The Cold Six Thousand [Import] [Paperback]

James Ellory (Author)

Product Details

• Paperback: 784 pages
• Publisher: Century (2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0712678956
• ISBN-13: 978-0712678957
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (114 customer reviews)

More About the Author

James Ellroy was born in Los Angeles in 1948. He is the author of the acclaimed L.A. Qurtet - The Black Dahlia, The Big Nowhere, LA Confidential and White Jazz, as well as the Underworld USA trilogy: American Tabloid, The Cold Six Thousand and Blood's a Rover. He is the author of one work of non-fiction, The Hilliker Curse: My Pursuit of Women. Ellroy lives in Los Angeles.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

35 of 40 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars 700 pages of adrenaline fueled savagery, May 12, 2001

By 

W. H. Jamison, Jr. (Burien, Washington United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Cold Six Thousand (Hardcover)

How do you follow a novel like American Tabloid, the definitive Kennedy assassination conspiracy novel? You write a novel like The Cold Six Thousand, which is the definitive RFK, MLK, Vietnam, Howard Hughes, Mafia, Las Vegas and J. Edgar Hoover conspiracy novel. The Cold Six Thousand starts off where Tabloid ended, on the 22nd of November 1963, the day of Kennedy's assassination. We are reintroduced to characters we have met in earlier novels (Pete Bondurant from White Jazz and American Tabloid) and Ward Littell (from American Tabloid) and to new characters such as the Tedrows, father Wayne Sr. and son Wayne Jr. Wayne Jr., a Las Vegas police officer, is sent to Dallas to kill a pimp, his fee for doing so, six thousand untraceable dollars. The roller coaster ride begins here, weaving his fictional characters in with real life characters (Jack Ruby, J. Edgar Hoover and Bayard Rustin to name a few) Ellroy takes us on a savage tour of the dark and ugly side of the 1960s from a heroin processing operation in Vietnam to the civil rights marches of the American south with plenty of stops in Las Vegas which Ward Littell is attempting to purchase for Howard Hughes while still allowing the mob to stay in control and collect their skim. Some of Ellroy's takes on the activities of the right wingers at the time might seem a little outre and exaggerated, but after reading Rick Perlstein's _Before the Storm_ and David Halberstam's _The Best and the Brightest_ I find that Ellroy is right on target skewering the nuts of the extreme right wing who infested our country during the 1960s. The only reason I didn't give this book five stars is that it bogs down in places. Ellroy needs an editor with balls big enough to say "James, cut this part out, it drags the story". Still, even if the story drags in places Ellroy picks things up quickly and soon you're reading along and feeling as breathless if you just went on a five mile run and smoked a carton of Camels.

17 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Didn't anybody else like this book?, July 21, 2001

By 

Peter J. Bakely (Kansas City, MO USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Cold Six Thousand (Hardcover)

This isn't a difficult book by any stretch of the imagination. It's written in one syllable words. Ellroy couldn't write badly if his life depended on it. In an era where most author's take chapter after chapter to get to the meat of the story, Ellroy starts with the meat and chews it up in front of you, like an angry dog. This book is admittedly not my favorite Ellroy book,(that would be White Jazz, also a staccato masterpiece), but it's still the best new book I've read this year.

14 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars What happened?, December 28, 2005

By 

El Perro Patron "WWVD" (In Exile) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Cold Six Thousand (Paperback)

I've read and enjoyed everything that Ellroy has written. I think that American Tabloid is the best fiction book I've ever read. But the sequel is just plain lacking. While the plot and the cast of characters are still classic Ellroy, the writing itself is lazy and sloppy. What the hell is up with all the 2 and 3 word sentences? Ellroy's always used this tool sparingly. But in this book, its prevalent. Its like he printed his short hand notes instead of the novel. I don't know if Ellroy was in a hurry to get something to market or if he really does think this style is "Cool and edgy" but I just found is plain annoying. This is a major stumble for a great writer. Hopefully he can pull it together for the next novel.