Writing projects can take a long time to get off the ground. “Deadline Dallas” is a case in point. The authors, Fred Warren and Jason Sutton, met two decades ago working nights at the Hampshire Mall. After work, they would get together and write.
They developed various ideas for films, TV shows, and novels over the years even as Sutton moved to Florida and Warren became a father of two and the CEO of The United Arc in Turners Falls. Eventually, their collaboration bore fruit in their new novel “Deadline Dallas” (Morgan James Publishing, 325 pages, $24.95).
Most Americans associate Dallas with the assassination of John F. Kennedy, and the book is about that historical event … sort of. It’s fiction, a detective-cum-suspense-cum-horror story about an investigative reporter for The Washington Post, James Kane.
Tipped off by a mysterious female voice on the telephone, Kane is drawn into strange doings in November 1963 that take him from D.C. to Massachusetts, New Jersey and New Mexico. Eventually, he finds himself in Texas, where he witnesses Kennedy’s fateful ride to the Dallas Trade Mart.
It’s hard to describe the plot without spoilers. I can say that the book involves mysterious killings that are covered up at the highest levels of government and people (or are they people?) who seem to change their physical appearance before one’s eyes.
Kane also encounters a substance previously unknown to humankind.
These are hard phenomena for the reporter to swallow. He is known as a straight-shooting journalist whose only concern is the facts. It takes him a while to adjust to the unexpected facts and people he encounters.
The book has a few anachronisms. It’s not clear how Kane manages to contact his anonymous source on the telephone all the time. Does he carry large quantities of change for pay phones when he is on the road?
Moreover, at one point President Kennedy is shown as paying tribute to the “men and women” in the military. There were indeed women in the military in 1963, but in those days the president would have referred only to men. I wish the world had been less sexist in the 1960s, but it wasn’t.
Aside from those tiny quibbles, I found the book engrossing. It’s not short, but it took me less than a day to read. The authors have figured out how to advance a plot swiftly while holding the reader’s attention.
“Deadline Dallas” reminded me of the works of Stephen King … and not just because King, too, wrote a science-fiction novel about the Kennedy Assassination. Like King’s work, the story brings supernatural elements into everyday life without striking a false note. The reader has no trouble suspending disbelief.
Warren informed me that “Deadline Dallas” is the first of a projected five-book series that spans a century. I look forward to the next installment.
Co-author Fred Warren will talk about “Deadline Dallas” on Saturday, Feb. 21, from 1 to 2 p.m. at the Turners Falls branch of Greenfield Savings Bank on Avenue A. Those in attendance will have a chance to win a copy of the book and to purchase signed copies. Light refreshments will be served.
Tinky Weisblat is an award-winning writer and singer known as the Diva of Deliciousness. Visit her website, TinkyCooks.com.