Author and lawyer Gerald Posner has described Lifton's book as "one of the most unusual conspiracy theories" that "relies on an elaborate shell game involving rapid exchanges of coffins, a decoy ambulance, and a switched body shroud. He contends that once the body (of President Kennedy) was stolen from Air Force One, a covert team of surgeons surgically altered the corpse before the autopsy later that day...purportedly...so the autopsy physicians would determine the bullets that hit the President were fired from the rear...thereby sealing the case against Oswald."
Gerald Posner, a lawyer and author, has characterized Lifton's book as "one of the most unusual conspiracy theories" that relies on a complex scheme involving coffin exchanges, a decoy ambulance, and a swapped body shroud. He argues that after the President's body was taken from Air Force One, a clandestine team of surgeons altered it before the autopsy later that day to make it appear as if the bullets were fired from behind, thus impeding any investigation against Oswald.