Snapshot by Lis Wiehl

Good Morning all my fellow readers :) I hope everyone's having a great start to their week. Today I'm here to review a book that I finished over the weekend, and that has been on my mind ever since. This book completely blew me away, and I can't wait to tell everyone all about it. If you haven't already guessed by the title of the post, it is of course, Snapshot by Lis Wiehl. Before I begin my review though, I'd like to share a funny story about how me reading this book came about. In November of 2014, my husband had asked me for a list of the books I was currently wanting from Book Outlet. As I've mentioned many times before, my hubby and I both end up going a tad overboard when we see amazing book deals, and the Book Outlet Black Friday sale is definitely one of our favorites. As such, in November my hubby always asks what books I'm currently wanting so that he can purchase them for Christmas during this sale. One book that year, that I had really been wanting was Snapshot by Angie Stanton, which was the second book in the Jamieson Brothers series, and so when I opened this one on Christmas, I honestly had no idea what it was. My hubby had just paid attention to the title, and assumed it was the one I was talking about. And honestly I love when those kind of things happen, cause more often than not I honestly discover an amazing book that I most likely would never have chosen for myself, and that is definitely what happened here.

 

Right from reading the synopsis, this book completely intrigued me. I absolutely love books that use a historical event, and turn it into a work of fiction, but that combines both elements. Snapshot is based off of an actual picture that Lis Wiehl's dad snapped at an actual Civil Rights Rally in the United States. The little blonde girl in the photo is Lis herself, and sparked an amazing book idea when she came across it years later. Her dad was also one of the actual FBI agents assigned to look into the JFK assassination, just like the main character's father is in the novel. Before I go any further, here is the synopsis from goodreads:

 

 "Two little girls, frozen in black and white. One picture worth killing for.


The Civil Rights Movement is less than a distant memory to Lisa Waldren—it is someone else’s memory altogether, passed on to her through the pages of history. Her life as a federal prosecutor in Boston feels utterly remote from the marches in the South that changed her father’s generation—and the entire nation—forever.


But the truth is, she was there.


When a photograph surfaces showing a blond, four-year-old Lisa playing with an African-American girl at a civil rights march in Fort Worth, Lisa is faced with a jarring revelation: the girls may have been the only witnesses who observed the killer of civil rights leader Benjamin Gray . . . and therefore the only ones who can exonerate the death row inmate falsely accused of the murder.


Soon, Lisa finds herself in the dangerous world her father had shielded her from as a child. After some searching, the Waldrens find the other little girl from the photo and, in the process, uncover conspiracy mere steps away from the likes of Bobby Kennedy, Lyndon Johnson, and J. Edgar Hoover.


Based on real events and a photograph snapped by author Lis Wiehl’s own G-man father, Snapshot is a remarkably original marriage of mystery and history."

 

Lis Wiehl has spun an amazing story of racial segregation, high power corruption, lies and deception, and has created an amazing page turner that I literally could not put down. I almost finished this book in one sitting, as I literally could not stand not knowing what would happen next.

 

Her story opens in April of 1965 in Fort Worth, Texas, where a Civil Rights Rally is about to happen under the leadership of a promising African American leader named Benjamin Gray. James Waldren is a Caucasian FBI agent who decides to take his four year old daughter, Lisa, along to watch the events happen. Lisa is a typical four year girl, and immediately spots another four year old little girl, and goes over to say hi. As a child, she doesn't realize the significance of what she is doing, considering the other little girl is African American, and sitting with her two African American ladies. All she sees is another little girl who she wants to talk to you. James sees the amazing moment for what it is, and asks the other little girl's mother if it would be ok for him to take a couple of photographs, which she says is fine, but her and the other lady turn away from the camera back to the proceedings. Right after the photos are taken, disaster strikes, and gunshots are heard around them. James immediately dives to protect both little girls, and then being an agent, pulls out his gun to try and help what's going on. The other lady takes her little girl and runs away, and he then sees then body of the beloved Benjamin Gray lying in a pool of blood on the ground. He quickly scoops up Lisa and hurries them both away from the tragic events.

 

Present day, Lisa and her father are basically estranged. There's no sign of the father who cared so much for his daughter's safety, that he dove over he as soon as he heard the gunshots. Instead, Lisa has come to see her father as an obligatory phone call on birthdays and Christmas, and has chosen to remain close to her mother after her parent's divorce, but not her father. Lisa is a federal prosecutor in Boston, and is enjoying the aftermath of a successful case won with a friend, when she receives an out of the blue phone call from her father saying he needs her help. An African American man, Leonard Dubois, has been serving a life sentence for the murder of Benjamin Gray since the day the shooting occurred, and James believes the man is innocent. As his approaching execution grows nearer, James feels its up to him and Lisa to finally prove what he's known all along, that an innocent man was set up to take the fall for a murder he never committed.

 

Lisa is hesitant, but agrees to help her father after the encouragement of a friend that her father is not getting any younger. Along the way the reader is treated to an assortment of differing characters, that help this father and daughter team work towards justice being served:

Rosalyn, who is her father's girlfriend, and a private investigator, and who is convinced this murder is connected to events surrounding the JFK assassination. She is quirky and hilarious, and was one of my favorite characters throughout the book.

Drew, Lisa's long time friend who was previously an investigative reporter, and who is immediately intrigued by the events surrounding the shooting.

Molly, who I'm not going to reveal who she is because I don't want to spoil anything for anyone, but who is an amazing lady who takes many risks to help Lisa and James discover the truth.

Stanley Blackthorn, a corrupt businessman who thinks he's above the law,

And Gwendolyn Hubert, a young lady running for State Senator, who's past may also call into question everything they've learned.

 

Of course many other characters are involved throughout the case, including James' former partner, a famous newscaster, a former girlfriend of one of the character, and many more, but my favorites were Rosalyn and Molly, as I loved the elements that they brought to the overall story.

 

Without a doubt though, my absolute favorite part of this story was how Lis Wiehl tied actual events into a fictional story. I actually didn't know too much about the JFK assassination going into this book, or the assassination of his brother Bobby Kennedy, so I had never heard the stories before about how Bobby had ordered the locks to be changed on many of his brother's sensitive files, after he'd heard of his death, and how it's believed that many of those files have yet to be recovered today. I also grew up knowing the name of Hoover, but I had no idea of the corruption that is suspected under his reign as the first head of the FBI. I also found this story in particular to really touch home with me about the many racial segregations, and horrific conditions that the African American people dealt with in these years, that is honestly not so long ago. It really provided a in depth glimpse into what these times must have meant for the people, and how something as simple as the right to vote, that we so often take for granted, was something that many people lost their lives in the process of trying to bring about change.

 

In conclusion, I completely loved this novel. I loved how well Lis Wiehl connected everything together, I loved how you could tell she had really done her research before writing Snapshot, and I loved the fact that even though right from the start, the reader is given a big hint as to who may be behind everything, the ending still completely blew me away, and kept me guessing right until the finish. I give this book five out of five stars, and I would highly recommend this to anyone who likes suspense or thriller novels, and anyone who loves reading about important events in history. And even if neither of those categories would normally appeal to you, I would still highly recommend this book, as it was mind blowing and amazing, and I will forever be grateful for the fact that my hubby accidently ordered "the wrong book."

 

My favorite quote: "I knew at that moment I better find my soul again before it was lost forever."

 

Thanks for reading everyone, and I will see you all in my next post :)

 

This is not a sponsored post. I was not compensated for writing this review. The book was a gift from my hubby, and all opinions are my own. The photo was taken by me on my iPhone.