"Frame 232 - A Jason Hammond Novel" by Wil Mara (fiction based on the Assignation of John F.Kennedy)

SBN13: 9781414359519

About the book:  During the reading of her mother’s will, Sheila Baker discovers that she has inherited everything her parents ever possessed, including their secrets. A mysterious safe deposit box key leads her to the answers to one of history’s greatest conspiracies: who killed John F. Kennedy? Not only does she have the missing film, revealing her mother as the infamous babushka lady, but she has proof that there was more than one shooter.

On the run from people who would stop at nothing to keep secrets buried, Shelia turns to billionaire sleuth Jason Hammond for help. Having lost his own family in a tragic plane crash, Jason knows a thing or two about running from the past. With a target on their backs, can Jason uncover the truth in time, or will this shooter finally make their mark?

My thoughts: November 22, 1963 I was a young mother of young children at home taking care of them doing the daily things mothers of young children do. We had a black and white TV that sat in the corner of our living room on a small metal stand. Simple. Inexpensive. Yet, it was a connection to what was going on in the world. We usually watched the news at night so we could keep up with what was going on in the world outside our doorstep. There was, after all, a cold war going on and America and the Soviet Union were on tender-hooks. America’s President, John F. Kennedy,  was the first ever elected Catholic to this esteemed office.  He had a charm that wooed the American people and he was from a  family of vast wealth and connections.

November 22, 1963, dawned sunny and bright in Texas and other parts of America. President Kennedy was visiting Dallas, Texas. Today it is hard to remember just what that visit was all about.  The parade was nearly over and then the nightmare exploded our safe world just as the bullet exploded in the head of President Kennedy.

In Frame 232 the author has taken this mind numbing catastrophic event in American history, woven bits and pieces of fact together to create a story that some may believe satisfies the theories who was actually behind the assignation of our President, of whether there was more than one gunman, of whether or not it as an international conspiracy or an internal one, was it a lone deranged gunman or was some other plot afoot?

Based on photographs from the day that showed the woman on the side of the street in the crowded side lines that was dressed in a coat, scarf, and sun glasses and who was perhaps holding a camera, the author has fleshed out this lady with a personality, a life, and given her fears enough to last a lifetime. Upon her death, the film she shot was passed along to her daughter with the responsibility of its safe keeping. Because that film, held a mighty secret.

Having personal recall of those dark days in American history, I found the reading of this fictional take on the event interesting. I personally never had time nor interesting in following through the years those who believed they could reveal conspiracy this or conspiracy that in connection with President Kennedy’s  assignation. We did watch with horror the replays of the assignation, capture of Oswald, murder of Oswald, swearing in of President Johnson, the despair of Jacquelyn Kennedy, the funeral of our President, and the grief of his family as well as that of our nation. I found myself delving a bit into history as I read this book to refresh my memory and to see just what substantiated the narrative.

I found the book interesting and worthy to be recommended. Is there truth in it? Well, with facts that can be substantiated, yes. But there is also fiction – it is after all, a work  of fiction as acknowledged by the author.

DISCLOSURE: I received a complimentary copy of Frame 232 as part of the Tynale bloggers network for the purpose of review. No compensation was received and I was not expected to render a positive review.