Jack 1939

Jun 25, 2012 Patrice Hoffman rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: giveaways

*I won this book through a goodreads giveaway. It is an uncorrected proof edition.

I wasn't sure what to expect when reading this book. I thought maybe John F. Kennedy would be some sort of secret 007 with a bunch of fancy gadgets. Luckily, this wasn't that book. It was accurate to the time and to the equipment of the time.

A summary of the book is that Jack Kennedy is recruited by Pres. Roosevelt to be a spy for him. Kennedy's cover is that he's researching for his senior thesis. The president's...more

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Jul 11, 2012 Jeanette rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: all-fiction, america, historical-fiction, europe-and-british-isles

I tried hard with this one, but it just wasn't striking the ol' ring-a-ding-ding for me...
I stayed with it all the way to the halfway mark, which is pretty generous on my part. Not only does it feel contrived, it seems to be a deliberate smearing of the Kennedy family. I'm well aware of Joe Senior's pecker-dilloes, and his weird political ideas, and the manipulations that made him a wealthy man, but he had good qualities as well. He raised several fine sons who gave their all, and their lives, w...more

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Nov 07, 2012 Beth rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Interesting premise to write fiction within a story of JFK's actual 22nd year traveling around Europe. His trip on the Queen Mary and the places he went are historically documented. The author is a person who knows her history and who has also worked for the CIA. It takes this kind of person to put together this kind of spy mystery.

Portraying Jack as a lover of a married man seems true but the woman as described does not. I could believe the dastardlyness of the man called the "Spider" because...more

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Sep 01, 2012 Jaylia3 rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Mostly wonderful

Could young JFK have been a pre-WWII spy for FDR? Author Francine Mathews has done her historical homework and created a mostly wonderful story that makes the possibility seem plausible. In 1939 the then 22-year-old John Kennedy was in fact roaming around the hot spots of Europe. His father Joe Kennedy was the American ambassador to Britain, and while the senior Kennedy supported Neville Chamberlin’s policy of appeasing Hitler to avoid war, JFK’s own writings indicate his thinkin...more

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Aug 19, 2012 JoAnne Pulcino rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: adult-fiction, adult-mystery, adult-thriller, spy

JACK 1939

Francine Mathews

JACK 1939 is a brilliantly conceived and intriguing espionage thriller. Ms. Mathews has done a superb job of placing a 20th century iconic historical figure in an improbable fantasy that encourages you to believe that the man, the story and the situations could be true and makes the read truly fascinating.

War in Europe is imminent but a 22 year old John Fitzgerald Kennedy decides to travel through Europe to research his Harvard senior thesis. President Franklin Delano Ro...more

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Jul 11, 2012 R. Honey rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

***** STARS

JACK 1939 = 007!

If Roosevelt and Dashiel Hammet were alive they would say "darn good spy yarn". .This is actually what this novel is.
In winter,1939 Jack,second and so far unremarkable also ran son of Joseph Kennedy,ambassador to England is summoned by
President Roosevelt just before he is to sail for England on the Queen Mary in early 1939. He is going to see his
Family in London but also plans to tour Europe for his Harvard senior thesis. Which later became Why England Slept.
Using thi...more

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Jul 04, 2012 Tina rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

In 1939, the US had no spy service, no CIA, and had to rely on the intuition of its leaders along with unofficial reports on the actions of world leaders and governments for the nation's security. As Europe ground inexorably toward another war in 1939, President Roosevelt needed to get information quickly, quietly, and completely outside State department channels. At the same time, Jack Kennedy, son of the US Ambassador to the Court of St. James (England) was planning to spend the summer and a s...more

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Jul 04, 2012 Grady rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

A Terrific Blend of Fact and Fictionalized History

Francine Matthews after twenty some novels knows her craft. She also writes under the name Stephanie Barron and has gained a large following for her series of novels centered on Jane Austen mysteries. Another factor that makes her the obvious choice of server of this excellent novel is the fact that she served as an analyst for the CIA. Blend these ingredients an out comes this intensely entertaining novel JACK 1939 a story whose central characte...more A Terrific Blend of Fact and Fictionalized History

Francine Matthews after twenty some novels knows her craft. She also writes under the name Stephanie Barron and has gained a large following for her series of novels centered on Jane Austen mysteries. Another factor that makes her the obvious choice of server of this excellent novel is the fact that she served as an analyst for the CIA. Blend these ingredients an out comes this intensely entertaining novel JACK 1939 a story whose central characters included not only the JFK at age 22 years, but also Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Winston Churchill, Neville Chamberlain, J. Edgar Hoover, Adolph Hitler and a battery of newly created but equally credible character that help propel this intriguing thriller along. Matthews manages to sharpen out information about these critical figures in a straightforward manner that adds to our appreciation of famous people about whom there are still rarely known facts. She opens her book with a long look at the 22 year old John Fitzgerald Kennedy, the sickly and clearly secondary son of the wealthy Joseph and Rose Kennedy as he is hospitalized at the Mayo Clinic for complications of agranulocytosis and a chronic gastrointestinal disease requiring subcutaneous patches of DOCA (desoxycorticosterone acetate) to be placed by JFK under a cut flap in his leg - further evidence that JFK was man who simply did not know defeat.

The novel deals with FDR's conviction that Hitler is sending money into the USA to underwrite a campaign to prevent FDR from gaining a third term as President: FDR is wary of Hitler's desire for world dominance and will stop at nothing to prevent that from including the USA. He needs a spy to undermine the espionage in Europe and is convinced that the bright, eager, free thinking JFK is the man, despite a medical report that states JFK is 'Believed to be dying at age seventeen-misdiagnosed with leukemia - possible blood or liver disorder - damaged vertebrae while playing football at Harvard - spends several weeks each year at Mayo Clinic, with additional tests at Brigham Hospital - medical consensus: unlikely to thrive.' A series of murders occur all suggesting the presence of Hitler's influence in the US and FDR decides that JFK is the only man whom he can trust to uncover the data behind the realities of the impending WW II. So JFK is sent to Europe via the Queen Mary, meets several women aboard (JFK's proclivity to female companionship is well known), and finally arrives in Europe under the guise of completing his Harvard Senior thesis where the story blossoms into a gut-wrenching tale of espionage that involves all the events that are leading to the inception of WW II.

Readers who desire pure history novels will likely be critical of some of the ways Matthews manipulated facts, but for the reader who loves to identify with famous historic figures as they create a fictitious story in the hands of a novelist with the gifts of Francine Matthews, this book will be certain to appeal.

Grady Harp
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Sep 04, 2012 Lauren rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

The tagline for this book is: "Charming. Reckless. Brilliant. Deadly."

Mine would be: "Fun for a bit, but got too silly for me."

The premise is this: The year is 1939. FDR chooses young John "Jack" Kennedy -- fresh from Harvard -- to be his spy in Europe. Though outlandish and unrealistic, it's not completely farfetched... Not completely. Kennedy's family was politically prominent. His father held the significant post of U.S. Ambassador to England at the time. And a young Jack Kennedy certainly m...more

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Jan 12, 2013 Jason Bucky Roberts rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: yes

First Line: "...patient's 6000 cell count at intake," Dr. George Taylor wrote, "has dropped to 3500."

President Franklin Delano Roosevelt has secretly decided to run for an unprecedented third term in office. He knows that Europe is on the brink of another world war, and he believes more in his own abilities to carry the United States through than he does in any of his likely successors. But he does need someone he can trust to find out what the Nazis are up to. Since the United States does not h...more First Line: "...patient's 6000 cell count at intake," Dr. George Taylor wrote, "has dropped to 3500."

President Franklin Delano Roosevelt has secretly decided to run for an unprecedented third term in office. He knows that Europe is on the brink of another world war, and he believes more in his own abilities to carry the United States through than he does in any of his likely successors. But he does need someone he can trust to find out what the Nazis are up to. Since the United States does not have an intelligence service (spies), Roosevelt chooses his own-- twenty-two-year-old John Fitzgerald Kennedy.

The young Jack Kennedy is in ill health more often than not, and of all the Kennedy children, he's considered to be the least promising, the black sheep. But he's also the son of Roosevelt's ambassador to Great Britain, he's a well-traveled young man with a diplomatic passport, and he knows many people. Roosevelt sees something in Jack, something that reminds him of himself. Jack agrees to Roosevelt's proposal, and in the spring of 1939, he's off to Europe aboard the Queen Mary, ostensibly to gather material for his senior thesis at Harvard. Only Roosevelt, Jack, and the president's most trusted bodyguard know that Jack is looking for the people responsible for a flood of German money into the United States-- a monetary tsunami intended to buy the 1940 presidential election... an election that Hitler is determined Roosevelt will lose.

Former CIA intelligence analyst Francine Mathews has crafted a terrific blend of fact and fiction that drew me in from the very first page. I loved how Roosevelt skillfully tapdances around the slimy, secretive J. Edgar Hoover, who spends most of his time trying to compile blackmail-worthy dossiers on all the powerful people in the country. When the action is in Europe, time and time again the British pop up with some needed help, showing us all that they know plenty about the spy business.

But of course, the focus of the book is on the young Jack Kennedy. His constant, mysterious illnesses have made him unafraid of death and determined to live fully during the time he has got. He knows how to think on his feet, how to observe, and he learns very quickly. He falls in love with a beautiful woman during the Atlantic crossing aboard the Queen Mary, and he shadows Diana Playfair from place to place until they finally hook up to get the information that Roosevelt needs. And when the information begins to fall into place, Jack learns that his father, Joseph P. Kennedy, is right in the middle of things. Which is going to be more important to Jack-- his mission for Roosevelt or his family's integrity?

I found Jack's love interest, Diana Playfair, too cold and brittle to ever really care about, so that part of the story palled a bit for me. Besides the scenes in which Roosevelt shone, the best often showed Jack interacting with his brothers and sisters. At times it seemed that Mathews' portrayal of Rose Kennedy and Jack's elder brother Joe was too one-sided, but I have read a lot about the family, and everything that's said about all the Kennedys in Jack 1939 is pretty accurate. I think Rose and Joe Jr. were painted with the saint brush after their deaths: Joe the Golden Boy, killed too young and not allowed to fulfill his promise, and Rose, the bereaved mother who lost two sons so tragically in the 1960s.

While I'm speaking of the Kennedys, one scene that did not ring true for me at all was the scene at the end where Jack lays down the law to his father, Joe. No way, no how would that scene ever happen. However, this scene and the character of the icy Diana Playfair were not enough to ruin my enjoyment of this book.

This was a fun read from beginning to end, and I enjoyed Mathews' skillful blend of history and the storytelling art. Seeing a young JFK spying his way around a Europe on the edge of war, as a young man falling in love, learning how to use cyphers and radios, being followed by a psychotic Nazi killer, and getting himself out of one close call only to fall right into another... I read this book in a little over a day, and when I came up for air, I had a big smile on my face. (less)

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Jun 18, 2012 Steve rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: first-reads

[Disclaimer: I won this book through a goodreads giveaway. It is an uncorrected proof edition.]

Jack is John F. Kennedy (JFK). In 1939 he is a Junior at Harvard with serious (and historically accurate) medical issues. He has arranged to spend his Spring term and summer doing independent study in Europe (also historically acurate).

Other facts the book is based on:

o President Franklin Roosevelt (FDR), foreseeing a world war and dissatisfied with the foreign intelligence the State Department and mil...more

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Jul 23, 2012 Dana Stabenow rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

What if FDR sent a twenty-one year old JFK to Europe on the very eve of World War II itself in order to find out if and how Hitler is smuggling money into the US to influence the next election?

"I've been turning it over in my mind, Jack--this trip of yours," the President was saying. "To the Nazis, you're just the American ambassador's son. But to me, you're a perfect spy. My independent thinker. Arriving in London with a fresh outlook and an unclouded mind. As far as the Nazis are concerned, yo...more

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Jun 10, 2012 Jill rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: first-reads

As a Goodreads giveaway winner, I received an advanced copy of this book.

Before he was president, John F. Kennedy was a politician's son attending Harvard and traveling around the world gathering research for his thesis paper. In Jack 1939, Francine Mathews blends history with her own espionage tale. What if his thesis research was a cover for something bigger?

In 1939, the world is tense as Nazi influence is expanding. President Franklin D. Roosevelt is serving his 2nd term and looking toward...more

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Sep 25, 2012 Nathan rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I'm not sure what's with historical fiction authors' attachment to JFK recently. Don't want to seem brash but I think they are looking back with rose-tinted glasses. Francine Mathew's new novel follows JFK through Europe before the start of WW2 working as a spy for Roosevelt under the guise of researching his senior thesis, in order to track down a money laundering scheme by the Nazis to influence the next US election with a more pacifist-minded candidate.

I'm a fan of historical fiction, but am...more

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Jun 17, 2012 Debbie Maskus rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This is a fictional account of the spring and summer in 1939 that John F Kennedy raced around Europe. John F Kennedy actually spent time in Europe before the war started. He was working on his senior honors thesis for Harvard. Many of the events and people are real, but Francine Mathews stretches the story. The action moves quickly as Hitler gathers momentum. The only part of the story I found a little overdone was the constant reminder of John Kennedy's sickness. I felt that every chapter had t...more

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Jul 14, 2012 Holly rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I really enjoyed this book. It's rather an old-fashioned spy story set in 1939 at the brink of war worldwide. What's special about this book is that the main character is Jack Kennedy and the whole Kennedy clan serves as a sub-plot for the book. A fictionalized account of what Jack might have been doing as he roamed Europe during the late 1930s, it's a great story. It's also fun to be able to imagine the actual faces of so many of the characters (FDR, Hoover, Churchill, Chamberlain, etc.). The a...more

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Jun 16, 2012 Tim rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: first-reads

Good book, mix of a good James Bond spy tale with some Sherlock Holmes. In this alternate reality, John F Kennedy tours Europe on the brink of World War II as a spy for President Roosevelt.
There's a lot of good action. Even though it's fictional, the book prides an excellent look into the private life of the Kennedys, particularly JFK as a college student and how he gained a passion for politics.
There are a few memorable characters, including Willi Dobler, Grubbins and Diana, that are great add...more

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Jun 11, 2012 Cathy Cole rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

First Line: "...patient's 6000 cell count at intake," Dr. George Taylor wrote, "has dropped to 3500."

President Franklin Delano Roosevelt has secretly decided to run for an unprecedented third term in office. He knows that Europe is on the brink of another world war, and he believes more in his own abilities to carry the United States through than he does in any of his likely successors. But he does need someone he can trust to find out what the Nazis are up to. Since the United States does not h...more First Line: "...patient's 6000 cell count at intake," Dr. George Taylor wrote, "has dropped to 3500."

President Franklin Delano Roosevelt has secretly decided to run for an unprecedented third term in office. He knows that Europe is on the brink of another world war, and he believes more in his own abilities to carry the United States through than he does in any of his likely successors. But he does need someone he can trust to find out what the Nazis are up to. Since the United States does not have an intelligence service (spies), Roosevelt chooses his own-- twenty-two-year-old John Fitzgerald Kennedy.

The young Jack Kennedy is in ill health more often than not, and of all the Kennedy children, he's considered to be the least promising, the black sheep. But he's also the son of Roosevelt's ambassador to Great Britain, he's a well-traveled young man with a diplomatic passport, and he knows many people. Roosevelt sees something in Jack, something that reminds him of himself. Jack agrees to Roosevelt's proposal, and in the spring of 1939, he's off to Europe aboard the Queen Mary, ostensibly to gather material for his senior thesis at Harvard. Only Roosevelt, Jack, and the president's most trusted bodyguard know that Jack is looking for the people responsible for a flood of German money into the United States-- a monetary tsunami intended to buy the 1940 presidential election... an election that Hitler is determined Roosevelt will lose.

Former CIA intelligence analyst Francine Mathews has crafted a terrific blend of fact and fiction that drew me in from the very first page. I loved how Roosevelt skillfully tapdances around the slimy, secretive J. Edgar Hoover, who spends most of his time trying to compile blackmail-worthy dossiers on all the powerful people in the country. When the action is in Europe, time and time again the British pop up with some needed help, showing us all that they know plenty about the spy business.

But of course, the focus of the book is on the young Jack Kennedy. His constant, mysterious illnesses have made him unafraid of death and determined to live fully during the time he has got. He knows how to think on his feet, how to observe, and he learns very quickly. He falls in love with a beautiful woman during the Atlantic crossing aboard the Queen Mary, and he shadows Diana Playfair from place to place until they finally hook up to get the information that Roosevelt needs. And when the information begins to fall into place, Jack learns that his father, Joseph P. Kennedy, is right in the middle of things. Which is going to be more important to Jack-- his mission for Roosevelt or his family's integrity?

I found Jack's love interest, Diana Playfair, too cold and brittle to ever really care about, so that part of the story palled a bit for me. Besides the scenes in which Roosevelt shone, the best often showed Jack interacting with his brothers and sisters. At times it seemed that Mathews' portrayal of Rose Kennedy and Jack's elder brother Joe was too one-sided, but I have read a lot about the family, and everything that's said about all the Kennedys in Jack 1939 is pretty accurate. I think Rose and Joe Jr. were painted with the saint brush after their deaths: Joe the Golden Boy, killed too young and not allowed to fulfill his promise, and Rose, the bereaved mother who lost two sons so tragically in the 1960s.

While I'm speaking of the Kennedys, one scene that did not ring true for me at all was the scene at the end where Jack lays down the law to his father, Joe. No way, no how would that scene ever happen. However, this scene and the character of the icy Diana Playfair were not enough to ruin my enjoyment of this book.

This was a fun read from beginning to end, and I enjoyed Mathews' skillful blend of history and the storytelling art. Seeing a young JFK spying his way around a Europe on the edge of war, as a young man falling in love, learning how to use cyphers and radios, being followed by a psychotic Nazi killer, and getting himself out of one close call only to fall right into another... I read this book in a little over a day, and when I came up for air, I had a big smile on my face.

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May 05, 2013 Amanda rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This book had an interesting premise and I fully expected to enjoy it. It started off well and is well written. The premise is interesting. I did believe that Jack Kennedy may have been a spy for President Roosevelt in his post college years and I believed in the portrayals of the supporting characters. ( The Kennedy family, warts and all). So I can't really explain why I abruptly lost interest in this book. I started to feel completely indifferent to it and put it down about 2/3 of the way in a...more

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Jun 20, 2012 Nicole rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: first-reads

5/31 - Won this on goodreads.

6/11 - Recieved book.

6/20 - Interesting book and concept - what would have happened if JFK had been sent to Europe in 1939 by FDR as a spy. I would be interested to know how much was based on fact and how much was fiction. I didn't know a lot about the Kennedys (and really still don't) before reading this book, but I was curious enough to do a little research so I do know about Joe Sr.'s financial success and how he cheated the system, how much kids the Kennedys had...more

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Nov 14, 2012 Nan rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Francine Matthews (who is also the author of the uncannily accurate Jane Austen mysteries, under the name Stephanie Barron) gives us a great portrait of an insouciant, rebellious--and deathly ill--young Jack Kennedy. In real life this young man had the nerve to use his father's diplomatic privilege to travel all over war-torn Europe researching a Harvard thesis that would decimate his father's political views. And then he published it! It doesn't take a great stretch to imagine that he would hav...more

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Sep 13, 2012 Kathy rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

A rip roaring espionage story peopled with both real and fictional characters starring a young Jack Kennedy (22 years) as Roosevelt's "man in Europe" Jack bounces from one city to another all across the continent supposedly researching his senior thesis for Harvard but actually digging up information for FDR.
The one major problem with the book in my opinion was the fictional character of Dianna Playfair, a femme fatale out of the old dime novels. She was more cardboard than human and her "lust"...more

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Aug 22, 2012 Judy Alter rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This novel is set in 1939, before Germany took Poland and began bombing London. Jack is twenty-two-year-old JFK suffering from a severe but undiagnosed illness (probably the Bright's disease later diagnosed). He goes to England, where Joe Kennedy is America's ambassador, to wander Europe doing research for his senior thesis at Harvard, using a diplomatic passport.
This is a suspene thriller in every sense of the term. We know the hero--Jack, who is is sick all the time, often feverish, unable to...more This novel is set in 1939, before Germany took Poland and began bombing London. Jack is twenty-two-year-old JFK suffering from a severe but undiagnosed illness (probably the Bright's disease later diagnosed). He goes to England, where Joe Kennedy is America's ambassador, to wander Europe doing research for his senior thesis at Harvard, using a diplomatic passport.
This is a suspene thriller in every sense of the term. We know the hero--Jack, who is is sick all the time, often feverish, unable to hold food down, medicating himself, thin and frail. We know the heroine if there is one--Diana Playfair (I looked on Google and she doesn't seem to be a historical character). We know the villains--Reinhard Heydrich, the obbergruppenfuhrer, chief of Hitler's main security office and a thoroughly merciless man (historical figure) along with Hans Obst (apparently fictional), an equally merciless killer skilled with a knife. And we know the prize--an address book listing those who donated to the Sisters of Clemency, a charity which funneled funds to aid the Nazis in defeating Roosevelt in the American election--a list which includes Joe Kennedy. (Complicated enough for you?) Most of the above is historical but what bothered me in this novel was sorting the historical from the fictional, some of which seems improbable. Jack skitters across Europe, Obst at his heels, passing through checkpoints and closed borders and escaping death by a hairs breadth. Suspense at its best but, to me, bothersome. Jack does go from wanting to get the address book to save the famly reputation to wanting to get it for the cause of America--a touch of Camelot to come?
Joe Kennedy is as you would expect--authoritarian, dictatorial, self-centered. Rose, whom I always greatly admired, comes across as less admirable--a social-climbing, self-centered self-indulgent woman who is distant from her children, even when Jack may be dying. Jack is not much of a surprise--intelligent, foolhardy, an eye for the skirts. But then, he expected to die at any time anyway--why not in an adventure rather than a hospital bed? It's hard to give up Camelot.
But these books have piqued my interest in the pre-WWII years, and I want to read more.
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Sep 14, 2012 Nancee Gorenstein-Bernstein rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I had been thinking about reading this for a while after reading a review last winter and bought it finally when I was out of town and in need of a book. I'm really glad I did that. While definitely a work of fiction it was easy to get caught up in a could this be true thought process since most all of the characters in the book did actually exist and interact with each other. A very cleverly imagined story that kept me interested from start to finish and written in a very easy style. If you are...more

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Dec 04, 2012 Lois Shepard rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This is an imaginative and somewhat daring romp through early Nazi Europe by a young, talented and very well connected young Kennedy.
Sent on a secret mission by President Roosevelt, he fits into his role perfectly, but is originally unaware of the more personal consequences to his family of his findings.
Francine Mathews' backgound as an analyst for the CIA is quite evident. She lets young Mr. Kennedy know where to look and to grasp what he is actually seeing when he gets there.
A fast and inter...more

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Aug 27, 2012 Sue rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Intersting premise - JFK in 1939 London. He is hustled away by 4 large men to a secret meeting with FDR in early 1939 & asked to do some snooping while he is in Europe gathering info for his senior thesis at Harvard. Lots of historical figures make appearances throughout: the Kennedy family (of course - with some speculation of the family dynamics), Churchill, Heydrich, Gestapo, to name a few. If you are interested in WWII history, it makes you wonder if something like this could have happen...more

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Oct 10, 2012 Nancy rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: historical-fiction, war, 20th-century, fascism, thriller, germany, england, united-states

Mathews’ historical thriller takes place in the days preceding WW II when Hitler was still pretending to want peace while making plans to invade Poland and take over Europe. Her protagonist is a young Jack Kennedy, who is given an assignment by President Roosevelt to gather information in Europe on the pretext of working on his senior thesis. Mathews’ book had my attention to the very last page. It is well written and full of conspiracy with some revealing stuff about Roosevelt and the Kennedys...more

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Aug 27, 2012 Julie rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction, own, vine

I love good speculative historical fiction and anything having to do with WWII, so the premise of JFK’s European tour in 1939 for his college thesis being a spy job was such fun. In this novel, President Roosevelt sends 22 year old Jack to discover who is responsible for Nazi funds coming into America to prevent his election for a third term. However, Jack is chronically ill and this limits him physically, but his diplomatic connections (father Joe is ambassador to England) and the Kennedy name...more

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Jul 26, 2012 Gordon Paisley rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: people who enjoy WW2 historical fiction

Shelves: historical-fiction, review-program

Really wish I could have given it 4.5 stars.
Disclosure: I received a complimentary advance copy of this book with the expectation that I would provide an honest review.

I enjoy historical fiction and I am always intrigued by the idea of a story where an author undertakes to fill in the gaps of history with her idea of what might have happened. The author has researched Kennedy’s itinerary in the spring and summer of 1939 and re-created in this book.

Jack 1939 is about John Kennedy’s senior thesis...more

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Oct 10, 2012 Jennifer rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: historical, thriller

I probably enjoyed this one more than I thought I would. Don't get me wrong - I do like Francine Mathews, and after the superb The Alibi Club, I was going to read whatever she came up with next. Luckily, it was this one.

For the most part, I don't mind authors fictionalizing historical characters as long as they remain true to personality and events. This one does a great job at both. I must admit that JFK is not necessarily one of my favorite personages - he always seemed a bit too polished - bu...more

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