The Tears of Autumn

By: Charles McCarry

Narrated by: Stefan Rudnicki

Spun with unsettling plausibility from the events surrounding the assassination of John F. Kennedy, and featuring secret agent Paul Christopher, The Tears of Autumn is a tour de force of action and enigma.

Christopher, at the height of his powers, believes he knows who arranged the assassination and why. His theory is so destructive of the legend of the dead president, though, and so dangerous to the survival of foreign policy, that he is ordered to desist from investigating. But Christopher is a man who lives by, and for, the truth, and his internal compunctions force him to the heart of the matter.

The Tears of Autumn is an incisive study of power and a brilliant commentary on the force of illusion, the grip of superstition, and the overwhelming strength of blood and family in the affairs of a nation.

©1974 Charles McCarry (P)2005 Blackstone Audio Inc.

Critic reviews

"Charles McCarry...resides in the upper echelon of spy fiction's Mount Olympus." (Boston Globe)
"Fascinating, entirely credible....This political thriller catches the reader and commands him to finish." (Peter Benchley)

Classic Spy Fiction

One of the great spy novels tightly plotted and beautifully written. The narration is first rate the cadence just rolls over you

A Fantastic Spy Novel

The Tears of Autumn is A brilliant story of espionage and conspiracy. The detail and attention to detail was refreshing, A truly compelling theory of the JFK Assassination.

Difficult character to warm up to

Stefan Rudnicki does journeyman work narrating this novel, which I believe was one of McCarry's earlier books. Rudnicki can't quite figure out how to portray Christopher, so he opts for a flat, wooden, one-dimensional tone when reading Christopher's lines. One comes away with a sense that Christopher is an automaton, which can hardly be the case given his operational brilliance.

McCarry seems as though he is trying to find his storyline. He spends the first half of the book telling me far more than I want to know about Christopher's personal thoughts and observations on the minutiae of everyday life. Once the plot gets rolling, however, McCarry does an excellent job portraying Christopher in action. Many of the operational details seem plausible and realistic.

Christopher's (and by extension McCarry's) answer to the question of who killed JFK seems rather far-fetched. I cannot imagine the persons named had the resources, connections, or expertise to plan and execute the entire job in 21 days. Nonetheless, it makes interesting reading and was written before much of the assassination conspiracy literature we have today.

Stefan Rudnicki really shines in his portrayal of LBJ's Texas troubleshooter J.D. Trumbull. He is Rudnicki's best character in the novel. I would not have thought Rudnicki could do a Texas drawl so well.

Believable scenario

This story was hard to follow with twists and turns Best part was the summary at the end that tied it all together .It took stubbornness to get through the whole story but by the time I finished it I decided that it was worth my time

Slow Starter

Slow starter, but an interesting view of a historic event. If you can stay with it the book gained my interest.