The Red Diaries: The Kennedy Conspiracy

The Red Diaries: The Kennedy Conspiracy #1-4

by Gary Reed, Chris Jones (Illustrator), Laurence Campbell (Illustrator)

It started with a single Red Diary. Inside it contained all the secrets that the owner had listened to and talked about with her lovers. She wrote down everything in there. Her lovers were powerful men and when she threatened to go public with it, she died. Murdered? Perhaps. But the diary went missing. The woman was Marilyn Monroe and her lovers included President John F. Kennedy and his brother, then Attorney General, Robert Kennedy. Her death remains a mystery...as does the contents of the Red Diary as it has never turned up anywhere. Now a man claims to be the son of Marilyn Monroe. His father? Perhaps one of the Kennedys but he doesn't know which one. He has been approached by a mob hitman who was assigned to watch over Marilyn as she carried her pregnancy out in Mexico. The mobster, calling himself Carlos, fell in love with Marilyn as so many other men have. When he witnesses the murder of Marilyn, he steals the diary. And then he begins his own set of red diaries....to carry on Marilyn's work. From the assassination of Kennedy, to the cover up that followed and the deaths of Martin Luther King and Robert Kennedy to Watergate, Carlos chronicles all the aspects he knows. His role differs in the various conspiracies and he claims he was the one that shot the fatal bullet into Kennedy's brain...partly for money and partly for retribution for Marilyn's death. Now, so many years later, an investigative team attempts to uncover both the diaries and the truth. Can the story possibly be true? Are there really a set of diaries that will blast everything wide open? As they go deeper, they find stumbling blocks in Washington and from the mob. "I place The Red Diaries right up there with Dan Brown's DaVinci Code, it's a must-read! If you are going to read any book this year, this is the book to read. A book filled with intrigue and mystery. The Red Diaries is the most compelling, intriguing book I have read in a long, long time! I felt somewhat paranoid after reading The Red Diaries! Gary Reed shakes the foundation of conspiracy with The Red Diaries, absolutely magnificent!" - Paul Dale Roberts, Jazma Online. ..".with a story like this, it's all about the execution, and this book has a wonderful execution. It's a big task reconciling all the various threads and theories around the deaths of Kennedy and Monroe, and Reed does a masterful job of sorting them out in a very intriguing way. His narrative is part declaration and part drama, part conspiracy and part high adventure." - Jason Sacks, Silver Bullet. "A well-paced story that builds from doubt to one of limitless possibilities. But the star of this show is Gary Reed. He has built an elaborate and dynamic story that interweaves conspiracy with action. Highest recommendation." - Kyle McDonald, Love A Mystery.

Genres: Graphic Novels, Historical Fiction, Fiction, Comics

167 pages, Paperback

First published June 21, 2006

About the author

There is more than one author with this name

Gary Reed was a prolific comic book writer and publisher. He was formerly the publisher of Caliber Comics and Vice President of McFarlane Toys.

Also wrote under assumed names (including Brent Truax, Kyle Garrett, Randall Thayer).

Reviews

[Owen Townend · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not since From Hell have I read a graphic novel that has more clearly done its conspiracy homework.
Whether it has any bearing on the truth or not, this does connect a few controversial dots, Marilyn Munroe's suicide and JFK's assassination in particular, in a thrilling way.
I'm not sure if it's simply because it's black and white but I felt that the artwork took a backseat to the words which is rare in graphic novels and not necessarily in a good way. I found myself slowing down around the pages of pure text background information about the key players and 'confirmed' detail.
Also the main characters were Raven Inc, a pre-existing group of fact finders that I had never heard of prior to reading this. Their individual characters did not stand out in the contentious narrative which I suppose can be a boon as well as a disappointment.
Nevertheless I enjoyed this read. It certainly has me wondering exactly where Munroe's red diaries ended up...

[Azra · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was an interesting take on some of the various conspiracy theories about Marilyn and the Kennedys. While the story begins strong, it begins to resemble the conspiracy theories it explores: sprawling, all encompassing, yet ending somewhere in the middle.

[Matt Kelland · Rating 4 out of 5]

Enjoyable take on the deaths of Marilyn and JFK. A fun read for conspiracy buffs, though it won't add anything new to what's already known or offer any new theories.

[Yosef Shapiro · Rating 3 out of 5]

This graphic novel started our really well. But, it really seemed to end abruptly.