I’ll preface this review by clarifying up front that:
- I do not live in the USA and am not a scholar on the JFK assassination
- Though a rabid Stephen King fan, I have studiously avoided this book since it was published in 2011, primarily due to lack of interest.
After having devoured this 800+ page book in a fortnight, I can now say that:
- I could comfortably answer a pub-trivia question about the JKF assassination
- I sincerely regret not reading this excellent book sooner.
This is one of those Stephen King novels that I feel confident recommending to just about anyone. For a book about time travel, it’s nevertheless grounded, well researched, and refreshingly uncomplicated. King avoids many of the pitfalls of the genre by wisely setting up the time travel ‘rules’ for this story early on, and keeping them plain and simple. In short: there is a portal in a certain location that, if walked through, takes the person to a single point and location in history – in 1958, to be precise. The person can then spent as much time they want in the past and return to the here and now which, regardless of how long they spent in the past, will only be two minutes later than when they left.
If they decide to go back through the portal again, it causes a full re-set. Back, again, to that same morning in 1958, with any changes they made last time erased.
It’s a great way to structure a time-travel story.
So, if you had the power to return to 1958 and start mucking about with world history, what would you do? How would you try to right the wrongs of the past and change the course of history for the better? The title gives that part away, I guess!
But this book is about so much more than an assassination. It’s a genuine trip into the past, complete with a visit to Derry and lindy-hopping dances. The USA of the 1950s and 60s was a simpler time in many ways, but also a time of racial segregation, cold war tensions, and social prejudice. King tackles this, and more, even leaving time for love.
I adored this book and am so pleased to have read it. I learned, I loved, I cried. It captured me and pulled me along. What a gift.
5 obdurate pasts out of 5.