An instant bestseller in France, William Reymond’s JFK: The Last Witness, puts forth a new theory on the assassination of John F. Kennedy. Far from being just another conspiracy book, it offers a missing piece in the puzzle, and a glimpse into the dark and corrupt world of Texas politics in the fifties and sixties in the form of a live witness and the co-author of the book: Billie Sol Estes.

Sol Estes was from a modest background, but made a fortune at a young age and in the early fifties was spending his way to influence in Texas politics. His main and most notable beneficiary was the young senator Lyndon Johnson. When an investigation into Johnson’s financing was opened, Johnson betrayed Sol Estes rather than expose himself to rightful accusations. Estes lost his wealth, his family, and life, and spent time in jail. Now elderly and in poor health, the once formidable muckraker delivers some outrageous proclamations, and offers an up-close view of Texas dirty politics.

Reymond convincingly weaves elements of a Johnson conspiracy, provided by Estes, to the latest forensic evidence, reconstituting the day of the assassination and the investigations, or lack thereof that ensued. The single assassin theory upheld by the Warren Commission falters when one key connection is made: the links Estes provides between Lyndon Johnson and Mac Wallace, an assassin whose finger prints were found in the same warehouse that sheltered Lee Harvey Oswald.