Top Down (20 page)

There are several people who were generous in their assistance to me. I hereby thank them but with the full caveat that
none deserves blame for any of the fictional paths or liberties I took. That is particularly true of the gentleman psychiatrist and PTSD expert Dr. Frank Ochberg and his associate Joyce Boaz. Other blameless helpers were: the staff of the Sixth Floor Museum in Dallas including Gary Mack, Nicola Langford, and Christina Carneal; Park Ranger Dawn Sackawitch, Dan Dattilio, and the other terrific National Park Service folks at Lindenwald; the Speer family, active members of the Kinderhook Reformed Church who happened to be there when I wandered in; my writer grandson Luke O’Brien, who was a co-observer on one of my Kinderhook visits; and historian Michael Beschloss, my great friend and thoughtful adviser, most particularly on matters concerning the Kennedy assassination.

My reading involved a variety of books, reports, articles, and videos about the assassination, mental health issues, and the Secret Service. I am particularly grateful for the personal accounts of former agent Clint Hill.

I also owe a tremendous debt and thanks to the steady, creative work of Kendra Harpster, my editor at Random House.

J
IM
L
EHRER
, 2013

Viva Max!

We Were Dreamers

Kick the Can

Crown Oklahoma

The Sooner Spy

Lost and Found

Short List

A Bus of My Own

Blue Hearts

Fine Lines

The Last Debate

White Widow

Purple Dots

The Special Prisoner

No Certain Rest

Flying Crows

The Franklin Affair

The Phony Marine

Eureka

Mack to the Rescue

Oh, Johnny

Super

Tension City

Top Down

Top Down
is J
IM
L
EHRER
’
S
twenty-first novel. He is also the author of three nonfiction books and four plays. He began his work in journalism as a newspaper reporter in Texas. He then worked for more than forty years in public television and is currently the executive editor of
PBS NewsHour
. He lives in Washington, D.C., with his novelist wife, Kate. They have three daughters.