Promises To Keep - Softcover

Bernau, George

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1521590273 ISBN 13: 9781521590270

Publisher: Independently published, 2017

Synopsis

‘Nerve-tingling political blockbuster’ – Daily Express Texas, 1963 America’s youngest president is visiting Dallas, driving through Dealey Plaza in an open car. Then shots ring out, and President Cassidy’s glamorous wife, Suzanne, finds her bright pink suit soaked in her husband’s blood. But this president is not dead. President John T Cassidy is terribly wounded, but he’s still alive. Just… As President Cassidy begins his slow and painful recovery, his dynastic family is determined to maintain its grip on political power, despite the manoeuvrings of political rivals. The authorities try to find out who shot President Cassidy, and why? It seems that the first of those questions is quickly answered, as a gunman is arrested and then assassinated himself. The Dallas police are content that justice has been done. But for one FBI agent, the answers are not so clear-cut and Agent Sullivan begins his own search for the truth. Meanwhile, the social changes that marked the 1960s are unfolding. In far off Vietnam, trouble is brewing. Trouble that will affect the Cassidy clan in the most terrible way. Back at home, Sullivan is reaching his own conclusions, and uncovering another way in which foreign policy has impacted upon the Cassidys… And in time, Sullivan comes to realise that sometimes the people who ought to be the most trustworthy, are actually the most treacherous. As the story hurtles to its gripping conclusion, it would seem that they may not yet have finished with the Cassidy family… Promises to Keep is an epic tale of an alternative reality – a compelling story in its own right, and one that also allows the reader to speculate upon what might have happened, had the actual events of November 1963 been slightly different.

Praise for Geroge Bernau

‘A story of conspiracy and corruption, of assassination, of regicide. For a generation of Americans, it is the story of their age.’ – Gary Hart, Los Angeles Times ‘Bernau accurately paints recognizable characters jousting for political power … Sharp-edged cutting between these players and a host of dangerous, shadowy conspirators keeps the tension running high’ – Publishers Weekly ‘What Bernau has done, without intending it, is to invent a fertile new fictional genre: the “what if … if only” school of fiction’ – The Guardian ‘A real page-turner … Never has the Kennedy myth been more dramatically rendered!’ – David Horowitz, co-author of The Kennedys: An American Dream George Bernau worked as a motion-picture studio executive at Universal Studios in Hollywood for several years before leaving to study law at the University of Southern California. After graduating with honours, he began practising with a major law firm in San Diego, where he became a full partner in 1979.

About this title

From Publishers Weekly

Adding to the numerous fiction books that have explored the assassination of John F. Kennedynotably Don DeLillo's literary thriller, Libra Bernau's debut novel is a solid, often touching thriller with the familiar characters only thinly disguised. The theme here is the wishful premise: "He didn't die in Dallas." America is thrown into turmoil when charismatic President John Trewlawny Cassidy is shot, but not killed, while riding in a motorcade with his chic wife, Suzanne. As Cassidy starts down the long road to recovery, Vice - President Rance Gardner, a long-faced, ambitious Texan, is elbowing his way toward the top and struggling to run the country. Meantime, Strode, the would-be assassin, is murdered while in custody of the Dallas police. Despite pressure from highly placed sources to drop the case, a young FBI agent who traces Strode's trail backward finds the path littered with corpses and all leads pointing to a massive government conspiracy that even President Cassidy would prefer not to expose. Bernau accurately paints recognizable characters jousting for political power, as well as the tiny domestic details that make up the private lives of such public figures. Sharp-edged cutting between these players and a host of dangerous, shadowy conspirators keeps the tension running high. 100,000 first printing; $150,000 ad/promo; author tour.
Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

Dealey Plaza, Dallas, November 22, 1963: President Cassidy is shotbut survives. From 1963 to 1969, Cassidy's younger brother is vice president, Cassidy runs for office again, and the Cassidy influence restricts the build-up of U.S. forces in Vietnam. Meanwhile, a lone FBI agent compiles a file proving that the assassination attempt was the result of an international conspiracy. Interweaving bureaucratic and political episodes with those that focus on the second gunman and his compulsion to complete his assignment, Bernau shapes a suspenseful political thriller in this first novel. However, some of the glimpses at the characters' private lives slow the action and add little to the characterizations. The public's continuing fascination with "Camelot" should create demand.V. Louise Saylor, Eastern Washington Univ. Lib., Cheney
Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Edition details

• Publisher: Independently published
• Publication date: 2017
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1521590273
• ISBN 13: 9781521590270
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 679