No One Can Know is a historical thriller written by Adrienne LaCava. Gabriel Haines works for the CIA, but he's dreaming of getting back to his roots and working with horses on a ranch. He's accepted an invitation from his colleague, Tucker Massey, to become the foreman on Massey's ranch. They are both in Dallas on the day that John F. Kennedy is assassinated, and their proximity to the event could prove dangerous to each of them as investigations ramp up and rumors of conspiracies swirl about. Massey is sent to Mississippi on a special assignment for Lyndon Baines Johnson, the new president and a family friend. While he's gone, his concerns over his pregnant girlfriend, Carla, cause him to ask his brother, Vincent, to find her. Vincent brings his 12-year-old daughter to Tucker's ranch where she meets her cousin and aunt for the first time and also briefly gets to know Carla, who was her mother's best friend. Haines realizes that the ranch is being watched by operatives and is not sure if they are focused on him alone or Tucker's family, and he's prepared to leave to keep the others safe.
I am so impressed by this book. It was impeccably researched, and it immerses the reader in the 1960s. LaCava brings the events and uncertainties surrounding the assassination of Kennedy to light while blending that tragedy in with the lives of her characters. There's a chilling account of Tucker's time in Mississippi, and a tragic section where the crucial importance of having legal and safe abortions is made clear. There's also a grand coming of age story in No One Can Know. Ivy Jean, Vincent's young daughter, comes from a very sheltered and motherless life with her strict, but loving, father and older brother. She's thrust into a very different world on that fateful weekend, and it's inspiring to see how she observes, reacts, and comes into her own. No One Can Know is historical literary fiction that reads smoothly and fluently as it transports the reader into a different time and place. It's a marvelous book.
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Wow! This is an outstanding book!
LaCava’s well-researched, character-driven debut thriller tells a tale of CIA involvement in President John F. Kennedy’s assassination.
In late 1963, 45-year-old CIA operative Gabriel Haines is sick of the agency’s political wrangling and wants nothing more than to ride his horse and live a “simpler, freer kind of life.” So, when his wealthy Army buddy Tucker Massey suggests that he become the foreman at a cattle ranch in Texas Hill Country, he heads to Dallas for a meeting. A few days later, Haines has a job offer in hand and “a brand new stable, corral, and cowboy quarters” waiting for him. Unfortunately for Haines, however, he walks through Dealey Plaza on his way out of Dallas, on Nov. 22, 1963, and he sees a Cuban exile lurking in the plaza as the assassination occurs. Haines heads to the Caribbean, believing that “his Company credentials” will make people think he was involved in the president’s death. Months later, Tucker reaches out to Haines and begs him to return, and Haines resigns his position in the CIA and heads to the ranch. There Haines interacts with Tucker’s pregnant mistress (who keeps a journal), his status-obsessed wife, his angry teenage daughter, his alienated half-brother and his lonely niece. It turns out that Tucker was part of Lyndon Johnson’s private, off-the-record security squad when Kennedy was shot, and now–President Johnson summons Tucker for an off-the-record mission. LaCava uses impressive historical research, effectively depicting the simmering burn of the civil rights movement and Vietnam, and demonstrates an astonishing ability to convey the feel of the era without becoming dry or preachy. At the same time, her portrayal of a spunky, motherless preteen girl, a neglected mistress and a world-weary spy are realistic and never stereotypical. Her measured use of imagery also vividly evokes locations across Texas and Mississippi, “where silvery moss dripped from the oak trees like the beards of old men.”
A riveting historical novel, featuring brisk plotting and engaging characters.
