I'm familiar with Epstein, not with this book. Epstein is another one of a handful of authors that has made a livelihood off JFK and his death.
What makes the JFK Murder Mystery so appealing is that there are so many high profile suspects with plausible motives to kill Kennedy and plausible ties to Lee Harvey Oswald (even though some seek to exonerate Oswald altogether as just the wrong man at the wrong place - a view I find unsupportable by the facts).
Key suspects and their plausible connections (in no particular order):
* LBJ(hatred for JFK, ambition) Killing done in Texas, his Limo not shot at.
* Mafia(crackdown on mob,Joe Kennedy's election help)LHO has very vague mob ties but Ruby had very definite mob ties
* Russia(cold war,missile crisis)LHO had spent time in Russia as an alleged defector.
* Cuba(cold war,Bay of Pigs)LHO attempted to defect to Cuba after returning from Russia.
* Pentagon(Vietnam)LHO was a Marine, trained as a marksman.
* CIA(Vietnam,other world conflicts)Many believe LHO's defection was actually CIA-orchestrated spying.
* FBI(partner/rival of CIA)LHO had several contacts with FBI leading up to assassination.
* Castro's enemies in U.S.(Bay of Pigs)LHO spent time with paramilitary groups dreaming of overthrowing Castro. Many of these saw JFK as traitor for failing to provide military cover for Bay of Pigs invasion which failed.
* "Right Wing"(JFK's liberalism)Connection to LHO quite unclear but Dallas was a hotbed of conservative groups hostile to JFK.
* "Big Oil"(JFK's liberalism)Often blamed in the same breath as "right wing".
* Richard Nixon(revenge for 1960)Just happened to be in Dallas that weekend.
Then, of course, you get to those who believe LHO dreamed this all up and carried it out himself for the personal notoriety and as revenge against a society that he had great disdain for and was, in his mind, shunned by.
Hollywood could never concoct such a character as Lee Harvey Oswald. We'll probably never know with certainty who carried this out which is why the JFK Assassination is always going to have a disproportionate attention placed on it throughout history. It's a drama that has something for everyone (murder, sinister characters, martyrs, sex, innocent or not-so-innocent bystanders - all set on the world's biggest stage). It was also the central moment that awoke America from the post-WWII slumber of absolute trust in government. From the JFK Assassination to Vietnam to Watergate in ten years America (and the media) changed from a trusting people to a distrusting people.