Winter Kills

The Manchurian Candidate by Richard Condon was and is a masterpiece of Cold War fiction if there ever was one. For that reason alone, other novels written by Condon both before and since are worthy of attention. Winter Kills was written many years after The Manchurian Candidate and is also about political assassination. Except in this case, the narrative takes place a full 14 years after the assassination in question has already occurred. President Tim Kegan was murdered on February 22, 1960 while riding in a motorcade in Philadelphia. Quite a few of the details parallel those of the assassination of President Kennedy. Nick Thirkield, President Kegan's half brother, serves as the novel's protagonist. It's now 1974 and Nick becomes witness to a deathbed confession by a man claiming to be one of the triggermen in his brother's death. In a frantic attempt to find out who ordered the killing, Nick must navigate a labyrinth of facts, half-truths and out and out lies. Winter Kills tells a complex story using frequent flashbacks to earlier times. As the plot unfolds, Nick, along with the reader, becomes aware that almost nothing is as it appears with layer upon layer of subterfuge obscuring the shocking truth. This is a very complex work of fiction containing a host of way over-the-top scenarios. Plenty of actual Washington based rumor, folklore and myth is appropriated to flesh out the narrative. Cynical and darkly funny with a number of unexpected twists, Winter Kills rates 4 stars. Recommended to political junkies as well as fans of convoluted mysteries.

This novel solves the assassination of "President Tim Kegan" during a motorcade in "Hunt Plaza". The details follow the very real assassination of JFK. Was this published too soon after the event? The House Select Committee later brought out many facts used by this novel, which explains the assassination as the revenge of organized crime. But it doesn't explain why the ruling circles covered up the assassination. Haven't corporate powers used organized crime to perform those actions which can't be done by lawyers and accountants? One person in this book is "Lola Camonte", an international hostess and Washington lobbyist and fixer. Could this be a reference to the famous widow of a Governor? "President Kegan" asks her about appointing a member of organized crime to the Court of St. James. This could never happen in real life, could it? This book explains how the media is used to portray fiction as fact. (Remember how President Carter was cut off the air when he began to speak about the assassination of JFK in March 1977?) When the assassination is planned, they order an independent team as back-up. Since the back-up team was not used they are quickly eliminated as potential witnesses. Many innocent bystanders, who saw more than they needed to know, are also eliminated. But this would never happen in read life, would it?