3 out of 4 stars
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How does one make sense of all the violence that happens in society today? How does one reconcile conflict between racial discrimination and justice? Can a "just society" make mistakes? Are all the mistakes made actually "mistakes?" Or can there be wrong intentions added to the mix? It is certain that people, in general, are not infallible. In writing Who is Johnny Pistolseed, Larry Kaiser seeks to prove (or at least present as viable) a theory of deep conspiracy that allows racist police officers to commit horrendous crimes and walk away unscathed by the justice system.
Set in a small community in Indiana, a complex series of events is triggered when Billy, a boy of American Indian heritage, is tragically shot and killed by a member of the police force. The author gives the reader an eye-witness account of the incident, providing the knowledge that the officer shot a non-threatening and unarmed teenager. The officer who pulled the trigger was wearing a makeshift body cam, giving official investigators a video to work from when determining guilt or innocence on the part of the officer. This video is withheld from the media, and thus from the public. The two officers on duty are the only actual witnesses, and they are not saying anything. It is up to the boy's friends to prove that it is not only possible for the video to be doctored, but it is probable.
Meanwhile, the town's official leader is recruiting a few friends in an attempt to fight a "good old boys" system and clean up the town. On occasion, the two main plots converge, but I felt that the complexity was mainly provided in order to provide believable backdrop to the conspiracy theory as well as to lengthen the overall story.
I picked this particular book because I am personally fascinated by conspiracy theories and politics. If you are not interested in extreme possibilities of oppression or political scheming, this book may not be for you. If you are interested in a good story line, regardless of the potential "truth" the book may contain, you may still find this to be a good read. However, it took me a while to actually be drawn into the plot. The first chapters are backstory and necessary for the believability of the book as a whole. However, the beginning felt a bit disjointed and choppy to me. After I was safely past the preliminary sections, I began to be more and more interested in the story and eventually reached the point where it was difficult to put down. Without giving any spoilers, I will just say that the ending was nothing that I had anticipated. From a literary standpoint, I greatly appreciated the twist!
The author succeeded in simultaneously drawing bigger than life characters AND developing them in a way that made them feel realistic. The main cast includes the father of the boy who died, a political artist, the owner of a salvage yard, town mayor, and a teenage genius. I felt the editing should have been a lot cleaner, particularly in punctuation, as I felt that commas were thrown about with complete abandon. Regarding objectionable elements that someone may want to know about, some of the characters use vulgarity in their thoughts and words. This does work, due to realistic character painting, but some might find it offensive.
The premise put forth by Who is Johnny Pistolseed is decidedly intriguing; however, I was not persuaded one way or the other regarding the veracity of the theories. Due to a lack of understanding, I sort of skimmed over the technical explanations of whether or not it is possible to do the kind of video editing required to clear cops of murder accusations. I did find it ironic that the technical details designed to prove the conspiracy were the parts that I didn't quite comprehend. Since I enjoyed this novel, but found the beginning to be confusing and the editing to be sloppy, I give it an overall rating of 3 out of 4 stars.
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Who Is Johnny Pistolseed
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If this book's premise is actually true, it is very angering indeed. 
