Surrounded by Enemies

What if President John F. Kennedy had survived the assassination attempt on November 22, 1963 -- and then set out to solve the attempted-murder mystery of who really tried to kill him? That’s the provocative premise of Bryce Zabel’s controversial new novel, “Surrounded by Enemies: What if Kennedy Survived Dallas?”

In time for the 50th anniversary of President Kennedy’s assassination, the award-winning Hollywood screenwriter/producer cleverly imagines the twists that history would have taken if the shots missed -- and JFK (and his attorney-general brother Bobby) fought back against the forces out to destroy him. In Zabel’s smart, fast-paced, meticulously researched “alternate history” of the Sixties, the charismatic Kennedy’s dark personal and political secrets lead to shocking but plausible plot surprises. The novel’s iconic cast of characters includes the Beatles, Marilyn Monroe, Cassius Clay and even Lenny Bruce, all in a world that never was but might have been.