Beyond the Grassy Knoll

What lies beyond the grassy knoll? If any part of that sentence resonates with you then you are aware of the controversies surrounding the Kennedy assassination. So, I will skip the obligatory, remedial recitation of the facts and suspicions in, or not, in evidence. 

In my research for a 1993 screenplay, and more recently for my new blockbuster thriller, “Ask Not,” I refreshed my files on the “alternate theories” of what happened that day, November 22nd 1963, in Dealey Plaza.  

As always, a good way to start is a deep dive into the 1600 pages that comprise the 26 volumes of the Warren Commission Report. A painstakingly assembled collection of documents, photos, and testimony that was ordered by LBJ shortly after the assassination. The “shorthand” report was itself, a hefty 888 pages. 

If you can’t sleep at night because you don’t believe the Warren Commission, then you are like a huge percentage of Americans who express doubt to this day about who killed Kennedy. Which is why it is the “setting” for my latest novel.  But parts of the very report that claims there was only one lone gunman, three shots, and no conspiracy, can lead you to suspect that there was possibly another shooter.

Here’s one example of what can be extrapolated from the Warren Report. The Police radio logs reprinted within the 1600 pages that contain quirky little nagging facts like this: At the time of the shooting of the president at 12:30 in the afternoon, the police dispatchers were sending cops to the railroad track area. That order was logged in at 12:30 p.m. and 40 seconds. 

The railroad track area? But…but the president was just shot! Why are you sending every cop you have to the the railroad track area?

What lies beyond the grassy knoll? The railroad track area. 

Right behind the wooden fence. The fence just to the front and right of the spot where Kennedy’s limo was when he was fatally shot. The exact spot the “Grassy Knoll Types” maintain the fatal bullet came from.

Interestingly enough, the transcripts show us that it wasn’t until 12:49 or so, almost 20 minutes from the moments the shots rang out, that the first mention of the Texas School Book Depository was broadcast over police radios.

What followed immediately was a description of a man, said to still be in the building, was dispatched. (Later we learned that at that moment, Oswald was on a city bus and then took a cab back to his rooming house.) But they gave a description! If Oswald wasn’t there, then who were they describing? 

Of course, none of this is proof of anything, first reports of traumatic events are often inaccurate, and chaos and confusion reign supreme over witnesses and even some police.  But if you are looking for a way out of the morass of randomness and senselessness that the lone nut theory has created in people for the last 60 years, then there is some great fertilizer here in which to plant your conspiracy theory. 

Coming in at slightly less than the 1600 hundred pages of the Warren Commission Report, is my new thriller, Ask Not! Which lands on the desk at a very digestible 275 pages.

Most novels are set in a place, a location. The setting for my murder mystery is the entire universe of conspiracy theories and public doubt over JFK’s murder. The Kennedy assassination still engages, enthralls, and endures 60 years later, in most part because of these conspiracy theories that keep it alive. I call that, America’s Assassination Fascination.

My main character, airline pilot Hank Larson, could care less about who killed Kennedy and was perfectly happy with the Warren Commission’s conclusions, and then never thought of it again. Until his brother is murdered, and he is set on a path. One which brings him right in front of the Grassy Knoll. With a target on his head. Right in the crosshairs of nefarious, powerful, and ruthless men who wish to keep secret whatever the hell did happen that day. 

I’m sitting in P.J. Clarke’s

A neighborhood bar in midtown Manhattan that is known worldwide.  It was a favorite watering hole for the Madison Avenue crowd, back when they constituted a crowd. Lawyers and their clients discussed strategy over oysters. Agents and their artists bickered over percentages.  P.J.’s opened in 1884 and is a time capsule of a bygone New York.  I moved out of the city two decades ago, but just walking through the saloon’s doors on the corner of 55th and 3rd makes this “Old Yorker” feel like a New Yorker.  Today I am here to meet with a former U.S. ambassador. A diplomat, who has dined all over the world and I are about to convene over two BBQ BLUE burgers – with crispy onions! 

My soft spot for this enduring NYC iconic saloon is why I made it a location in my new thriller, Ask Not! 

It was the perfect setting for a 1993 meeting between a free-lance magazine writer and his agent to discuss the biggest break of his career.  Uncharacteristically, the 10 percenter turns down the opportunity to represent him in this “bombshell” article that the writer wants to auction off to the highest bidder.  The writer protests, “But this is history-changing stuff!” Adamant, the agent wants no part of it. In fact, the agent, obviously terrified, tells him to drop it.  

Of the two men seated at actor Peter Falk’s regular table, across from what Nat King Cole dubbed, ‘the Cadillac of burgers,’ one man’s wise decision to opt out is why he lived to enjoy his grandkids. The other not so much…

Do you know who your pilot is?

Well, no. That’s me. But I love planes and think pilots are an incredible lot. Many have served in the military and bring a cool calm and professionalism to a very serious business which is also…Fun!

I doubt very few pilots just decided one day to answer an ad for “pilot wanted.” I suspect for many of them, it started with, “Varoom, Eaaahhh, Schooo.” The noises they made when they were six with a model plane or balsa wood glider in their hand. I have known many great men and woman pilots and each one has a subtle swagger and ‘Air’ of confidence that slicing through the air, in a “heavier than air” craft imbues.

So naturally when I wrote my new book, Ask Not, the only choice for my main character was an airline pilot. Captain Hank Larson suffers a family tragedy that is compounded by suspicions of murder. Not just the shock that his younger brother was a murder victim, but allegations that his brother, was himself, a murderer. His love and natural protection instincts for his sibling catapult him into a dark and nefarious world of conspiracy, assassinations, and shadow governments. Ruthless and powerful men that are out to take him out.  They aren’t sure if he is now in possession of the kompromat that got his brother killed, but they aren’t taking any chances. After all, they killed JFK to keep all this secret. 30 years later, some bumbling, and bereaved, airline pilot isn’t going to threaten their power.  But do they underestimate him at their own peril? Order now!

The Great JFK Conspiracy Giveaway for My Loyal Subscribers

I’m offering a chance for the world to get all their JFK Conspiracy theories in one entertaining and engaging place; my new book, Ask Not! But I don’t want you, my loyal subscribers, to be left out.

In case you are not familiar with my new JFK Thriller, I weave a murder mystery thriller in and out of all the controversy and contradictions of the crime of the (last) century – which is still a conundrum to this day. We’re giving away 10 SIGNED COPIES of this intriguing, ‘can’t put it down,’ breathless chase across the country, and the years, as an airline pilot, Hank Larson, sets out to clear his brother’s name only to end up in the crosshairs of the powerful men who killed Kennedy.

Just type “Pick Me” in the comments and
you’ll be enrolled in the giveaway contest, but
best of all, you’ll receive a free copy of, “Tom’s
Top Ten JFK Conspiracy Theories,” an illustrated mini eBook that will make you go “Hmmm?” (or “Nah.”)

You can also receive an additional entry for each of the following (yes, an your name goes in for EACH):

  • Follow me on Instagram @TomAvitabile
  • Like my Facebook page /TomAvitabile
  • Comment on any of my giveaway social media posts using #AskNotGiveaway

Contest winners will be notified by email, and
their personalized signed edition of Ask Not!
will be shipped in time for Xmas.

If you would like to help me get the word out, I’d appreciate it if you shared the giveaway with thriller enthusiasts you know. You can share this post or one of the giveaway posts on my social media pages. People who share will also get the eBook!

I can be found on: Facebook, X (Twitter), Instagram, and LinkedIn – @tomavitabile

Good luck to all of you and thank you for following me on my literary journey!

A MASTER BETA READER OPINES, “THERE’S A LOT OF SEX IN THIS BOOK!”

In my new thriller, Ask Not!, my main character, Hank Larson, traverses the country on a mission to absolve his brother of murder charges. Luckily, he’s an airline pilot so he can hop flights like trolley cars in San Francisco, as long as he’s in uniform. 

My sister-in-law says, “There’s something about a man in uniform.” In that way that tells you it brings out ‘har-moans’ that lie dormant except when a good chick-lit novel or steamy romance flick comes her way. 

As an author, I am blessed to have a Mastermind Group. Professionals and experts who are knowledgeable about, the various professions, ideas, and practices the characters in my novels encounter. They read my raw manuscripts for accuracy as I sketch my characters and plots outside the lines of the many lives that I have never lived but write about with authority. They reign in my estimations of those lives into a focused realism that passes muster with other readers of that ilk. You never want to alienate a plumber by using a spanner wrench on the wrong pipe joint, or a nuclear physicist by introducing the wrong isotope into an atomic cocktail. (I actually do have a nuclear physicist and a master plumber in my Mastermind Group along with a cop, a politician, a mobster (ret.), judges, psychologists, engineers, locomotive engineers, secret service agents, etc.) 

There is another group of about ten, just as precious to me who are critical readers who approach the book in general, they are known collectively as ‘Beta-Readers.’ Beta is a term brought out by the industrial release of a trial product. These intrepid souls slog through my unpolished work pointing out stumbles, knots, inconsistencies, and lots of other nasty artifacts that pollute the work of one mind writing one novel. But I never got a note like this. 

“There’s a lot of sex in this bookl.”

I don’t think so. But again, I wrote it.  However, now that he mentioned it, maybe there is a lot of guiltless, no-consequence (good or bad) casual sex in the book. See: Man in uniform. 

For example: Deep in the heart of Texas, Hank meets Carla, a bartender who is a free spirit. She has a very healthy attitude about men, life, and sex. Their brief encounter is easy, comfortable, and satisfying, surprisingly free from guilt or self-conscious emotions. For Hank, it’s the kind of experience that he’s sure would have most people picking out sofas and deciding whose rent is cheaper. Instead of going down the path of longevity and keeping a great thing like this going, Carla celebrates her freedom and her life as it is. She’s not looking for a change. Hank isn’t either, but he’s never experienced the same sentiment coming at him after such wonderful moments together.  Oh, and in the morning, he sees police uniforms hanging in her open closet. Turns out she’s a cop during the day. 

This puts him in a frame of mind that is perfect for when he meets, Chris DeMarco, another woman in uniform. They immediately… oh wait…I think I see what he meant.  

Apparently I have now created a new class of beta readers. The master-beta reader.  A new expertise that I guess could come in handy in any author’s work.

A Fortunate Encounter

This fortune cookie fortune sent me years back, to an early Thanksgiving morning when I shoehorned in a quick trip to the office before the family and the bird appeared in the dining room. My office was in the Theater District on 7th Avenue in New York. In my building was the home office of a venerated master of the Broadway stage as well as a show business guru to the stars. Many times during the work day, you would find the biggest stars, and up-and-coming ones, outside his office sitting on a hallway window banquette, waiting for their appointments. You get pretty blasé about it all after the 50th time.

Except on Thanksgiving, when you don’t expect to see anybody (but me) working. I remember that as I was walking up the stairs, Katharine Hepburn was walking down. At her advanced age, she chose the stairs over the elevator. Classic, I thought, for this American powerhouse. Now even though I was hardened to all this star power by then, I found myself awestruck. So, I put on the most syrupy voice and tone I could muster and asked, “So how are you today?”

To which the Academy Award-winning, woman’s role model, actor’s actor replied in her signature shaky, and crackly New England accent, “Any day above ground is a good day.”

“Yes, it is.” I agreed. Then I abruptly turned around and ran down the steps ahead of her. I ran to the Corner Deli on 54th and grabbed a red rose. I threw down a five. (Four dollars more than it cost, but I was in a hurry) and I ran back to my building. Just as I did, I saw the Great Kate getting into the back of a black Town Car as it rolled away.

I had a momentary impulse to run and catch her at the light, but that would have been too creepy. So, I handed the rose to the first woman I saw on 7th Avenue and said, “Happy Thanksgiving. Have a good day.” and added in my head, …an above-ground day!”

Although Turkey doesn’t come with a fortune cookie, I wish everyone good fortune this Thanksgiving.

Where were you 60 years ago today?

The day President Kennedy was assassinated. The day when many say America lost its innocence. The day Camelot and the New Frontier vanished along with the promise of new, youthful energy replacing the old stogey establishment generation. “The Torch has been passed to a new generation…” Kennedy proclaimed. He was against those things that held us back from being a more perfect union. His agenda was in part, no intervention in regional wars, like Vietnam. No invasion of countries we didn’t agree with, like Cuba. No racial segregation in our society, like in Alabama. No coddling of wealthy industries like oil and military contractors for political support. No mob control of culture and vice.  

He stood for much. He was cut down for most of it. Anyone who was above the age of 8 remembers where they were and what they were doing when they heard the news. I was in 4th grade. I remember the hollow feeling – a chill. Many teachers, who understood the gravity of the moment, were seen with moist eyes as we were let out of school early. We all shook with nerves as we waited for the dreadful Air Raid sirens to start wailing out their warning of instant, immolated death. A flash of light that would leave all of us as shadows of ash to mark where we died. It was the Cold War. The threat of nuclear annihilation was ever present as we routinely “ducked and covered” under our school desk, facing away from the windows, as if that made any difference to a supersonic nuclear fireball disintegrating everything in its path with the heat of a thousand suns. Kennedy was out to stop all that… ’til he was stopped. 

For nearly 40 years I have shared the national “Assassination Fascination” that grips America. Today is the birthday of the founding of that cottage industry of conspiracy theorists and their hundreds of books, movies, TV shows, and articles all trying to make sense of the senseless killing of a man trying to be sensible about our world and America’s place in it. 

My new thriller, Ask Not, is in many ways an homage to the national obsession with those 6 seconds in Dallas – six seconds whose devastating effects have lasted 60 years. My hero must sift through the world of conspiracy and fact to try to avenge his brother’s death – a brother who was deep into the assassination craziness.  

Recently, during a coast-to-coast radio interview, I was asked where I was when the shots rang out in Dealey Plaza on that day. Here is a short video of my response.