In The Fifth Assassin, Brad Meltzer reintroduces us to Beecher White, archivist at the National Archives, who we met in The Inner Circle. He ends up on the trail of a killer who seems to be mimicking the methods of presidential assassins and who has the sitting president in his sights. Meltzer tells the story through implausible historical plots and secret societies, implausible personal connections among the major players, and a whole series of implausible events.
Do I mean to imply that the implausibility of the story makes it a terrible book? No, not necessarily. If you've read anything by Meltzer, you know he has some story telling skills. He includes lots of interesting facts and background about presidential assassinations and the history around them. But the events and connections became so silly, I stopped caring, even though I did keep listening to the end. But now that I think about it, I can scarcely remember how it ended. That's how much I thought of the book! Oh, and Scott Brick's overly dramatic reading only added to the excessively grave, melodramatic tone.
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