The Shot
By Phillip Kerr

3 Stars

The shot has an over complicated storyline and plot that occasionally loses the reader.

The author includes a tremendous amount of detail and colour to backfill the story and set the scene. Too much at times.

Set in the cold war period of Castro and Kennedy, an assassin is hired to take out one of the leaders.

An interesting take on the Kennedy assassination. I did think that it dragged out a little and was slightly overwritten. Still worth a read.

Superb thriller set in 1960s USA where an assassin is hired to take out Fidel Castro, only it looks like he has changed his mind and has another target in mind. With the Mafia and the US government agencies plotting with and against each other it becomes clear that noone is quite sure who the assassin is working for. The late Philip Kerr wrote the wonderful Bernie Gunther series and brings the same splendid plotting and sense of time and setting to work on this novel moving through the USA and Cuba at this pivotal moment in world history. A splendid read.

he late Philip Kerr is justifiably renowned for his magisterial series of fourteen historical books featuring the sardonic German copper Bernie Gunther. Kerr, however, was good enough - and confident enough - to write superior stand-alone novels. I read one such - Hitler's Peace -  earlier this year and if you click the link it will take you to the review.


Quercus has just republished The Shot, a 1999 novel by Kerr. We are in America and it is the late autumn of 1960. In the pop charts, The Drifters were singing Save The Last Dance For Me, and a youthful looking senator called John Fitzgerald Kennedy had just won the election to become the thirty-fifth President of The United States.


Just a hundred miles or so from the tip of the Florida peninsula lies the island of Cuba, but its traditional role as puppet state of America, complete with Mafia-owned casinos, sex clubs and hedonistic lifestyles came to an  end in 1958 when communist rebels, led by Fidel Castro, finally overturned the regime of Fulgencio Batista. Cubans have fled in their thousands to Florida, while the American government looks across the waters for signs of Russian influence over the fledgling state.


Central to the story of The Shot is an American assassin who calls himself Tom Jefferson. We never learn his real identity. We only know that his aliases are always those of American Presidents, such as Franklin Pierce and Martin Van Buren. Tom is a military trained sniper who earns his living killing political targets by blowing off the tops of their skulls with a .30 calibre bullet.

As ever with a Philip Kerr novel, we are in a world populated by a mix of fictional characters and real-life figures. Among the latter are Jack Kennedy himself and the Mob boss Sam Giancana. Giancana hires Jefferson to assassinate Fidel Castro so that the revolution will collapse, and the mafioso can return to their old lucrative ways. Jefferson does his homework and seems all set to put a bullet in Castro's head.

In the wake of 22nd November 1963, Jack Kennedy achieved temporary sainthood, and it is only relatively recently that JFK's less-than-saintly private life has become common knowledge. When one of his exploits affects Tom Jefferson personally, the whole plan to kill Castro is turned on its head. Jefferson goes missing, and becomes the object of a manhunt by the FBI, the CIA and the Mafia.

This novel shows Philip Kerr at his wondrous best. The historical characters are made flesh in front of our eyes, while the fictional participants are vividly convincing. Kerr's grasp of history is immense, and he serves up a winning mixture of The Day Of The Jackal and The Spy Who Came In From The Cold. The Shot is out now.

This book is beautifully written with a few twists in the plot. Being around at the time of Kennedy's inauguration, Kerr's descriptions are accurate and obviously well researched. Unfortunately, I was disappointed as I did not enjoy the book. The descriptive detail often slowed down the plot and too many red herrings just made a confusing plot even worse. I'm sure a lot of readers will really enjoy the book. I've rated the book 5 stars for quality of writing and 3 for my enjoyment, so overall 4 star.

Astonishing tale of assassination plots and double crossing in late 1950’s early 1960’s America. A plot to kill Fidel Castro using an ace sniper employed by a cartel of famous gangsters becomes a plot to kill JFK before his inauguration is the twist laden scenario of this utterly believable yarn. A wonderful cast of sleazy characters bring the tale to glorious life all building to a will he or won’t he take the shot of the title. Quite brilliant!

As much as I try to love Philip Kerr's book there's something which is not working.
I read a lot of 5* review for his Bernie Gunther novels and I'm sure they are great books.
Unfortunately this one didn't work for me: I couldn't connect to the story and it didn't keep my attention.
Not my cup of tea.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine

Philip Kerr brings his trademark attention to detail and impeccable historical research in this blend of fact and fiction, a standalone espionage thriller with its mix of real and fictional characters from early 196os America. These are turbulent times, with its strident anti-communism, reds under every bed, in the midst of the bitterly fought cold war with Russia, feeding the paranoia and fear of the Cuban Revolution led by Fidel Castro, that brings the dangerous commie influence right onto the American doorstep. Castro has upset key influential US figures and corporations, with his nationalisation policies, and the mob is unhappy at having their casinos and more taken from them, leading to numerous attempts to kill the Cuban leader. The young and charismatic JFK has been competing with Richard Nixon for the race to the presidency and emerges victorious, an election the mob have helped fix for him.

Kerr imagines an alternative history, a history that just might go some way towards explaining the disturbing assassination of JFK in 1963, with the secret service and intelligence agencies unable to address their failures, and, even worse, leaving the president in the dark. Ex-military Tom Jefferson is a skilled and gifted assassin for hire, married to the beautiful half Chinese and black Mary, a Democratic party worker in Miami. Tom has just carried out the successful assassination of a Nazi in Buenos Aires, off the back of which he is offered a bigger and more lucrative assignment by the mob, led by Sam Giancana, in partnership with the CIA, with the full knowledge of JFK, to kill Castro. As he begins to plan for the job, Tom hears surveillance tapes, intended to ensure JFK submits to the mob's wishes, that derail everything and change his target. In this twisted narrative, hunting Tom for the mob is an ex-FBI investigator intent on ensuring that JFK remains safe, whilst Tom relentlessly and determinedly implements plans to make the critical shot.

Kerr evokes the period culture and atmosphere of a misogynist and racist 1960s America, with a wide and diverse cast of characters, hardly any of which are likeable, and a JFK who cannot control himself when it comes to other women, to the extent that he is willing to endanger his own security. Kerr does a stellar job in setting the scene for understanding the Bay of Pigs invasion and just why so many in the American establishment and the mob were so hell bent on doing whatever they could to kill Castro. Kerr weaves a beguiling and intriguing story of a hitman, corruption, betrayal, security and intelligence agencies who barely communicate with each other, double agents, double crosses and more at every turn, and twists that continue right up to the unexpected ending. Many thanks to Quercus for an ARC.

The Shot is a novel by Philip Kerr that is now being republished.

Unfortunately I did not enjoy the book as I found it rambling and boring in parts with a story that just drifted along for the majority of the book

This book starts off by following Tom Jefferson, a professional hit man, unstoppable sharp-shooter and mercenary as he takes out a Nazi, and then gets hired to perform a hit for the mafia. Then, about halfway through, we also pick up another strand of the story, as a disgraced and really rather pathetic ex FBI guy tries to stop Tom from blowing his next target’s brains out.

That feels a bit brief for 480 pages, but that does sum it up.

Oh, except lots of irrelevant details, no doubt gleaned from either TripAdvisor or Google Maps in an attempt to give local “flavour” to the myriad of places mentioned throughout. I gave myself a headache with all the excessive eye-rolling I had to do when reading this.

In case you can’t pick up on my tone, I really didn’t think this was very good at all. It was messily put together, it rambled in a lot of places, the plot was a hot mess and at the end I genuinely didn’t understand what the point was of any of it.

On top of that, as a woman, I upsicked a little at the idea of a professional, who whilst performing an autopsy, describes what effects an STD can have on a woman’s “pussy”. Really? I mean, REALLY?! Honestly, I should have stopped reading there and then.

I could easily have given this a one, because I had absolutely no enjoyment whatsoever in reading this. However, it gets a one purely for the effort the author has clearly gone to in doing his research. So much so that he had to include every, single, minute detail!

Fidel Castro has been leader in Cuba for a year and John F Kennedy is president elect of the United States. The Mafia want Castro assassinated. They hire Tom Jefferson to do the job. Then the CIA and the FBI get involved, at this point the story gets very involved, to be honest I kept checking to make sure I was understanding the plot. The plot thickens and twists and turns. Very interesting end.

My thanks to NetGalley and publisher Quercus Books for the ARC.

Well, I have to be honest, this really wasn't for me - not that the premise of the story couldn't be interesting, but because of the inordinate amount of irrelevant narrative interjected which was just so frustrating. I only continued - in fits and starts - because I requested it and wanted to give a fair review.

I couldn't get on with the enormous amount of Spanish words/phrases which appeared to be deliberately placed - unnecessary, despite the locations. Every room that Tom Jefferson entered was described in the minutest of detail, name-dropping manufacturers in particular. There's loads of narrative containing reminiscences and musing; detailed description of geography, along with tedious history of the regions, and irrelevant diatribes from cartel members - I cannot call it dialogue because it actually wasn't.

So, overall I find this read to be characterised by frustration from all the periphery which did nothing to either enhance or support the actual story.

Sorry, but there it is.

I love counterfactuals and Phillip Kerr pulls it off really well here. I was gripped from the first few pages and read this well written book in a couple of nights. I am really happy to have been introduced to this author and will be seeking out his other books

This book was originally published twenty years ago and is being re-published this year. It is part politic thriller and part historical fiction. Based in 1960, the story starts with an assassin being contracted to conduct a feasibility study for the assassination of Fidel Castro. Part way through the book, something unexpected happens and the focus of the storyline shifts dramatically.

The storyline is cleverly woven through a point in time when there are notable historical happenings. Tensions with Cuba and the election of JFK are themes throughout. However, in order to make sense of the story, there are so many characters involved that at times it is difficult to keep track of who is working for who, who is FBI, CIA or part the Mob.

In summary, I liked it, but I didn't love it. It's complicated and easy to lose track.

Thank you to NetGalley for an early copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.

Thanks to Quercus Books and NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I know I am not alone in being a huge admirer of the late, great, Philip Kerr's legendary Bernie Gunther series of books. If you haven't read them, I would urge you to do so NOW. Kerr was unparalleled in his ability to give his thrillers a certain cerebral edge - recasting your typical thriller in new and innovative ways. It was his impeccable sense of time and place - the 'historicization' of the mystery genre, where he displayed his talents most emphatically. That certain blending of fact and fiction' - or 'faction' as we now call it, was Kerr's uncontested territory. In the Bernie Gunther series of novels we see our anti-hero rubbing shoulders with the likes of Joseph Goebbels, Arthur Nebe, and more frequently, his bête noire, Reinhard Heydrich. I was hesitant about reading 'The Shot' in the expectation that I would not find them the least comparable, in terms of quality, with this series. I shouldn't have worried, 'The Shot' displays all the ingenuity, verve and style, I would expect from Kerr. In this book we are transported to the events of 1960/1961, and the escalating tensions between Soviet-backed Cuba and the USA. Historians of this period will be familiar with the 'true' outcome of The Bay of Pigs invasion that provides much of the context for this book, but in Kerr's hands history does not necessary follow in an unambiguous, linear fashion. There is an element of what-if? about this book, and the result is exquisite. The cast of characters are familiar, but the intrusion of a fictional character - assassin Tom Jefferson , unbinds history from its traditional moorings. He was supposed to have Fidel Castro literally in his sights, but the killing of the Cuban leader is averted by Jefferson's choice of a preferred target. Who? Why? I'll let you find out for yourself.

Tautly-plotted, stunningly realised and unique. An apt exemplar of the late Philip Kerr's prodigious talent.

Tom Jefferson is good with a rifle. Scratch that, Tom is an expert marksman and having fine tuned his skills as a sniper serving his country he’s now making a tidy living hiring out his ability to deliver sudden death to anyone with deep enough pockets. Set in 1960/61 the man with the money on this occasion is mobster Sam Giancana and his target is Cuba’s political leader Fidel Castro. And so this tale begins, with a mix of known facts (names and events most readers will recognise), blended with fictional elements comprising a number of rumours that have done the rounds for years and a plot line in the mould of Frederick Forsyth’s The Day of the Jackal.

This book was originally published some twenty years ago and I’m somewhat surprised I haven’t stumbled across it before. The author, Philip Kerr, wrote a highly successful series of books featuring Berlin detective Bernie Gunther, a series I’ve dabbled with over the years. I’ve always enjoyed a good political thriller and here Kerr gets the feel of the time spot on with his characters, his settings and above all the dialogue, it’s really well done. There are plenty of twists and turns too, which kept re-setting my expectations of what was to come.

I’ve read quite a bit about the Kennedy clan and indeed Castro too over the years and Kerr expertly weaves elements I’ve come across before into this tale. If I were to offer a criticism at all it would only be to say that the book is on the long side and it does feel a little slow in places. But by the end of the book I felt myself totally captivated as Jefferson sets himself up for a fateful pull of the trigger. It’s an entertaining and mostly engrossing tale, I liked it a lot.

Rather than carp and criticise that this is not as good as the Bernie Gunther series one should start by saying that very little is. Instead I would like to commend the author for the range and scope of his subject matter.

The plot has been dissected by many more before me on Goodreads so all I will say is that as a conspiracy thriller and a what-if, it was exciting, well written, oroginal, pacy and plausible.

More than enough for me.