The Fifth Assassin (Culper Ring, #2) by Brad Meltzer

The Fifth Assassin (Culper Ring, #2) Reviews

• 
  Monnie

  Except for authors with whom I'm intimately acquainted, I check out what reviewers think of most books before I commit to reading (that's especially true if I have to shell out bucks to get them, but even when I find freebies, I do a bit of homework). So it was with this one; I think I've read at least one of his other books, but I remember nothing about it, not even the title.
  
  What I found when checking the reviews came as a surprise: of the 29 who had reviewed it at Amazon.com at the time I looked, 11 gave it five stars and three awarded four. But here's the strange part: nine considered it bad enough to warrant a single star, and four others gave it two. Do the math, and the number who loved it and hated it are almost equal. In all the books for which I've checked reviews, never have the highs and lows come anywhere near that even.
  
  Going with my gut, though (and the near certainty that this is an author I've enjoyed in the past), I decided to give it a try. And up front, I'll say that the first third kept me so hooked that I didn't want to put it down. Now that I'm finished, I'll say it again: I didn't want to put it down.
  
  The hero of this one, Beecher White, appeared in Meltzer's best-selling The Inner Circle which, I'm sorry to say, I have yet to read (a transgression I hope to remedy soon). This time, he's on the trail of a killer or killers who may be connected to more than two dozen assassination attempts on U.S. presidents, starting with John Wilkes Booth. What he learns is that the four who did the deed successfully, the last being Lee Harvey Oswald, may be part of a secret group that's existed for perhaps hundreds of years - and one of their members may be a childhood friend.
  
  It's possible, I'm surmising, that one reason for the lower-scored reviews is that the chapters jump from past to long past to present - a tactic that, unless it's well done, can be a bit of a challenge and even confusing as you have to adjust your mind to the whens, wheres and whos at every turn. But the chapters are quite short, and in this case, the technique works well for me - each backstory chapter sheds more light on the characters and what is happening in the book's here and now.
  
  Reminiscent of Dan Brown's works, this one, too, brings in the history of the church and government, as well as the two groups that have been opposing forces for centuries (one of which White is a member). From George Washington to the inner workings of modern-day Camp David, it's clear that Meltzer has done considerable research.
  
  It's also clear that it isn't over. The story started in Meltzer's Inner Circle, and while many of the issues in this one are resolved, some are left for another day (or in this case, another book). Admittedly that was a bit frustrating for someone like me who wants everything wrapped up neat and tidy in the end , but it also means I'm already chomping at the bit to read the next installment.
  
• 
  Nickitopster

  I really don't like being critical of authors because writing a book is hard work. And, according to his acknowledgements, this book took him 4 years. So I'm sorry but there are 2 main problems with this book.
  
  First, for folks who didn't read the previous 2 books with these characters, he should have considered some recap or summary. Even though I did read the books ("The Book of Fate" introduced Nico Hadrian and "The Inner Circle" introduced the Culper Ring), I didn't remember everything from before and found myself thinking "where did THAT come from?!" (e.g., who is the dead First Lady that Nico keeps talking to?).
  
  Secondly, mysteries are good but hopping all over the place to "create" mystery isn't good. Some chapters were 2 pages then you'd hop to 18 years ago for some snippet to explain why the main character feels the way he does about his friend. That whole 18 years ago story just seemed forced and not that relevant to the story.
  
  When the book finally, painfully, ends, it turns out that the whole thing isn't finished. Probably for another book, which hopefully will be more tightly written than this jumble.
  
  I've read all his books but unfortunately have to say this was my least favorite and one that I had to force myself to finish.
• 
  Juli

  I've struggled as to how to write up my review to this book, being that I very rarely provide written review to books that I've read. In this case, I feel compelled to review this book based on my overall dislike of the entire experience. Hoping that other readers will benefit from my experience & not read this book.
  
  I think the best description to wholly convey my thoughts is that I fell down a rabbit hole, just like Alice. And, frankly, were I in Alice's shoes, it would have made more sense.
  
  This book, unknown to me, is the 2nd book in a series of books, with more books to follow. The author did a poor job providing enough information at the beginning of the novel to let the reader know that they were in a series. For myself, I admit that I wouldn't have read the book just yet had I known that there was a prior book in the series. The information was too little provided far too too late. Nonetheless, the first 1/3 of the book was so confusing that I couldn't figure out what was going on and exactly what the plot line was.
  
  The author also did a poor job of conveying what was happening from one scene to the next. This caused me to have to, flip back and forth, re-reading sections over and over again so that I could keep the storyline straight in my head... Definitely not what you want your reader to have to do when you're trying to sell them on a book.
  
  Admittedly, I've never been a huge Meltzer fan. I keep giving him chances, hoping that he'll come through on all that fame and hype his media consultants are selling. In this case, this book get the lowest rating I've ever given. I would like to have given a lower review, but that isn't possible.
• 
  Jennifer

  The Good: This series isn't my normal type of thing, but the books keep dragging me in. This time, a serial killer is going around assassinating priests, in the same style as past presidential assassinations. The history of it was intensely fascinating. We see these past presidential deaths first-hand in the book, which is newer to most than it really should be. We're usually taught about Kennedy and Lincoln but often American educations neglect details from the assassinations of Garfield and McKinley. The book is very suspenseful and quite surprising at times. It took a little getting into, but after the first couple chapters, I flew through the book.
  
  The Bad: More and more, I'm finding it hard to believe that there is a shadow organization that would rely so heavily on a man who is clearly mentally unstable. I don't doubt the shadow organization. I doubt that they would be so invested in an institutionalized man who is clearly schizophrenic on top of other mental issues. Wouldn't they find someone a bit more reliable to, um, rely upon?
• 
  Alan Kaplan

  I had never read any books by this author, and I did not realize that they are part of a series. I bought the book simply because it was at Costco.
  Nevertheless, I understood the main plot of the book, but really I know nothing of the back story. For the most part, I felt that the book was an incomprehensible mess. A member of a conspiracy is attempting to recreate the four assassinations of US presidents, Lincoln, Garfield, McKinley, and Kennedy. This conspiracy has something to do with playing cards. A member of a different conspiracy is attempting to stop him. This second group was begun by George Washington. Who is in which conspiracy is never really identified except for a few of the main characters. After awhile you do not care. Maybe if I had read the other books, I would have been more interested. Nevertheless, the Da Vinci Code set the standard for conspiracies. But enough is enough, can't we just write a book about individuals who act on their own. I feel bad that I have never been a member of a secret society or asked to be part of a conspiracy to save the nation. I am pretty convinced, and the historical record is certain that Guiteau, who murdered Garfield, acted alone. The record is beginning to show that Oswald also acted alone.
  
  
• 
  Mike (the Paladin)

  Well...as you may have noticed I added this to my Spy-Fi shelf. This as close as I've seen recently to that genre I miss. With the under-current of conspiracy and the inlay/overlay of historic spy rings etc. it moves into science fantasy/Spy-Fi territory.
  
  And (he said opening a sentence incorrectly) this one is somewhat better (in my humble opinion of course) than the first. Beecher frustrated me very, very badly in the first book. He's one of those geniuses who also manages to be so slow and thick you wonder how he manages to lace up his shoes without help. He seems (often) to need to stumble over what's going on when I'm pretty sure most readers got it 4 chapters ago.
  
  That said he is growing (which is what I assume Mr. Meltzer is going for). I can now see we have hope of Beecher growing into a master spy/counter-spy...hopefully before it's just too late.
  
  Yes, 3 stars but over all I like these and plan to read the next. I can recommend it. Enjoy.
• 
  Anita Porterfield

  “. . .suddenly the bullet dropped out through my fingers and fell, breaking the solemn silence of the room with its clatter, into an empty basin that was standing beneath. There it lay upon the white china, a little black mass no bigger that the end of my finger—dull, motionless and harmless, yet the cause of such mighty changes in the world’s history as we may perhaps never realize.”
  
  Those are the words of Dr. Edward Curtis, the physician who performed the autopsy of President Abraham Lincoln.
  
  Every president since James Madison has attended religious services at St. John’s church, a house of worship that sits directly across the street from the White House. When the rector is murdered, Secret Service agents question archivist Beecher White because his name and telephone number have been discovered in the pocket of the suspect, along with a nineteenth-century deck of playing cards. In an effort to clear his name, Beecher and his sidekick, Tot, along with other members of the Culper Ring jump into the fray only to discover that the prime suspect is one of Beecher’s childhood pals, Marshall Lusk, from Sagamore, Wisconsin.
  
  While investigating the rector’s murder, Beecher finds a peep hole in a wall of the church that directs his eye to President Abraham Lincoln’s pew. Coupled with the fact that the rector was murdered with a forty-four caliber, single-shot Derringer pistol, the identical weapon that John Wilkes Booth used to kill President Lincoln, Beecher concludes that the murder is a re-creation of Lincoln’s assassination. Beecher also discovers that the ace of spades is missing from the deck of cards belonging to the alleged killer.
  
  The following morning Pastor Kenneth Frick, leader of the Foundry Church, located a scant mile from the White House, is shot twice in the back. When Beecher and Tot put together the evidence, they are convinced that the attempted murder of Frick was a meticulous re-creation of President Garfield’s assassination by Charles Guiteau in 1881. Beecher and Tot learn that Guiteau had a tattoo of a dagger with a red diamond on it. “Two presidential killers,” Beecher concludes. “Two suits of playing cards.”
  
  Because the current president of the United States, Orson Wallace, had attended services at both St. John’s and the Foundry churches, Beecher and Tot believe that he is the common link to the murders of both pastors and speculate that Wallace is the killer’s ultimate target. Would Wallace’s assassination, like Lincoln’s, foist “mighty changes in the world’s history?”
  
  After assassination re-enactments of presidents McKinley and Kennedy, the novel’s twists and turns take the reader over the edge into an accurately depicted but largely unknown presidential hideaway where secrets are born and honor dies.
  
  In his latest thriller, "The Fifth Assassin," Brad Meltzer entwines the past with the present through the use of flashbacks to Beecher’s childhood and gradually reveals the lurid backstory that drives Beecher and his childhood friends through a web of political ruthlessness, misplaced loyalties, and ultimate betrayals. As the story builds to a critical mass, Beecher must resolve his contradictory feelings in order to preserve his code of honor.
  
  Meltzer is a student of history and this novel unfolds within an accurate historical context. He brings back familiar characters from The Book of Fate and The Inner Circle, probing their psyches and exposing their inner conflicts, giving the reader a multi-dimensional insight into their foibles and motivations. His characters are authentic and credible and they beg for a series of novels based upon the Culper Ring. There is never a dull moment and the suspense builds with the turn of each page. "The Fifth Assassin" is great storytelling, brilliantly executed.
  
  Reviewed on my blog
  http://anitaporterfield.blogspot.com/
  
• 
  Patrice Hoffman

  I suggest anyone reading this to first read
  The Inner Circle. This book starts off a few months later from where
  The Inner Circle ended. The characters are the same. There's still the awful President Wallace, the wise old guy Tot, the enigma Clementine, and the evolving Beecher White. I say Beecher is evolving because he doesn't come off as baffled and clueless as he did in
  The Inner Circle. He's definitely finding his voice and strength the longer he is with the Culper Ring.
  
  Once again, the Culper Ring is fighting against another secret society known as the Knights of the Golden Circle. They are an extremist, well-trained, religiously fanatical group of men who all feel they were the ones chosen for the ultimate mission of assassinating the President. Or at least to assist in assassinating the President. For the many who read
  The Inner Circle, President Wallace is a president very much worth assassinating. A murderer is on the loose killing in the exact same manner four presidents' have been assassinated. These recreations are down to the minute and possibly leading up to the fifth assassination against President Wallace. It is up to Beecher and the Culper Ring to find this assassin before it's too late since their job is to protect the presidency.
  
  I enjoyed this novel a lot more than it's predecessor. The main characters are given more depth. The rest of the cast are still pretty thin, but with fast-paced thriller's, that isn't necessarily a bad thing. For me at least. It's especially interesting that
  Brad Meltzer incorporated the history of past assassinations into this modern adventure. I enjoyed learning more about John Wilkes Booth, Harvey Lee Oswald, Charles Guiteau, and Leon Czolgosz. These four solidified their moments in history by doing the unthinkable. All assuming they are chosen by God.
  
  Overall, this book made me interested in the next book of the Beecher series. There are cliff hangers galore but I'm sure fans of Meltzer won't mind so long as the next book doesn't take too long to come out. I expect fans of
  Dan Brown and
  Steve Berry will need to add
  Brad Meltzer to their collection.
• 
  Matt

  Meltzer's latest novel layers history, politics, and murder into a masterful tale that grabs the reader from the opening pages and does not let go until well after closing the back dust cover. Picking up where 'The Inner Circle' left off, Meltzer posits more conspiracy deep inside the US Government, this time a long-standing secret society in which all four presidential assassins belonged. When murders that replicate these four historical assassinations begin, no one is safe. The society is not the only mystery that must be solved, but also how these four men, with no apparent connection, communicated over the span of 100 years. Just as things seem to be leading to a culmination of the story, the current POTUS in the crosshairs, Meltzer drops the proverbial floor from under the reader. What comes next will surely be water cooler conversation for months to come and fill reviews penned by Meltzer fans worldwide. Filled with flashbacks to complete the character development needed to flesh out some of those players in the story, Meltzer presents one of his most comprehensive books to date that blows many others in the genre away or rushing for cover.
  
  Having been a Meltzer fan for years, I will highly impressed with this novel. Meltzer weaves such a realistic tale, adding wonderful tidbits of history and politics of which I was not aware, that one cannot help but wonder where fact and fiction meet. While he does a great job of weaving past and present together, some issues did arise for me, save for the chapters depicting the original presidential assassinations. As an audiobook listener, it was hard, at times to follow the flip-flopping of the narration from present to 20 years earlier, to present again. Add to that, the 3-4 different story lines moving forward simultaneously, made for a slightly confusing story. That said, it does not really take away from the overall story, but simply a personal aside.
  
  Kudos, Mr. Meltzer on another stellar novel. Anyone looking for an author who fills his texts with politics, history, and strong thriller elements need look no further than your collection.
• 
  Mike French

  I didn't enjoy this book as much as The Inner Circle. Just when things were getting exciting, there would a couple too many flashbacks. Book would slow down and when it built back up, here come the flashbacks again.
• 
  Ray Palen

  What if all four of the U.S. Presidents who were assassinated while in office was actually part of some sinister conspiracy --- a plot that has existed for nearly 150 years?
  
  This is the amazing premise of Brad Meltzer’s latest novel --- THE FIFTH ASSASSIN. What makes this brilliantly conceived novel jump out of the readers hands is the fact that the action within is even more exciting than the premise it is built on.
  
  The assassins in question – John Wilkes Booth, Charles Guiteau, Leon Czolgoz and Lee Harvey Oswald successfully assassinated President Lincoln, Garfield, McKinley and Kennedy. What if these four assassins were all part of a secret cabal? The group goes by the moniker The Knights of the Golden Circle. These Knights believe themselves to be serving a higher power and the latest incarnation of this group is on a mission to make the fifth Presidential assassination a reality.
  
  The protagonist is the delightfully interesting Beecher White. Beecher himself is a member of a group with a long-standing history --- the Culper Ring. However, the Culper members stand for good and Beecher’s mentor in the group, Tot, believes the idea of the current threat against the President coming from the Knights to be farfetched as he personally saw the last of the Knights vanquished decades earlier.
  
  The Culper Ring was initially introduced in Meltzer’s last novel, THE INNER CIRCLE. During the course of the action in that novel the Culper Ring made themselves a dangerous enemy --- the current POTUS, President Wallace. As revealed in the last novel, the Culper Ring originated during the Revolutionary War under the guidance of then General George Washington. Now, archivists Beecher and Tot along with a handful of other patriots comprise the current membership.
  
  A series of religious figures are attacked in the Washington D.C. area. What makes the attacks most unique is that each one takes on the characteristics of the four Presidential assassinations --- right down to the literal calling card left at each crime scene. The Knight is the assassin in question and his holy mission will not end until President Wallace is dead.
  
  To battle the Knight and whatever group is behind him will require Beecher and company to partner with some dangerous people --- including a childhood friend of Beecher’s named Marshall. Marshall is badly disfigured from a fire that occurred years earlier and is also somewhat mentally unbalanced by his mother’s suicide when he was a young boy. He now works in the service of the President --- but Beecher is not completely convinced of Marshall’s loyalty. Beecher also has a sneaky suspicion his old friend could be the Knight himself.
  
  THE FIFTH ASSASSIN is brimming with intrigue and U.S. history at every turn. Like his highly successful television series found on the History Channel – ‘Brad Meltzer Decoded’ – learning was never so much fun! This novel is the result of four years of painstaking research that was briefly touched upon during an episode of Decoded. Meltzer even gives thanks to former U.S. President George W. Bush for providing access to government archives pertaining to the four Presidential assassinations. This is a novel that thrills and informs while possessing a clever plot that will keep the most astute reader guessing right up to the stunning climax.
  
  
  
  Reviewed by Ray Palen for New Mystery Reader
  
  
• 
  Jodi

  There really needs to be a 10 star option for this book.
  
  “Some funerals are filled with questions. Others are filled with answers. This one was filled with secrets.”
  
  The first line of the prologue pulled me headlong into Brad Meltzer’s latest conspiracy “The Fifth Assassin.” When you sit down to start reading, make sure the chair has a comfortable cushion because you’ll find yourself unable to put the book down and get anything done. It’s that good a read.
  
  Meltzer’s protagonist Beecher White, who you are sure to remember from The Inner Circle, is back in the fray and racing to find a killer acting out the assassinations of four past presidents. Following the first killing Beecher’s archivist mind recognizes the connection of the murder to the assassination of President Lincoln and wondering if the life of the current president is in jeopardy.
  
  As he pieces together leads, Beecher is confronted by people from his past, secret societies and the decision whether or not to save his sworn enemy’s life, or let him be assassinated.
  
  Throughout the book Meltzer points the reader's attention to each of the key players in a way that you truly are kept wondering the identity of the assassin. I was stumped until the reveal which is something that almost never happens when I read a good conspiracy, and that to me is the earmark of a truly great read.
  
  As always Meltzer’s character development and believable plot is spot on. Clearly Mr. Meltzer has done his homework. I think his attention to detail; using true facts combined with fiction to tell his story is what makes him a standalone author in the thriller genre and his fans coming back for more. My final two cents worth; please, please, please don’t make us wait too long for your next book.
  
  Disclaimer: I was given this book as an ARC for an honest and unbiased review.
• 
  Mommasaysread

  I’m fond of how Brad Meltzer takes me inside the secret. As a comics fan I was well pleased reading his Book of Lies; weaving the Biblical murder of Able by his brother down through the years to the family tragedy surrounding Superman creator Jerry Siegel’s fathers murder into a very satisfying series of complications for that book’s protagonist. In The Fifth Assassin Meltzer lets is in on another great conspiracy. By weaving real history and well thought out intrigues together he leads us to a believably over the top conclusion – that the 4 successful assassins of American presidents were in cahoots. Now, a killer is replicating these acts with an eye on killing the president. This is the second time we meet Beecher White, National Archives archivist (1st app. Inner Circle) and everyman hero. Two words you don’t see together enough in my opinion : librarian hero.
  
  I loved how he blends the excitement of a procedural serial killer chase with secret codes in playing cards, brains in jars and other factoids apropos to a National Treasure 3 script. The best part is that Beecher, through who’s eyes all is revealed is showing us largely true mysteries based on meticulously researched fact. As a fan of NPR I often find myself sharing interesting factoids and trivia, and this book was fertile ground for many a “did you know that…..” speech in my house. I recommend a lot more by Meltzer. Political thriller, well-paced, twists and surprises – Check. I walked away wanting more and wondering at how much I wasn’t being told in American History.
• 
  Dianne

  The Fifth Assassin is built around the premise that all four of the U.S. Presidents who were assassinated while in office was actually part of some dark conspiracy by a group who have been around covertly for over 150 years.
  
  Religious figures around Washington, D.C. are being murdered using the same methods as each of the late Presidents. Is this a resurgence of this group, known as The Knights of the Golden Circle? Is the current president in danger? What is the message being sent? After all, this group has long thought to have been eliminated.
  
  Beecher White, a Washington insider and new a member of another group with a long history, the Culper Ring becomes convinced that the Knights are back in action. As he risks his own safety to find the answers, he finds himself traveling back into his past and the children he knew as a boy. They are somehow involved.
  
  Could his childhood friend, Marshall, who works covertly directly under the President's instruction, be a Knight or his he an ally in the quest to save the President?
  
  Brad Meltzer has done a superb job of creating doubt around every corner. The pace is non-stop and edgy with all of the trappings of a good conspiracy thriller!
  
  This copy was provided by NetGalley and Grand Central Publishing in exchange for an honest review.
  
  
• 
  Samantha

  First of all, let me get it out of the way. I really like Brad Meltzer's books and most of the time I learn a lot about history. Secondly, this is not a stand alone book. It is part of a series. You need to read Book of Fate and The Inner Circle by Mr. Meltzer to understand the full plot of what is going on with Nico and the Culper Ring. Beecher (main character) grows more in this book. We find out a little about his past and what led him to where he is in life now. I enjoy the fact that he is an archivist and that you as a reader wouldn't expect your hero to be that profession. The other main character, Nico is a flawed man, but has a lot of passion that is on display. I was interested in all the historical facts that Mr. Meltzer put into this book. I find it fascinating that someone would think about all the presidential assassins being connected let alone trying to write about it and get a reader to believe it. However, I gave this book four stars because the ending appears out of left field and the fact that there was a lot of jumping around in the middle of the book. Not to mention this was one of my least favorite of his books because of the confusion. I would recommend this book to anyone wanting to continue the series or that is into presidential conspiracies.
• 
  Matthew Bartlett

  The avalanche of terrible writing and poorly conceived character names continues! When asked "Why? Why are you reading a second Brad Meltzer novel?"
  My response was, "for the good of humanity."
  
  Moral outrage should be the response to this book, for part of a Rain Forest gave its life to produce this travesty of print and insult to human imagination.
  
  What Meltzer has done with this work, and the projects he does with the "History Channel" should be condemned as a war crime. If American History was a person, and Meltzer a stalker, a restraining order would have to be issued.
  
  The terribleness and hideous telling of this story is absolute torture. (It is a torture right now as I recollect what I have read and can only hear my mind scream with pain at such an act.)
  
  This book and the one that precedes it should be held up in classrooms as to what not to do when writing a book. There is no thrill and there is no plot. There is no reason!
  
  I hope if you see this, if you have the book in your possession, you will return it, or exchange it for a book that is far superior. That is the sum of what I can say. In a word: terrible!
• 
  Emilie Haney

  A thrilling continuation of the Culper Ring series. I think the best part about this series (which actually doesn't exactly have anything to do with the books ha!) is that I was able to be in DC while I was listening to this one. I could literally picture what was going on (having lived in DC as well) and I really appreciated the details that helped me visualize what was going on.
  
  As we saw in book 1, no many people are who they say they are and Meltzer keeps you guessing about who is who and who's actually doing the killing. The book itself is pretty fast-paced and well written and the plot is intriguing and convoluted enough to make you wonder what in the world is going to happen.
  
  There is an element of the plot with the main character and his childhood friends that I just don't care for - hearing about little boy's obsession's with porn just isn't something I'm interested in. Granted...I understand why, after reading the book, but...eh. I just wasn't a fan.
  
  My rating: 3.5*
  
  --
  This was an audiobook read for me
• 
  Shannon

  I liked the back story more than the main conspiracy. Characters were well done by the narrator but at times this dragged hence the grade.
  
  OVERALL GRADE: B.
  
• 
  Loredana Mariana Bublitchi

  „Cercul Cavalerilor” este un volum încărcat de mister, ce te transpune în trecutul asasinatelor, ca apoi să te readucă în prezent într-o cursă periculoasă şi alertă pentru a-l salva pe cel mai important om al Statelor Unite, şi anume preşedintele.
  
  
  https://bookwormsinacozycorner.home.b...
• 
  J.

  The first thing I have to say about Mr. Meltzer’s follow-up to his novel The Inner Circle is that the chapters are very short. It is the most superficial thing I like about many novels, especially if I have a hard time getting into them. I did have a hard time gaining interest into this book, but I must admit, I had not read the first novel so I was a bit lost at first. My fault, I picked the novel because the author looked like a “hipster” and I loath hipsters. I do owe it to my species to try to understand them however, and so I had hoped to start that process here. Disappointingly enough...I do not now believe that Brad Meltzer is a hipster.
  
  Nevertheless, after about a hundred pages I was pretty well caught up into the novel and with my ignorance of The Inner Circle no longer being a burden I began to enjoy myself. The short chapters gives an opportunity to the author and his audience to experience a faster pace, darting in and out of the story line in a more rapid manner. This is something that the author uses to great advantage as the story jumps from a first person narrative to a more omnipotent narrative, especially when delving into the main characters past relationship.
  
  The main character is a man named Beecher who works for the National Archives and moonlights as a member of a secret organization started by George Washington called the Culper Ring. In this novel he is chasing down a serial killer who has begun killing ministers in the Washington D.C. area. Right from the start we know that “presidential assassination” is the key to this mystery and we are given a truly despicable president (a liar and a murderer...what a surprise) who may be the ultimate target of the villain. But who is the villain ? I’m not going to tell you, if I had to buy the book then so do you...I will give you a hint “blasphemy”. Along the way there are many red herrings and the author plays to them well, but the real villain was on my short list none-the-less.
  
  The only negative point to me is that I did not like the main character and I had the feeling that maybe the author did not find him as interesting as he might have first thought. One of the supporting characters, a man named Marshall is by far the most dynamic character in the book. In fact, I am anticipating a third novel where he might be further revealed to us.
  
  I do not have to ask why someone would write a novel about presidential assassination during the most divided and most polarized time in our nations history since the Civil War. Assassination is on the minds of a lot of intelligent people. We have a sitting president who was reelected by such a slight margin and has such unpopular views that we should live in constant fear for his life. I am just thankful that most of the people stupid enough to want a dead president are just that, stupid and not quite as smart as Brad Meltzer who provided me with a week of good reading and some very interesting bits of Jeopardy-type knowledge along the way.
  
  Now I think I will go out and buy The Inner Circle.
• 
  B.G.M. Hall

  The second book in Meltzer's Culper Ring series has a villain who is recreating US Presidential murders, targeting pastors who have dealt with this book's POTUS - Orson Wallace - and leading up to an attack on the president himself.
  Beecher White, hero of the previous book, struggles with the idea that the assassin may be his childhood friend.
  Meltzer's trademark conspiracy theories, obscure trivia (this time around playing cards) and detailed research about the US Secret Service and Presidents (the guy managed to get George Bush Snr to blurb his book!) continue to come to the fore. I particularly enjoyed Meltzer's non-linear story-telling, switching between the past and present to tell the present- and back-stories, with some clever mis-direction about the event that broke the friendship of the main characters when they were younger.
  But, this does require the reader to pay attention to which timeline each chapter is in and, as other reviewers have noted, this is an uneven story, which best suits a reader who is familiar with the earlier book (although it seems to retcon a few story elements about Nico, the previous assassin).
  In short, 4 stars for someone familiar with Meltzer's previous work, but I can see why a newbie would only get 2 stars worth of enjoyment.
  
• 
  Carrie

  This is the second book in the Beecher White/Culper Ring series. I listened to the first book, Inner Circle, back in May 2012 and really enjoyed it, so when I saw there was a second book in the series, was excited to learn there was a continuation. I was also happy to learn that The Fifth Assassin was narrated by Scott Brick, like Inner Circle. A few of the characters from the first book showed up in this one, along with a new childhood friend of Beecher's, whom I liked a lot better than Clementine (who is once again in this book)--Marshall Lusk.
  
  I enjoyed how Marshall's story evolved throughout the book and when all was said and done, found that the slight twist in how things ended to be pretty well done. More than that, my favorite part of the book was the historical element interweaved throughout involving the assassination of Lincoln, Garfield, McKinley and Kennedy and the assassins, whom I really knew very little about.
  
  I would have actually given 3.5 stars to the book because parts of the story didn't seem to flow quite as well as in the first of the series. Still, for anyone who likes Meltzer's books, I would recommend it....or if you are a fan of Scott Brick as narrator. He did very well with this book too.
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  Kim Coryat

  I read this book because I read The Inner Circle and I also confess I am an employee of the National Archives. I liked the first, more Archives-centric book better but The Inner Circle wasn't very good either, a DaVinci Code wannabe w decent research but too many characters w too many plot twists and a dearth of coherent resolutions. In fact, Meltzer seemed to spend the last quarter of the first book building a case for the next one. It worked so well he repeated the ploy in The Fifth Assassin. In my opinion this novel had even more empty space between the covers where good storytelling and answers should have lodged. Fascinating historical research aside, this second effort made me sad I wasted my time on it.
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  Seeley James

  While packed full of interesting history, this book is in dire need of a serious editor. Both a conceptual editor to reduce the lengthy and boring expository dialogues, and a real proof reader.
  
  While lots of little things get through the best proofreaders, this book contained the sentence, "From the angle she was at, she couldn't see into the breakroom." Need I say more?
  
  Much has been said about the quality offered by traditional publishers, but this book's editing belongs in the indie category. Just because a guy has a TV show doesn't mean the editors should stop advising him.
  
  The writing is 2-star variety. The history bumped it up a notch. There was a flashback sub-plot that could have been good except that it went on wwaaayyy too long.
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  Valerie

  While this comes close to the interesting background noise kind of audio book I usually look for, there's just too much wrong with it for it to be a worthwhile series. The narrator is overwrought - I should have done a shot every time he over enunciated the PRESIDENT of the UNITED STATES but I would have been arrested for DUI before I left my neighborhood. It's not just his fault - Meltzer beat that to death along with an incredibly weak protagonist and characters that flip-flop so much that they should be at a gymnastics competition.