In this novel Jim Lehrer weaves a fictional story around the actual events of November 22, 1963, the day President Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas, Texas. The protagonist, Jack Gilmore, is a reporter for the Dallas Tribune (aka The Dallas Times Herald where Lehrer worked) who meets Marti Van Walters, the daughter of Martin Van Walters, a former Secret Service agent, whose father is still guilt ridden year later over his decision to take the bubble top off of Kennedy’s limousine since the weather was sunny.

The novel is an interesting read as well as a quick read, coming in under 200 pages. The prose reads well, but because Lehrer is a former newspaper man and a reporter, the story reads more like a newspaper story than a novel. I never felt like I was reading a novel, but rather a factual story surrounding the assassination events. The characters are not well developed, due in large part to the story being presented mostly in a narrative format (like a newspaper story). I would have loved to see deeper development of Gilmore, Marti, and especially Martin Van Walters, since the whole point of the novel is ridding him of the guilt he has carried for so many years.

Unfortunately, Lehrer’s personal anti-war, and pro LGBTQ views are more than obvious in the book. I don’t care what Lehrer’s political or social views are, but I don’t want them shoved down my throat in a work of fiction. Just give me a good story.

Since the book revolves around an actual historical event, it is imperative that events mentioned in the book be totally accurate. Unfortunately, many facts stated in the book are not accurate. This is a cardinal sin for a former reporter to not fact check events in the book for accuracy. Just a few examples: Marti is a Dallas Cowboys fan and she mentions that in the 1963 game against Cleveland, Don Meredith threw two interceptions and had a fumble. Actually, Dandy Don had 4 interceptions and no fumbles. Also, Marti mentions that Eddie LeBaron was traded by Dallas at the end of the 1963 season. This is also incorrect. LeBaron retired at the end of the 1963 season and never played for any other team. One final example which is the most egregious. Van Walters describes Kennedy’s blood in the Zapruder film he watched as “a spray of red,” describing the final shot that struck Kennedy. He said it was red everywhere and kept repeating the word “red.” Actually, the film was in black and white, so there was no “red” anywhere in the film. Remember this was 1963 and Zapruder was using a home movie camera. Anyone who has seen the Zapruder film would know it was in black and white, not in color. These, as well as other inaccuracies in the book, reduced the overall rating I gave the book.

Personally, I cannot recommend the book. Not only does it not read as one would expect a novel to read, but the inaccuracies regarding events that actually occurred took me out of the story. As a reporter, Lehrer should know better, and have gotten his facts correct. ( )

Would a plexiglas top on Kennedy's limousine have provided enough protection to deflect Oswald's bullets and save the president's life? This is one of those 'what-if' questions that could have haunted the person who made the decision, top up or top down? That fateful day had started out rainy but when the skies cleared Secret Service agent Van Walters made the decision to remove the bubble top from the limo.

Five years later Van Walters has been so consumed by guilt that he has suffered a physical and mental breakdown and has lost the will to live. His daughter, Marti, contacts Jack Gilmore, a young reporter who was there when the decision was made to remove the top. Would he help her convince her father it was not his fault? Jack agrees, but at the same time he is thinking this will make a great story and while agreeing to off-the-record discussions, really wants to get this story for his paper.

With the 50th anniversary of the Kennedy assassination this past year, many new books both fiction and non-fiction have been written on the topic. For me the subject is as interesting as ever and when I read the description of this novel, I jumped at the chance to read it.

While this was a decent story and an easy read, it was not the page-turning historical thriller described in the synopsis. The writing was straight forward and sparse. I expect a little tension and some suspense in a thriller but there was none of that here. And I never formed a connection with any of the characters so by the end of the novel I was more interested in the resolution than what became of any of them. Perhaps I was expecting a little more depth from a novel by Jim Lehrer. ( )

I liked this book; it was an enjoyable and quick read. ( )

Top Down is a novel by Jim Lehrer of PBS about a newspaper writer in Dallas, Texas who assists a young woman in attempting to prove that her father is not responsible for the Kennedy assassination. Her father is dying of mental anguish because he thinks that he killed Kennedy because he ordered that the bubble top not be put on Kennedy's Lincoln on the day of the assassination.

I found this book to be very straight forward. It is so straight forward as to lack depth. Lehrer's writing is very straight-forward, what-you-see-is-what-you-get writing. This is ironic because his main character, Jack, is also a newsman who wants to be a novelist, and Lehrer has Jack mention several times that he admires Hemingway. Hemingway was best known for his iceberg theory on writing where the author should leave a lot unsaid. Reading Lehrer, one get the sense that nothing is left unsaid because the story is so thin that there isn't much to say.

Another problem with the novel is that Lehrer tries to create sexual tension between the main character and the college-aged woman that he is trying to help. This is presented through very clunky dialogue that seems almost like an older man's fantasy of what it would be like to flirt with a younger woman. None of it felt natural and all of it felt contrived. If Lehrer did not know how to present this aspect of their relationship in a natural and realistic way, he probably should have left it out.

Finally, I never found myself really caring whether a plexiglass top could have really saved JFK's life. The best literature has something to say about ourselves or society. This novel didn't have much to say about anything. Even as a cheap thriller, it wasn't that thrilling. Lehrer never convinced me to care. ( )

With the 50th anniversary of JFK’s assassination this past month, I’ve heard many, many theories, personal stories, “What If’s?” One that grabbed my attention was a radio interview with Jim Lehrer…because his was a personal story (he was working at a Dallas newspaper that fateful day) combined with a “what if”. What if the bubble top HAD been on the car the president was riding in that day?

“Top Down” does a good job exploring the personal reactions of a Secret Service agent who is consumed with guilt about his part in that horrible day. How a seemingly minor decision may or may not have been a factor in what happened to the president – and then to the country. Agent Van Walters cannot let go of his fateful decision to have the top removed from JFK’s convertible, and starts to fall apart. Reporter Jack Gilmore, whose question about the top may have led to the decision, is enlisted by Van’s daughter to help.

“And so, I, too, became one of the many people connected to the Kennedy Texas trip who were plagued by varying levels of what-if guilt. A guilt that would stay with us forever.”

A guilt that then has an effect on his daughter and his wife. “I’m a ricochet in this little family drama, Jack. That’s what I am. The shrapnel hit Van front and center and then glanced off and came right at me.”

The book doesn’t go down the conspiracy theory rabbit hole or look at any other possible outcomes had Kennedy lived, but it does do a good job of looking at the impact of that day on people who may not have been considered before. A reporter asks a Secret Service agent a seemingly innocuous question…and possibly changed history.

“Yes, one man really did fire three rifle shots out a Dallas window in a few seconds and change the course of history – forever. For me, the fragility of what we all come to think of as order and normality has been the permanent lesson of the Kennedy assassination. Since that awful day we’ve known we are always only three shots away from chaos.”

Chaos as a country and as a society…and for those who will relive that day over and over again…and ask, “What if?” ( )