Being a JFK buff, I try to read just about any book on the assassination. Mr. McDonald seems to have the credentials that would make you ask yourself, what reason does this man have that would make him lie? There isnt one because I feel he isn't lying. This is a new twist on the whole conspiracy. No one in the grassy knoll???? The mystery man Saul who actually pulled the trigger and the whole plan to kill Oswald at the scene, had me reading through the night. Do you want to tell my boss why I was half asleep at work the next day, I don't. This is a good read for any JFK conspiracy buff, it made me look at the whole event in a different light.

I first bought this book twenty five years ago or so. My copy is so worn out it has split down the middle. I was about to add a silver duct tape binding, when I discovered this reprint. If you haven't come across this little known book before do yourself a BIG favor and buy it. Hugh McDonald is not your typical conspiracy theorist. He was a on the "short list" when replacing the director of the FBI. This man has written many classic textbooks on interrogation techniques that are in use at police academies around the world. He invented the I-Denti-Kit, virtually eliminating the need for police sketch artists. In short, he is a master detective first. He makes a convincing argument on who killed JFK. (Interviewing the assassin makes for a pretty strong case.) He includes photos of the assassin and a complete timeline provided by the assassin on how he pulled of the crime of the century. If you want to know who hired the assassin you need to buy his sequel. "LBJ and the JFK Conspiracy"

I bought and read this book back in 1975, and I've never found a book about the assassination which betters it. McDonald discusses his own bonafides (and includes facsimiles of various documents in the back), introduces us to one of his sources (who is deceased by the time the book is published; J. Edgar Hoover attended his funeral), and most importantly, introduces us to the actual assassin of President John F. Kennedy. Then interviews him.

No, there wasn't a gun firing from the grassy knoll. Watch the footage sometime -- first Kennedy reacts, then Connolly, which exactly corresponds to the testimony of the passengers in the open car. The police ran right up to the grassy knoll, because the shots sounded like they'd come from that direction. There were no shooters there, no spent casings, not even the smell of a firearm discharge. There's simply nothing to the "grassy knoll" shooter. The counsel for the House Select Committee on Assassinations assumed there was, and concocted one out of thin air, in a failed attempt to extract more funding. The myth of the grassy knoll shooter has persisted for nearly 40 years, perhaps most notoriously in the ridiculous movie "JFK".

One of the ironies of Oliver Stone's messterpiece was immediately apparent to me when I saw it in the theater. During the montage of period still footage, a photo of McDonald's "Saul" appears. That photo appears in this book, along with another taken the same day, outside the Soviet Embassy in Mexico City.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. Written in the early 80's (as I recall), Bocca offers some excellent advice on the use of sex and foul language in fiction that would set the teeth of a 90's child on edge. Bocca is a Brit who moved to America and found success as a novelist. He begins his book with his list of necessary reference books; this list is well worth the effort to copy it down for your own reference. Bocca also provides a lot of advice you'll find in many other books. However, with his British viewpoint and phraseology, the advice takes on a refreshing air. I certainly would put this book on a par with Lawrence Block's WRITING THE NOVEL: FROM PLOT TO PRINT. So, I give the book a hearty, "Well worth the money!"