The Souvenir

About the Book

Roger and Royce are twins. They had been mates on their father’s charter fishing boat since they were six years old. They graduated from high school in 1967. Roger goes to college at Berkeley and hopes to someday become an attorney. Royce is drafted and sent to Vietnam.

Roger meets John Ellis at Berkeley and they become close friends. They live in a commune with Matt who leads protests against the Vietnam War. Matt tries to persuade the president to withdraw American troops from Vietnam but the government violently resists. Matt becomes upset.

John Ellis is angry because his brother Ray had been killed in Vietnam. Then Royce is also killed in Vietnam. John Ellis flunks out of Berkeley and becomes a fugitive draft dodger.

Anger and frustration lead a sniper to assassinate the president on August 8, 1968. The sniper leaves the rifle behind but keeps the fired shell casing as a souvenir. FBI Deputy Director Roy Thomas heads the investigation but has no leads.

Roger then becomes a successful criminal defense attorney. He and Deputy Director Thomas meet in many contentious cases throughout the following years. They become bitter adversaries.

The assassination of the president remains unsolved for thirty years. Modern technological advancements in law enforcement eventually lead Deputy Director Thomas to charge John Ellis with the assassination.

John Ellis retains his old friend Roger to represent him. The real assassin has hidden the souvenir. His identity is revealed at trial when its location is discovered. Has John Ellis actually been framed for something he didn’t do? Did someone else do it? The souvenir will tell the tale.

About the Author

Johnny Gaskins grew up at Hatteras, North Carolina. He graduated from Cape Hatteras High School in 1967. He attended North Carolina State University and obtained a Bachelor of Arts degree with a major in English in 1970 and a Master of Arts Degree in English in 1973. He was a homicide investigator and sniper on the hostage rescue team with the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation from 1972 to 1976. He obtained a law degree from Campbell College School of Law in North Carolina in 1979. He was a criminal defense attorney for thirty years. He has defended twenty death penalty cases.