Official Review: Churchill's Assassin by John Righten

[Kia]

[Following is the official OnlineBookClub.org review of "Churchill's Assassin" by John Righten.]

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3 out of 4 stars

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Churchill’s Assassin by John Righten is the first book in the Lochran series, and is an action mystery of epic proportions. Ryan Lochran is on his way to a secret rendezvous with Sir Churchill Winston on New Year’s Eve 1965. Upon arrival, he interrupts an assassination attempt on Churchill’s life, and pursues the sniper. Much to everyone’s dismay, the struggle results in the death of the would-be assassin who was to be brought in for questioning. But now the looming question emerges: why would anyone attempt to kill a man everyone knows to be terminally ill? Lochran is desperate to find the answer, and his search takes him all around the world. During his travels, Lochran comes face-to-face with some of the most notorious criminal organizations the world has to offer, and realizes that something is coming that has the potential to change the world forever.

The thing that I enjoyed the most about this book was that it is just fast-paced and exciting enough to keep the reader’s attention throughout the entire novel. The thrill of the chase is never far from one’s mind and even when characters are simply speaking the tension is often high. In many books, this constant action becomes tedious very quickly, but Righten has done a marvelous job of adding just enough down time and light-hearted moments to keep the plot moving along.

One of the ways Righten accomplishes this feat is by adding flashbacks throughout the novel, showing a young Ryan Lochran and his mother. While these flashbacks added substantially to the plot, I found that it took me almost half the book to really understand what I was reading in these sections. This is because the only transition from one time to another was a chapter change with a date and location as part of the chapter title. It might be beneficial for the first few chapters at least to have some defining characteristic in the first paragraph to orient the reader.

Being able to look into Lochran’s past in such detail in the flashback chapters allowed Righten to focus on the plot during the present day scenes. Character development did not need to be emphasized because the reader was able to easily understand how Lochran turned out the way he did based on the scenes of his childhood. However, enough detail was omitted about many of the main characters that the reader really feels the pressure to read the second book to quench their curiosity.

Overall, I rate Churchill’s Assassin 3 out of 4 stars. I thoroughly enjoyed the novel, but I had a hard time orienting myself during some of the flashback chapters. I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys a good action mystery. Due to some violent scenes, I would not recommend this book to a younger audience.

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Churchill's Assassin
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[LivreAmour217]

Great review! This sounds like a very entertaining read!

[Kia]

Great review! This sounds like a very entertaining read!

Thank you, I enjoyed it very much.

[TrishaAnn92]

Wonderful review! This book sounds fast paced and exciting!

[Kia]

Wonderful review! This book sounds fast paced and exciting!

Thanks! The action certainly never let up long enough for me to be bored.

[rssllue]

Very nice job on the review. You made the book sound quite interesting and it may be one that I pick up in the future!

[Kia]

Very nice job on the review. You made the book sound quite interesting and it may be one that I pick up in the future!

I'm glad to hear it! You'll have to let me know what you think if you do decide to read it.

[rssllue]

Will do!

[kimmyschemy06]

Sounds like a very interesting book. The plot seems really intriguing. Too bad, though, about the flaws. Good job on the review.

[AA1495]

Agree with your points about the pace of the book and the details omitted. I like stories that end with the book so I might not read this one! Thank You for the great review!

[Kia]

Sounds like a very interesting book. The plot seems really intriguing. Too bad, though, about the flaws. Good job on the review.

Thank you! It is too bad, but I found that the flaws didn't distract too badly from the plot.

[bookowlie]

Great, balanced review! I also find it hard sometimes to deal with flashbacks in a book, even if they add depth to the plot. The transitions can be abrupt and confusing.

[Kia]

Agree with your points about the pace of the book and the details omitted. I like stories that end with the book so I might not read this one! Thank You for the great review!

Thanks!

-- 13 Nov 2016, 12:41 --

Great, balanced review! I also find it hard sometimes to deal with flashbacks in a book, even if they add depth to the plot. The transitions can be abrupt and confusing.

I agree, it's hard to find the balance sometimes.

[Kdonegan91]

It is great that the author kept you intrigued throughout the novel. Since you had difficulty keeping the flashbacks and present day separate, I think I'll pass on this one. Thank you for a great review.

[Kia]

It is great that the author kept you intrigued throughout the novel. Since you had difficulty keeping the flashbacks and present day separate, I think I'll pass on this one. Thank you for a great review.

I understand. By about the middle of the book I had it pretty well figured out, but it was confusing in the beginning.