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The Shot

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The Shot

By: Philip Kerr
Narrated by: Jeff Harding
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About this listen

Darkly imaginative alternative-history thriller from the global best seller and author of the Bernie Gunther thrillers.

America, 1960. In Washington, DC, John F. Kennedy has just been elected president. In Havana, Fidel Castro has been in office for a year, and with Cold War tensions rapidly heating up and the Soviets leading the space race, the thought of a Communist leader so close to home is already raising American blood pressure.

Anti-communist fever is rampant in the USA, with a paranoid establishment seeing reds under every bed. Nevertheless, the decision to snuff out the threat of Castro by hiring Tom Jefferson, America's best assassin, to kill him comes from an unusual quarter: the Mafia.

But Jefferson's very skill set that makes him the perfect man for this job also ensures he has no qualms in double-crossing his criminal paymasters. Jefferson has no issue with Castro: his preferred target is someone much closer to home....

©2020 Thynker Ltd (P)2020 Quercus Editions Limited International Mystery & Crime Mystery Political Spies & Politics Thriller & Suspense Espionage Fiction Suspense Crime Soviet Union Latin American Cold War

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Critic reviews

"Mind boggling...keeps you guessing until the end." (Sunday Express)

All stars
Most relevant  
Really enjoyed this book. Philip Kerr was a great fiction writer, I have read all of the Bernie Gunter series and this is no different in terms of pace, plot and personality's set against an historical period of time, in this case 1960.

Enthralling

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Classic stuff from Phillip Kerr, I’m a big fan of all his work also Jeff Harding’s reading style is perfectly suited.

Great story , classic intrigue

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...of eeking out Philip Kerr's estate and the last few releases have unfortunately not been as strong as they might be. Bernie Gunther has been a staple in my life for many years and I see at the time of writing this book has 12 5* reviews, but it's just not for me, sorry...

Not for me, unfortunately we are in the process...

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Dreadfully narrated by what I can only assume is AI. made the book intolerable to listen to, avoid

Appalling AI narration

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Overlong, anticlimactic and convoluted.

This story is amongst the type of book I often listen to, and enjoy, although it is the first by this author that I have listened to, or indeed read.

The pace for this type of thriller seemed rather slow, and I put this down to a number of (deliberate) red herrings, and non-important characters being given centre-stage. Other than the pacing I also had issues with the narrative being (unnecessarily)over complicated, I do not feel this added any interest, and served to make the book at least a couple of hours too long, so as I was desperate to just get it finished so I could start something more enjoyable.

Mr. Kerr deserves credit for his character building, which I found to be done very skillfully, I had no issue with the prose, and the narrator was fine, but just fine. I was quickly drawn into the story, learning about some of the main players, and wondering how they were going to connect, but that interest as stated did begin to wane.

I didn't hate the book, and fans of the genre, or Philip Kerr may well enjoy it more than I did, but if one is unsure - there is much better out there, imo.

Meh...

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