Heather’s Bookshelf: The Hope Not Plot
Author: David R. Stokes
Released: 09/23/25
Genre: Historical Fiction
“Together, they mapped out a plan to leave no stone unturned, committed to finding hard evidence to validate what some would surely call a far-fetched plot. They were seasoned men, well acquainted with the nuances of both discretion and bold action, now joining forces to pick up the scent and follow a trail they hoped would lead to irrefutable proof of Soviet duplicity.”
“The Hope Not Plot” takes place in 1965 following the events leading up to and following the death of Winston Churchill. The funeral promises to draw a virtual “who’s who” of the most important world leaders.
Lyndon B. Johnson (LBJ) is the newly sworn-in US president following the assassination of JFK. He’s determined to do right in his position and to pay his respects to Churchill. But there’ s rumors of a planned attack at the funeral that LBJ can’t ignore.
Enlisting the assistance of a trusted few, LBJ hopes to stop the culprits before disaster strikes. Opting to send a delegation to the funeral instead of attending himself, he’s hoping for the best, but preparing for the worst.
Will the intelligence community figure out who’s behind the plot and will they be able to stop the pending disaster?
Trigger Warning: violence, adult language, sexual situations
Overall, I enjoyed this story. The tale itself feels like a mix of genres- historical fiction meets espionage. As I tend to lean toward historical fiction, I enjoyed the first portion of this book with the interspersed historical tidbits the most. There’s a good bit of American and European History from the WWII era mixed in with even more conspiracy and spy fiction. As such, many of the characters are familiar names- LBJ, JFK, De Gaulle, Dulles, etc. There’s interesting tidbits about many of these characters that had me reading up on them outside of the novel. Then there’s many more names- too many to count and keep track of, which made the spy portion of the book a little challenging. The pacing of the story is good and steady overall and the progression through the tale felt natural. However, I felt the last third of the book deviated more into the spy story and really pulled away from Churchill. The ending also felt a bit rushed and I would have enjoyed more details about the service or those in attendance. I did find the details about some of the characters after the main storyline to be enjoyable and could see how there may be a spinoff or two from this tale.
I received a copy of this story in exchange of a fair and honest review.
OVERALL REVIEW:
A historical fiction with strong spy elements, a few too many characters provide a crowded storyline that pulls away from Churchill.
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