(2013) I wasn't a big fan of the previous installment in this series, but as I didn't pay full price for this one ($4.99), I gave Metzler a second chance. He again puts together a pretty good story of trying to track down a potential Presidential assassin who is recreating all of the prior assassinations. The only quibble I have with the book is the constant jumping around in the time frame of the story. The author will jump 18 years in the past back to the present and then jump 3 hours in the past. Wasn't quite sure what he accomplished with this and it made it hard to follow the story easily. More of a distraction.KIRKUS REVIEW:Beecher White returns as hero in Meltzer's (The Inner Circle, 2011, etc.) second installment of his conspiracy thriller surrounding the Culper Ring and a corrupt president.Beecher is an archivist at the National Archives. He's also the newest member of that obscure brotherhood, the Culper Ring. It's linked through history to George Washington¥?the [Secret] Service's mission is to protect the President. In the Culper Ring, we protect the Presidency.? One secret endangering the current presidency, which Beecher and the Ring uncovered, is that the man holding the highest office, Orson Wallace, once took part in a brutal murder. Readers meet characters old and new, including Beecher's fellow archivist Aristotle ?Tot? Westman and an undercover computer nerd nicknamed Mac. Then there's Clementine, Beecher's childhood acquaintance and daughter of Nico Hadrian, institutionalized, unsuccessful presidential assassin. Through a military human-guinea-pig experiment, Nico is linked to Beecher and to one of Beecher's childhood friends, Marshall Lusk, a boy with a troubled background. Lusk now works with a secret Government Accountability Office group using stealth tactics to uncover possible security breaches. As the story begins, Lusk is appearing too often at the wrong place at the right time. This includes the site where a murderer replicates the techniques and circumstances of the assassination of Lincoln. The killer's script next shifts to the murders of Garfield, then McKinley, with each assassination targeting a pastor instead of the president. Decoding the mystery through symbols on playing cards, Beecher and Tot confront another clandestine group, The Knights of the Golden Circle, linked to Etienne de Vignoles, a 14th-century knight charged with protecting the Name of God by killing kingsÂ¥presidents?Â¥who stand in the way. Adding the mysterious and troubled Lusk to the cast ratchets up the drama and human interest, and Meltzer's fans will enjoy the usual sprinkling of history factoids, fast-paced writing and the double-whiplash bombshell conclusion. Although equipped with adequate back story to allow The Fifth Assassin to be enjoyed alone, smart readers will first dip into the series opener, The Inner Circle.

An amazing labyrinth of a plot that still held together to the end. ( )

The Fifth Assassin is a book that from beginning to end keeps the same tone. The characters are not necessarily likeable but that could be because it is the cause that is more important. So liking the characters is not really important. The bad part about the book is that it does not ending. Although one may not want to read/listen to another of the Culper Ring Trilogy books, one has to, in order to find out what happens. Four stars were given to this book. ( )

Way better than Dan Brown. Ending leaves no doubt that there will be a sequel ( )

I picked up The Fifth Assassin at Book No Further, a used book store in downtown Roanoke when I was there in December. After starting the book, I needed to read it predecessor, The Inner Circle, the first book to feature Beecher White, an archivist at the National Archives. Psychopaths, secret societies, family entanglements, and just enough history to keep it real. What's not to love? It was one of the last books I read in 2021 along with Meltzer's nonfiction book about the attempted assassination of Lincoln prior to his inauguration.

I was awake early this morning and finished The Fifth Assassin, the second volume. This one included Camp David as part of the plot. I drive through Thurmont, Maryland, the gateway to the Cacoctin Mountains, when I visit my family in Pennsylvania. There is no mention of Camp David on all the signs but I know it is there.

Meltzer has mastered the art of the historical thriller: the short choppy chapters, shifting time periods, and multiple points of view keep the stories moving along. The third volume--The President's Shadow--is waiting for me to dive in. ( )