Trespass by Fletcher Knebel

Trespass Reviews

• 
  Eric Wilson

  Published in 1969, this plot could easily be updated to 2020 and seem amazingly prescient and current. Like "Seven Days in May" and "Night of Camp David," Knebel deals with big "what if?" questions and peoples his plots with interesting characters and political intrigue. I'm surprised at how well they hold up. I've enjoyed all three, and this one could've stumbled on issues of racism but somehow avoids many of the missteps and instead makes some interesting points in the middle of a fast-paced story.
• 
  Alan LaPayover

  While quite dated, it was very interesting to read this book (again) in light of the last 50 or so years of "race relations", etc. in this country. How far (if) have we come? How do we relate to the characters on all sides and to the challenges that unrelenting racism still present to us today? Is there a difference in the POV between those of us who lived through the early civil rights and black power movements and those who grew up in the years that followed? Does this book have anything to offer us today as we continue to safeguard the arc's move toward justice? I hope so, though I can't be sure.
• 
  Randy Stapilus

  A little more personal than some of the other Knebel thrillers, but well crafted.
• 
  Bob Box

  Read in 1973. It was about???
• 
  Ronnie

  I read this book when I was in the Army 1969-1971. It is a haunting tale that still rivets me to this day. I have found myself rereading. I f0und myself looking at it as I read Unworthy Republic.
• 
  Sally Monaghan

  A book written and set in 1970 about race relations and the injustices suffered by Black people. The language is certainly outdated, but the ideas are things we as a country are only now beginning to reckon with. Under the guise of a group akin to the Black Panthers seizing homes of wealthy white owners, and their ultimate goal of creating a Black country out of the states of Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama, the book is really about reparations, how many Black families have been prevented from accumulating generational wealth, how many white families accumulated wealth by exploiting Black families, how Black people had been prohibited from leadership positions in corporate America and government, and therefore from decision making that affected them, white privilege, and many, many other issues.
  
  The book could have easily devolved into racist tropes, but I thought that, other than the language used, it really didn't. It was fair and open-eyed. The occupiers were reasonable, thinking, and mostly non-violent men, with specific demands, and some of the white people were not horrible. Nevertheless, it is beyond belief that we still have not sufficiently addressed these issues, if at all, almost 50 years later.
  
  It's really interesting that Fletcher Knebel was able to pinpoint so clearly so many issues that people are only realizing today (such as the generational wealth). Given that his other books include ones about a military coup and an insane President, he was either a genius, or a time traveler.
  
  I gave it only 4 stars because it was supposed to be a thriller, but it wasn't very suspenseful or thrilling.
• 
  Jeff Crosby

  I've not read a lot of Knebel, and I can't pin down why I decided to try this one. The book is too much a product of the 1960s. Knebel was well known for writing timely thrillers that tapped into contemporary events. This one just doesn't work.
  
  The first five chapters are an interminable home invasion story. Then suddenly we snap to a murder in Manhattan and the exposure of a national plot by black militants. Our original home invasion is just one of six. The book picks up as the national leaders begin to piece together what is happening, but the story is still sluggish. It might have been timely in 1969, but it doesn't work now.
• 
  Del B

  Toward the bottom of Knebel's writing. Story is badly dated. Story of a white family being held hostage by a black man.
  
  Read other Knebel before trying this one.
• 
  RK Byers

  if i wanted GAMAL,i'd want it RIGHT NOW!