Jack 1939 [Hardcover]

Francine Mathews (Author)

Book Description

Release date: July 5, 2012

Charming. Reckless. Brilliant. Deadly.

A young Jack Kennedy travels to Europe on a secret mission for Franklin Roosevelt as the world braces for war.

It’s the spring of 1939, and the prospect of war in Europe looms large. The United States has no intelligence service. In Washington, D.C., President Franklin Roosevelt may run for an unprecedented third term and needs someone he can trust to find out what the Nazis are up to. His choice: John F. Kennedy.

It’s a surprising selection. At twenty-two, Jack Kennedy is the attractive but unpromising second son of Joseph P. Kennedy, Roosevelt’s ambassador to Britain (and occasional political adversary). But when Jack decides to travel through Europe to gather research for his Harvard senior thesis, Roosevelt takes the opportunity to use him as his personal spy. The president’s goal: to stop the flow of German money that has been flooding the United States to buy the 1940 election—an election that Adolf Hitler intends Roosevelt lose.

In a deft mosaic of fact and fiction, Francine Mathews has written a gripping espionage tale that explores what might have happened when a young Jack Kennedy is let loose in Europe as the world careens toward war. A potent combination of history and storytelling, Jack 1939 is a sexy, entertaining read.

Editorial Reviews

Review

“The pace is so propulsive that you’ll read every word… Mathews’s ability to weave fact into her tale is nothing short of remarkable… there are precious few entertainments this captivating.”
—The Washington Post

“A brisk thriller that defies the odds… It's no small feat to take a historic figure who looms as large in real life as John F. Kennedy, place him in an improbable fantasy and not strain credulity. But in this case, Mathews has accomplished her mission.”
—USA Today

“Francine Mathews has a way of making you believe that improbable situations just might be true…Jack 1939 is a complicated thriller, filled with trust and betrayal.”
—The Denver Post

“Deliciously inventive.”
—MORE Magazine

“A highly entertaining cocktail of 20th century political history and sexy-spy-novel tropes.”
—The Daily Beast

“A triumph: an exciting thriller, an intriguing exploration of a troubled time, and an absorbing take on the early history of one of America’s most iconic figures. Highly recommended.”

-Iain Pears, bestselling author of An Instance of the Fingerpost

“Francine Mathews delivers a marvel: a thriller with genuine heart. This is a delicious imagining of one of the 20th century’s most fascinating figures, wrapped up in a gripping story of espionage.”
– Eleanor Brown, bestselling author of The Weird Sisters

“Like JFK himself, this book is smart, sexy and unafraid of taking risks. With nimble prose and easy charm, Francine Mathews leads us beyond the frontiers of history to make us believe in her vision of a young Kennedy at large in a dark world of prewar spies and secrets.”
– Dan Fesperman, author of Lie in the Dark

“A brilliantly conceived, riveting tightrope race across Europe in the predawn of World War II."
– Stephen White, author of Line of Fire and The Last Lie

About the Author

Francine Mathews is the author of more than twenty novels of mystery, history, and suspense. Her historical thriller The Alibi Club was named one of the fifteen best novels of 2006 by Publishers Weekly. A graduate of Princeton and Stanford, she spent four years as an intelligence analyst at the CIA and presently lives and works in Colorado.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 368 pages
• Publisher: Riverhead Hardcover; First Edition edition (July 5, 2012)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1594487197
• ISBN-13: 978-1594487194
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 5.9 x 1.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (69 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #251,437 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Francine Mathews, who also writes as Stephanie Barron, is the author of twenty novels of mystery, history, and suspense. A graduate of Princeton and Stanford, she spent four years as an intelligence analyst at the CIA, and presently lives and works in Colorado.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 16 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Entertaining Spy Novel Set in pre-World War II Europe June 30, 2012

By Ms Winston TOP 1000 REVIEWERVINE™ VOICE

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Vine™ Review (What's this?)

The author of "Jack 1939," Francine Mathews, is a former analyst with the CIA, and the author of twenty novels. She is, therefore, an experienced writer and someone who has some real world experience with foreign intelligence gathering. I found her novel to be highly entertaining and read it in two days. The operative word in that last sentence is NOVEL, for that is what this is, and the author herself reminds the reader of that in the note following the final chapter. Inspired by a photograph of twenty year old John (Jack) Fitzgerald Kennedy taken in Nuremburg, German in 1937, Ms Mathews uses that as a jumping-off point to have President Franklin Roosevelt recruit the future president Kennedy as an agent. Since there was no formal American intelligence network in place in 1939, Kenndy is to attempt to pick up as much information possible about Germany's intentions regarding the 1940 election while seemingly on a trip gathering information on his senior thesis (which became "Why England Slept"). Roosevelt confided in Kennedy that he intended to run for a third term, and speculated that the Nazi government would prefer to have an isolationist voted into the office of the president come the 1940 election. The author's Roosevelt was very candid with Jack Kennedy in presenting his negative views of the young man's father -- Joseph P. Kennedy, the ambassador to England -- as an isolationist with ambitions of his own.

Against this background, Jack Kennedy found himself far more embroiled in danger than he ever thought when he agreed to take the assignment. There is a killer on his trail who has struck at least three times prior to Jack arriving in England and he finds himself in a romantic relationship with a slightly older married Englishwoman (29 to his 22, but far more worldly). Diana Playfair's loyalties are in question, as she is suspected of being pro-Fascist. Add to this several other characters whom Jack cannot decide whether to trust or not, more murders, the Enigma machine, a missing black book that contains the names of contributors to a scheme to buy the presidency, and graphic depictions of Kennedy's serious physical illnesses and you have a book with many plotlines, but all are handled skillfully by Ms Mathews. The scenes with Kennedy's brother Teddy and sisters Kathleen ("Kick") and Eunice were a relief after the tension of the chases across Europe one step ahead of the Fascists.

There are, however, some negatives to the book. The character of Diana Playfair was too brittle for me to actually care about, and I felt the author spent far too much time on the emotional/sexual side of their relationship. I felt as though I were being hit over the head with it and said aloud more than once, "I get it, I get it, now let's get on with the story." The author's portrait of Kennedy's parents, the indifferent Rose (the little that we saw of her) and the ambitious father, are pretty one sided, although I personally carry no water for Rose and Joseph P Kennedy. However, there was really no attempt at balancing those two characters, particularly the character of Rose, any more than there was with the author's depiction of Kennedy's older brother Joe. The Joe that was presented was quite frankly a jerk, and find that people are usually more complex than that. And I did not believe the final confrontation scene between Jack and his father for one minute -- it simply did not ring true even after the younger Kennedy discovers some information about his father that shakes him to the core.

I think this book will have wide appeal, especially to those who are interested in the late President Kennedy, even when he is presented as a character in a novel. It should also appeal to those who have an interest in pre-World War II Europe and the coming of the war. It is well-written and well-researched: the author provides a list of books used in researching the life and character of future President John F Kennedy, and she recommends the on-line resources of the Kennedy Library in Boston.

15 of 18 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars A Terrific Blend of Fact and Fictionalized History July 4, 2012

By Grady Harp HALL OF FAMETOP 50 REVIEWERVINE™ VOICE

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Vine™ Review (What's this?)

Francine Matthews after twenty some novels knows her craft. She also writes under the name Stephanie Barron and has gained a large following for her series of novels centered on Jane Austen mysteries. Another factor that makes her the obvious choice of server of this excellent novel is the fact that she served as an analyst for the CIA. Blend these ingredients an out comes this intensely entertaining novel JACK 1939 a story whose central characters included not only the JFK at age 22 years, but also Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Winston Churchill, Neville Chamberlain, J. Edgar Hoover, Adolph Hitler and a battery of newly created but equally credible character that help propel this intriguing thriller along. Matthews manages to sharpen out information about these critical figures in a straightforward manner that adds to our appreciation of famous people about whom there are still rarely known facts. She opens her book with a long look at the 22 year old John Fitzgerald Kennedy, the sickly and clearly secondary son of the wealthy Joseph and Rose Kennedy as he is hospitalized at the Mayo Clinic for complications of agranulocytosis and a chronic gastrointestinal disease requiring subcutaneous patches of DOCA (desoxycorticosterone acetate) to be placed by JFK under a cut flap in his leg - further evidence that JFK was man who simply did not know defeat.

The novel deals with FDR's conviction that Hitler is sending money into the USA to underwrite a campaign to prevent FDR from gaining a third term as President: FDR is wary of Hitler's desire for world dominance and will stop at nothing to prevent that from including the USA. He needs a spy to undermine the espionage in Europe and is convinced that the bright, eager, free thinking JFK is the man, despite a medical report that states JFK is 'Believed to be dying at age seventeen-misdiagnosed with leukemia - possible blood or liver disorder - damaged vertebrae while playing football at Harvard - spends several weeks each year at Mayo Clinic, with additional tests at Brigham Hospital - medical consensus: unlikely to thrive.' A series of murders occur all suggesting the presence of Hitler's influence in the US and FDR decides that JFK is the only man whom he can trust to uncover the data behind the realities of the impending WW II. So JFK is sent to Europe via the Queen Mary, meets several women aboard (JFK's proclivity to female companionship is well known), and finally arrives in Europe under the guise of completing his Harvard Senior thesis where the story blossoms into a gut-wrenching tale of espionage that involves all the events that are leading to the inception of WW II.

Readers who desire pure history novels will likely be critical of some of the ways Matthews manipulated facts, but for the reader who loves to identify with famous historic figures as they create a fictitious story in the hands of a novelist with the gifts of Francine Matthews, this book will be certain to appeal. Grady Harp, July 12

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Fact or Fiction?..... July 9, 2012

By Quixote010 VINE™ VOICE

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Vine™ Review (What's this?)

True historians who demand that their novels be precisely accurate may have a problem with this book. On the other hand, readers who enjoy a good tale and subtly smile at accurate references will find Jack 1939 to be a most pleasing tale.

Francine Mathews' creative sense to integrate a young Jack Kennedy into the forthcoming years of World War II is a masterful move. Although she has taken creative license in the stories structure, she more than makes up for it by deftly inserting characters and situations into the tale as one might imagine them: Ambassador Joe Kennedy, a Roosevelt-hater who the president sent to England principally to keep him out of the way as the war neared; J. Edgar Hoover, a power-hungry agent determined to build his own power base; Reinhard Heyrich, Gestapo leader who manipulated and destroyed through his dreaded and feared police force.

Most enjoyably, Mathews imagines details surrounding the Kennedy family as they toured the world. Kick, perhaps the least known of the Kennedy daughters, young Teddy and of course, Jack, present glimpses of what it may have been like to grown up in a family unencombered by the Depression or the concerns of a struggling world.

Mathews attention to small details is what makes this book interesting to me. Imagine Franklin Roosevelt sitting in a Pullman beneath the Waldorf Hotel; Jack Kennedy trying to understand how to send Morse Code; Rose Kennedy visiting the Middle East.

The beauty of this story is not so much in the tale... athough I found it riveting and well structure, but moreso in the people, places and events that folded it all together. It is an atmospheric book with a good, entertaining tale. If you have any sense of the times and characters of the 30s and 40s, this tale will entertain you quite handsomely.