Upon recommendation from Husband's boss, I bought this book and once I started it, I was hooked! Of course, the plot was of great interest to me because I've always been curious about the Kennedy assassination. This book is about a man named Jake Epping who discovers a portal, or "rabbit-hole" as it is referred to in the book, that allows him to travel back to the same time and day in 1958. He tests his abilities to change the past during a trip to 1958 and realizes that he is actually capable of influencing the future.
What makes it the time traveling more interesting is the fact that the past does not want to change. Obstacles present themselves throughout the process to try to keep the past from changing and Jake begins to notice them as they crop up.
Jake's goal in this book is to stop Lee Harvey Oswald from assassinating JFK. I'm sure the entire world has asked itself what would have happened if the young president had survived his trip to Dallas and many probably feel the world could have been a better place. Jake also feels that way as he lives through many hard times between the years of 1958 and 1963. He spends years studying Oswald and ensuring that he is the lone gunman. During this time, Jake notices many parallels in the world around him and picks up on how the past (and the future) seem to interconnect.
I thoroughly enjoyed the thought and research put into this book and I was continually curious about what was going to happen next. Since the 7th grade, when I wrote my own theory of the JFK assassination after visiting the 6th Floor Museum in Dallas for a school field trip, I've found myself asking what really happened that day. Of course, I'm almost sure it was Oswald (just as Jake is during his trip to the past), there will always be a lingering question of what really happened. It's amazing to believe that a 24 year old, troubled man could change the world in a split second. But, it seems that sometimes there really are no answers. Sometimes, things happen because they are meant to. That's what this book tells us and I believe it.
Needless to say, I'm now a Stephen King fan. I realize why he is so famous and I truly appreciate his writing and his research. I guess it's time to pick up another novel by the famous writer.