Review: American Tabloid

American Tabloid by James Ellroy
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

It's terrifically brutal, bloody, and hard as nails. It's only after you've adjusted to the savagery on every page that you begin to see how brilliantly Ellroy creates - and destroys - his characters. There's Big Pete Bondurant, the goon who's losing his interest in mayhem. Cool, calm Kemper Boyd, the spy whose lust for penthouse suites is only outstripped by the tower of lies he's building. And Ward J. Littell, the rabid anti-Mob investigator with no brakes attached. They're all despicable, and yet at the same time I had to know where they'd end up.
As with any book about the web between the Mob, the CIA, the FBI, the invasion of Cuba, Howard Hughes, the Kennedys and JFK's assassination... it's dense. There are a zillion players, lies, conspiracies, and coverups, each one slimier than the last. For all it's complications, everything can be traced back to motive, demand, need. If you've ever finished a hard-boiled mystery and thought, "Geez, I wish that was more violent, cynical, complicated, action packed and political!" then this is the book for you.


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