The Cold Six Thousand

A sequel of sort to American Tabloid, James Ellroy continues his paranoid (or is it really paranoid if it's true?) vision of American history during the cold war, seen from the point of view of operatives that are behind the most cataclysmic events of that period.

American Tabloid dealt with the Bay of Pigs and the election of John F. Kennedy. The Cold Six Thousand picks right up where the other book left off. The title refers to the cash that an ex-Las Vegas policeman named Wayne Tedrow receives in exchange for killing a pimp in Dallas. The time is November, 1963.

If you are prone to believe conspiracy theories, this book is for you. The assassinations of JFK, Martin Luther King and RFK are all tied together in this book, the epicenter being J. Edgar Hoover. I'm not sure how much of it is true, but there's enough reality to make it sound good. In addition to Tedrow, Ellroy has two other main protagonists: Ward Littell, an ex-FBI agent who has become a lawyer for both Howard Hughes, who wants to buy up Vegas hotels, and Carlos Marcello, organized crime boss of New Orleans. Littell still does assignments for Hoover, and gets drawn into Operation Black Rabbit, which is Hoover's attempt to discredit King. Then there's Pete Bondurant, the gigantic freelance enforcer, who believe in a free Cuba and will go to almost any lengths for "the cause." Bondurant is a great character--a vicious hit man who chews Nicorette gum, loves his wife and deep down has a sense of morality.

Many real-life people turn up in this book, and there is no disclaimer that they are used fictionally. There's Sonny Liston, who becomes a mob enforcer after he loses to Cassius Clay (it is Liston who first braces Sirhan Sirhan, who owes gambling debts), Sal Mineo, who is portrayed here as a killer and who is used in an attempt to blackmail civil rights activist Bayard Rustin, and there's Hoover himself, who comes across as the most entertaining character in the book. He is only glimpsed in transcripts of telephone calls, and he's like a villain in a Bond film--urbane, witty, and erudite, with a mordant sense of humor. He also hates Bobby Kennedy (referring to him as the "Dark Prince," and King as "Martin Lucifer King."

By the time this book was over, you feel a kind of despair, whether it's the commingling with the despicable characters who are in the Klu Klux Klan, run dope to black people, or plot to bring down men who might make a difference, or whether it's Ellroy's staccato writing style. He rarely employs adjectives or compound sentences. It's simply subject and predicate, over and over again, sometimes making your eyes go glassy. However, when a scene of violence erupts, which is fairly regular, you certainly take notice.