“A perfectly-paced thriller that gently pulls you in.”
—The Daily Mirror (UK)
“Beautifully written and absorbing”
—The Sunday Telegraph (UK)
Boston journalist Sam Adams suspects that his father may have been the infamous gunman who shot President Kennedy from the grassy knoll in 1963. True or not, Sam is certain that his father, the elusive John Adams, is responsible for his sister Abigail’s tortured life of drugs, prostitution, and the conviction that she is a descendant of the Salem witches, as well as the strange circumstances that surround his mother’s final hours.
After his mother dies and is cremated, her ashes are stolen, causing Sam to pursue his father, whom he has not seen in years. In his search Sam discovers that he is not the only one trying to locate his father—federal agents, a disgraced politician, a retired Boston cop, and several journalists join the chase.
The Invisible World portrays how a remarkable family is indelibly blemished by one of the darkest events in American history. “The Invisible World is more than a first-rate political thriller,” says the Boston Globe. “It's an absorbing tale of alienation and loss, and the ramifications of a rootless, troubled family.” What Sam Adams ultimately discovers is that the shadowy realm of conspiracies conjures a world of hidden truths and intrigue in which the familiar is the most mysterious force of all.
“What if your dad killed JFK and you'd spent your adult life trying to pin the murder on him? Smolens weaves a complex personal tale that examines the terrible impact of an assassin's actions on the family so often left behind…proves achingly compelling.”
—Booklist
“This effort, a smoothly efficient amalgam of Salem/Boston atmosphere, the narrator/journalist's midlife crisis, a horribly dysfunctional family that includes a witch/junkie and a dad who—by the way—might have been the triggerman on the JFK assassination, lures you in and snaps like a bear trap”
—The Day
—The Daily Mirror (UK)
“Beautifully written and absorbing”
—The Sunday Telegraph (UK)
Boston journalist Sam Adams suspects that his father may have been the infamous gunman who shot President Kennedy from the grassy knoll in 1963. True or not, Sam is certain that his father, the elusive John Adams, is responsible for his sister Abigail’s tortured life of drugs, prostitution, and the conviction that she is a descendant of the Salem witches, as well as the strange circumstances that surround his mother’s final hours.
After his mother dies and is cremated, her ashes are stolen, causing Sam to pursue his father, whom he has not seen in years. In his search Sam discovers that he is not the only one trying to locate his father—federal agents, a disgraced politician, a retired Boston cop, and several journalists join the chase.
The Invisible World portrays how a remarkable family is indelibly blemished by one of the darkest events in American history. “The Invisible World is more than a first-rate political thriller,” says the Boston Globe. “It's an absorbing tale of alienation and loss, and the ramifications of a rootless, troubled family.” What Sam Adams ultimately discovers is that the shadowy realm of conspiracies conjures a world of hidden truths and intrigue in which the familiar is the most mysterious force of all.
“What if your dad killed JFK and you'd spent your adult life trying to pin the murder on him? Smolens weaves a complex personal tale that examines the terrible impact of an assassin's actions on the family so often left behind…proves achingly compelling.”
—Booklist
“This effort, a smoothly efficient amalgam of Salem/Boston atmosphere, the narrator/journalist's midlife crisis, a horribly dysfunctional family that includes a witch/junkie and a dad who—by the way—might have been the triggerman on the JFK assassination, lures you in and snaps like a bear trap”
—The Day
