McCarry's writing is clear and elegant. Overall, there's nothing particularly surprising about this novel: the main character, an ice-cold and incorruptible spy, either will or won't succeed in nailing down proof to validate his theory of who killed President Kennedy, and the new administration either will or won't acknowledge it if he does. Given the form -- a Cold War political thriller -- you can pretty well predict by the end of the first chapter how the story has to resolve; but the characters are so interesting, and the writing is so good that the journey is more than satisfying anyway. ( )

A very interesting, fast paced spy novel with a historical twist. I liked it a lot.

See my review at http://my.timepage.org/?p=173 ( )

Unusual hook for a spy novel. Good main character but the weakest parts of the novel are his personal life. The details of his personal life made me almost stop reading. ( )

I listened to, rather than read this book and it was so good that I rushed out and bought The Miernik Dossier (the first of the Paul Christopher series) and have plans to read each and every book in the series. What intrigued me was yet another JFK assassination theory (I'm not a conspiracy theory nut, but I am interested).

When Christopher hears that JFK has been assassinated in Dallas, he immediately knows who did it and why. At a time when Lee Harvey Oswald was considered both the mastermind and crazed lone gunman of Kennedy's assassination, nobody higher up wants to even consider the alternatives. But Christopher knows, and embarks on a journey filled with danger and intrigue to prove it, even if only to himself.

Tears of Autumn is an intelligent read, and doesn't insult anyone's intelligence. The assassination plot is quite plausible, without being in your face about it, and the author's fine writing makes you believe that these events could have happened in the way he posits.

The characters are very believable; the action is nonstop, and the writing is incredible. If you are at all interested in the JFK assassination, or in Vietnam, or if you just want a quality read, then I can definitely and most highly recommend this book. ( )

McCarry crafts a more plausible Kennedy assassination theory than most conspiracy devotees. Kennedy countenances (at a minimum) the assassinations of Ngo Dinh Diem and his brother on 1 November 1963 (so says the book; in reality the date was 2 November). Three weeks later, JFK is assassinated in Dallas. US agent Paul Christopher concludes that the Vietnamese did it. He quits the agency and sets out to prove it. The tale sprawls across 4 continents with rapid pacing as he chases down the truth.

The book's interesting characters are mostly believable, at once familiar yet not completely typecast. Christopher is the expert and honest US agent. David Patchens is the honest-broker spy chief. Foley is the JFK worshipper and political operator. The Truong toc is the ancestral head of Diem's family (OK, not so familiar, but intriguing). Luong plays Christopher's trusted agent (guess what happens to him!). And there's a Cuban agent, a Mafia don, a Vietnamese fortune-teller, and more. Molly, Christopher's obligatory love interest, provides important motivation, but is otherwise uninspired.

The book gives readers a peek into Vietnamese culture that is quite interesting. The book also suggests that if the American people had been told the connection between the assassinations that support for the war, not yet fully under way, would have dried up overnight.

Highly recommended for fans of the spy genre. ( )