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Blaze Magazine Exclusive Interview: Brad Meltzer on His New Thriller and Secrets in U.S. History

Jan. 8, 2013 10:55am Chris Field

Editor’s note: Best-selling author—and good friend of TheBlaze—Brad Meltzer is coming out with a new thriller this month, “The Fifth Assassin” — available at BlazeBooks on Jan. 15 and Amazon and many other booksellers. The book, which is about a serial killer who’s imitating the four men who assassinated U.S. presidents, contains fascinating “inside history” nuggets sure to entertain readers. Brad graciously offered to be part of an exclusive Q&A for TheBlaze Magazine subscribers.

Here’s a bit of our interview with Brad, titled “Secret Access to History.” Get the whole thing only in the newest issue of TheBlaze Magazine.

Blaze Magazine Interview: Brad Meltzer on His New Thriller and Secrets in U.S. History

Best-selling author Brad Meltzer (photo courtesy: Brad Meltzer)

THEBLAZE MAGAZINE: Your new book is about a serial killer who’s meticulously recreating the crimes of the four assassins, from John Wilkes Booth to Lee Harvey Oswald, who have successfully killed the president of the United States. So let’s just ask: Where does an idea like that come from?

BRAD MELTZER: For those who watch “Decoded” [on the History channel] or read my novels, I hope it’s clear that I love doing research. So I always start with the real history. In this case, it began with a government employee who told me that I needed to come to a secret museum that almost no one knew about. Naturally, I was suspicious, so I asked him what they had at this so-called museum. Then he told me: “We have pieces of Abraham Lincoln’s skull, the bones of John Wilkes Booth and even the bullet that killed Abraham Lincoln if you want to see them.”

BLAZE: So did you see them?

MELTZER: Of course I saw them! The guy offered to show me the bullet that killed Abraham Lincoln! I got there as quick as I could. And once there, they let me hold the bones of John Wilkes Booth … and the bones of President Garfield … and even the brain of his killer, which yes, they had in a jar.

BLAZE: And this is real? This isn’t anything you made up?

MELTZER: It’s real. I held these items in my hand. The museum is run by the Army—it used to be the Army Medical Museum—and was dedicated to studying the effects of war on the human body. Back in the late 1800s, modern medicine didn’t exist. So if you got shot in the arm, the Army would cut open your arm and look inside, trying to figure out what killed you. Today, we know it usually isn’t the bullet. It’s an infection.

So once germ theory was developed, they became the official museum to document the history of medicine, and since they had all the human body parts, they got the pieces of Abraham Lincoln after he was killed. And the shirt with his blood on it. And the bullet. The government has all of it.

BLAZE: And this isn’t the first time the U.S. government has come to you, right? A few years back, Homeland Security asked you to brainstorm different ways terrorists could attack the country. You’ve researched your books with former Presidents Bush and Clinton. Is this just a typical day for you?

MELTZER: I wish. No, holding the historical artifacts that led to the death of one of our greatest presidents is definitely one of those moments where you stop and wonder what message the universe is sending you. But as I started looking at the items, I could feel my brain working out the plot of the thriller. What if, over the course of 100 years, the four assassins were secretly working together? What was their purpose? Who do they really work for? And why are they planning to kill the president today? Then I had the book.

BLAZE: Did you find evidence of any real connections among the four successful presidential assassins?

MELTZER: Of the four men that succeeded, here’s what they had in common: Most of them …

Get Brad’s answer to that question and many more only in the newest issue of TheBlaze Magazine. Subscribe today to make sure you don’t miss it.

In CONTROL, Glenn Beck presents a passionate, fact-based case for guns that reveals why gun control isn’t really about controlling guns at all; it’s about controlling us. Find out more HERE.

Back to The Blaze »

Comments (21)

grimjack3791
Posted on January 8, 2013 at 4:05pm
I’ve watched his tv show before.

Metzler has a face for radio.

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SREGN
Posted on January 8, 2013 at 1:59pm
I’ve been in that museum. It’s one of the coolest places I’ve ever been. A strong stomach is a requisite. They have whole series of skulls with injuries by various objects including tomahawks, a whole leg of someone with elephantiasis in a big jar of formaldehyde, all kinds of preserved tissue wounds and diseases, etc. You should go. Much better than some stupid art museum.

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tharpdevenport
Posted on January 8, 2013 at 12:39pm
I can only imagine how pissed some of you were, in your drug-endused hippie craze every week when the words played out the TV’s speaer: “Tune in next week, same Bat-time, same Bat-channel!”

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Eastinfection
Posted on January 8, 2013 at 11:42am
lol @ anyone griping about articles designed to promote book sales and products.

we all know Glenn is a Capitalist….

This is how the system works.

The people that scream “THIS ISN’T NEWS!” sound just as ridiculous as the people that complain when coverage of the SuperBowl ends up on the front page of the Local Newspaper.

Do you get this worked up when someone drinks a carefully placed can of Pepsi in a movie?
How about Billboards on the highway? Do you cringe as you drive?
How do you make a living?… Is your product marketed in some way?

Get a grip.

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- 00100111
  Posted on January 8, 2013 at 2:57pm
  Considering Brad Meltzer and Glenn are friends, the fact his book and interview are on here does not surprise me.
  
  Report this comment
oceandove
Posted on January 8, 2013 at 11:14am
I dislike teasers and don’t appreciate wasting my time on them. If this continues on The Blaze, I will stop reading.

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- txblaze
  Posted on January 8, 2013 at 12:07pm
  This is one of many article posted here. If you’re not interested in Meltzer then don’t read it. Just pass on by and read something else. I, for one, love Brad’s show Decoded and his books – I’m glad to know a new one is coming out this month.
  
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lordamercy
Posted on January 8, 2013 at 11:11am
Seems like everything involved with The Blaze, Glenn’s radio show, etc. pushes some kind of product. I’m about done with The Blaze’s prominent placement of t**ts & a** advertising that is offensive. And this story is a infomercial. Enough already! Give us some NEWS!

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Top_Contributor
Posted on January 8, 2013 at 10:59am
Funny how all these books that the beck fans superimpose on modern day reality are FICTION.

Fiction, people. Fiction. Let’s try not to confuse the issue.

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- IKW
  Posted on January 8, 2013 at 11:21am
  The average Blaze reader doesn’t have a problem sorting through the fiction or fact, only goofballs like you. We already know that if we cannot triangulate a news story from multiple sources it’s probably garbage produced by a liberal who doesn’t suffer under the weight of integrity, truth and honesty. :-)
  
  Report this comment
- The-Monk
  Posted on January 8, 2013 at 11:32am
  Howdy Etchy/Pork/Top
  
  If you don’t like fiction; next time….
  
  Use the moniker “Bottom_Contributor” !
  
  Report this comment
- Top_Contributor
  Posted on January 8, 2013 at 11:34am
  IKW, I’m going to have to disagree with you. Maybe you’re new to the site…you should go read some of the posts these freaks publish. The average Blaze reader is generally uneducated and spiteful.
  
  Report this comment
- IKW
  Posted on January 8, 2013 at 11:43am
  I’m not new and generally the only spite I see comes from people such as yourself.
  
  Report this comment
- Free_Thought
  Posted on January 8, 2013 at 11:53am
  Not to mention now that it is in the open about golden glenn and boss hog limbaugh being in the tea party pocket all this time. Paid millions to tout the tea party. All you morons saying that the msm is bought by the libs still have no proof. But we do have proof that glenny and boss hog have been paid off. They have charts and everything showing payments and returns. No one in the lib media has accepted bribes to tout the left. They tout the left because they believe in what they say. The right now has proof that glenn accepted money. Journalistic integrity huh glenn. What a joke.
  
  Do you really think glenn tells you the truth or what the tea party PAID him to say? You weakminded fools need to wake up from napping with jesus and guns and realize tour conservative world is dying a painful death. Painfully funny from my end. A unified left vs a disorganized infighting group of bible thumpers and gun nuts. Thank the stars we took our country back in ’08 and can now leave these archaic conservative “values” behind us. You cant stop progression.
  
  Report this comment
- IKW
  Posted on January 8, 2013 at 12:14pm
  Thank you for proving my point, “Free_Thought”…if you keep this up people will think you have changed sides, haha! ;-)
  
  Report this comment
- barber2
  Posted on January 8, 2013 at 12:14pm
  TOP EGO was someone else before December 18. Funny how these Vile Bile Trolls resurrect themselves with new names. So radical ! Unfortunately, the same old hate and bile stays the same. Notice they aren’t using Beckerheads as much though…LOL
  
  Report this comment
- Eastinfection
  Posted on January 8, 2013 at 12:21pm
  FREE…
  “No one in the lib media has accepted bribes to tout the left.”
  
  lol… you’re dilusional!
  
  according to The Department of Labor, various unions paid Ed Schultz roughly $200,000 in 2011, and roughly $337,000 over the last seven years…
  
  Step away from the Koolade!
  
  Report this comment
- Wisdom7
  Posted on January 8, 2013 at 12:36pm
  “Thank the stars we took our country back in ’08 and can now leave these archaic conservative “values” behind us. You cant stop progression.”
  
  What a stupid statement. Are you referring to the values of family, freedom, responsibility, and so on? You are really going to call those archaic?
  
  Report this comment
- Free_Thought
  Posted on January 8, 2013 at 1:05pm
  No. But if you actually stood for those things you may have an argument.
  
  Report this comment
- IKW
  Posted on January 8, 2013 at 2:06pm
  Good, so we agree…excellent! ;-)
  
  Report this comment
- 00100111
  Posted on January 8, 2013 at 2:59pm
  Top/Free, you’d be taken a lot more seriously if you only posted with one name instead of using multiples to back up your own arguments. We see you coming a mile away.
  
  Report this comment

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