The President's Killers

This thriller centering on the assassination of an American president suffers from unoriginality and less-than-credible plotting%E2%80%94both of which prove to be a barrier to reader engagement. Twenty-three-year-old Denis Kinney of New Jersey becomes the pawn in a conspiracy to murder President Colin Patrick when his resume catches the eye of a headhunter from RJJ Careers. After an interview, and despite misgivings about his employers, Kinney accepts a position with a unit of the National Security Council. Many readers will wince as Kinney performs assignments obviously designed to set him up as a patsy in an assassination plot. Given the book's title, no one will be surprised that Patrick's days are numbered, but the lack of security at the time of the fatal shooting strains credulity. From there, the book focuses on Kinney's flight for his life, and his efforts to clear his name and identify the real conspirators. Although Jacobs offers up some thrills and intrigue, readers will find it difficult to sympathize with Kinney, despite his predicament, while many of the novel's details don't ring true.