• Booklist Reviews : Booklist Reviews 2011 March #1
  President Reagan's near-death experience in 1981 energetically emerges from Washington Post journalist Wilber's account of John Hinckley's attempted assassination. Synthesized from interviews with security, medical, and political personnel and buttressed with biographical sketches of the principals, the book telescopes the hours immediately before and after the shooting. Wilber takes the main players through the morning of March 30, 1981, up to their congregation at a Washington hotel, where Jody Foster–obsessed Hinckley stands mere feet from Reagan's exit path from the building. After Hinckley's bullets fell four men, Wilber's velocity accelerates as the president's vital signs deteriorate, and physicians and nurses resort to desperate procedures that culminate in last-ditch surgery to stanch internal bleeding. Outstanding in recounting the medical aspects, Wilber also captures the uncertainty in the White House about what had happened and who was in charge (a dramatic feature of Wilber's treatment is his use of transcripts of officials' conversations). This mesmerizing rendition of the event can be read in one sitting, as Wilber's accuracy and craft provoke rapt interest. Copyright 2011 Booklist Reviews.

Del Quentin Wilber is an award-winning reporter for The Washington Post. He has spent most of his career covering law enforcement and sensitive security issues, and his work has been a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize. He lives in Washington, D.C., with his wife and two sons.

Del Quentin Wilber is an award-winning reporter for The Washington Post. He has spent most of his career covering law enforcement and sensitive security issues, and his work has been a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize. Visit the website for Rawhide Down at www.RawhideDown.com.