by the US media until long after his death. We learn of the desperate measures taken by Kennedy's men to ensure his nomination and re-election - events which actually happened prior to JFK's visit to Texas.(It's a fact that Kennedy told advisers he expected a tough re-election campaign because of his support of civil rights. Indeed, his historic Civil Rights Act, introduced in June 1963, was stalled in Congress when he died.)
There is also a wealth of detail on the Secret Service's role in protecting the President and his family and how they deal with the hundreds of death threats which were directed at JFK.
As well as Kennedy himself, his brother Bobby and the politicians and fixers in Kennedy's cabinet, real characters such as Jack Ruby appear in the story while others, such as Mafia bosses and union boss Jimmy Hoffa, are also mentioned. Some of the women who were among Kennedy's sexual conquests play a major part. And, of course, there's Lee Harvey Oswald.

The plot takes the reader down several blind alleys and Mitch seems in the grip of an obsession as he tries to piece together various clues surrounding events in Dallas in November 1963 - until the action moves to Atlantic City and Kennedy's date with an alternative destiny.
Finally, there's a fabulous twist to this tale which shocks Mitch to his core. This is a fascinating thriller and will surely give JFK assassination conspiracy theorists some incredible new material.

My thanks to the Orion Publishing Group and to NetGalley for a copy of this book in return for an unbiased review.