Eve Pollard, Jack's Widow

Jack's Widow

Eve Pollard

Morrow, Oct 2006, $24.95

ISBN: 0060817038

With the assassination of her husband in Dallas in 1963, Jackie Kennedy knows she must make a new life for herself beyond that of the First Lady, a role she was just getting comfortable with. However, with Jack's death and the abrupt move out of the White House, Jackie has no time for grief with her needing to be there for her offspring and her anger over stories that her late spouse was a womanizer, including recently dead Marilyn Monroe. Worse, the Kennedy clan makes demands of her because they know best for Caroline, John, and the Widow; image is everything to them as Robert is next in line for the White House.

The CIA believes they can use Jackie to gather information at dinner parties as no one would suspect the former First Lady to be a spy. They even extol her to court Aristotle Onassis to learn his plans and those who come into contact with him. Jackie agrees and becomes a CIA mole amidst the rich and famous.

The first third or so of JACK'S WIDOW will fascinate the audience as Eve Pollard provides Jackie's perspective on Camelot, her husband's death, the sudden move out of the White House, the rumors of his cheating, and the Kennedy clan orders. When the novel turns into Jackie Kennedy, spy agent, the plot seems silly. This one was top gun as a biographical fiction, but crashes as an espionage thriller.

Harriet Klausner