The Marilyn Tapes [Hardcover]

Edward Gorman (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 1995

A fictional account of the days that followed the death of Marilyn Monroe follows the struggles among J. Edgar Hoover, Louella Parsons, the Mafia, and the Kennedy brothers for possession of provocative bedroom tape recordings.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In this fast-paced tale of treachery and murder, Gorman cleverly combines the tawdry elements of Marilyn Monroe's drug-befuddled affairs with the Kennedy sons, a struggle between the mafia and J. Edgar Hoover to gain control of the Kennedys and aging gossip columnist Louella Parsons's last-gasp attempt to reestablish her power over the filmmaking industry. In the days immediately following Marilyn's suspicious death, a blackmailer claims to have tapes of her steamy trysts with JFK. In the ruthless struggle over their possession, Sara Drury, an editor of a Hollywood fan magazine, becomes an unwitting pawn. Prominent in the large supporting cast are Sara's ex, a failed actor living off Beverly Hills matrons; Lenihan, JFK'S personal hatchet man; a psychopathic lesbian terrorist working for Hoover; and assorted mobsters and film personalities. Served up machine-gun style in staccato episodes, the story ricochets off sociopathic power games in high places. Literary style is not Gorman's strongest suit, however; also, his narrative is occasionally marred by distracting trivia-including attempts to find dignity in Lenihan's loyalty to JFK and the sappy love-hate relationship between Hoover and longtime companion Clyde Tolson.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

It is a month after the untimely death of Marilyn Monroe. In Washington, D.C., and Los Angeles telephone calls are being made-from the FBI to its operatives, from the Mob to the media-relating to mysterious tapes that could bring down the government and ruin John F. Kennedy and his brother Robert. In the ensuing days, studio heads, gossip columnists, tabloid publishers, private investigators, and innocent children are caught up in the frantic rush to possess "the Marilyn tapes." Gorman (Blood Moon, LJ 7/94) narrates in fast-paced, staccato fashion and quick cinematic takes, jumping from one character to another. This is more screenplay than novel, all action and excitement with little plot or character development. Most libraries can pass.
Cynthia Johnson, Cary Memorial Lib., Lexington, Mass.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 349 pages
• Publisher: Forge (January 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312856466
• ISBN-13: 978-0312856465
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.3 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,192,332 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Read Couldn't Put It Down, June 20, 2000

By 

Wolfgang Thompson - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Marilyn Tapes: A Novel (Paperback)

Selected the book as the best of the worst. Was I ever wrong. Marilyn has died. What would happen and who would control the government if tapes of Marilyn with the Kennedy's brothers were made public. Everyone wants the tapes. Hoover, the Mob, and mostly the Kennedy brothers. The race is on and the bodies are piling up. Page one has you hooked, and by the time you get through all the players and who plays for who (including Marilyn's thoughts) you wonder where the time went and are amazed the books half finished. All the characters are well thought out and vital to the story some are known to the world and others I never knew. Fiction? One of the best books I've read this year

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Packed with action, intrigue and genuine humanity, August 6, 2007

By 

Henry W. Wagner (Rockaway, NJ USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Marilyn Tapes: A Novel (Paperback)

This was an interesting read, especially since I picked it up only three weeks after finishing James Ellroy's American Tabloid. The books feature many of the same characters and themes, but veer off in wildly different directions. Ellroy treats allegations of a Kennedy-Monroe affair as a trumped up urban legend, but Gorman uses it as a springboard for his entire novel.

This a "race against time" story, with several parties vying for a set of highly sensitive tape recordings which, if made public, could destroy the Kennedy administration. The players are drawn from all walks of life, from a rogue FBI agent to a hard-working single mother working for a scandal sheet. Gorman delivers a solid and entertaining tale, packed with action , intrigue and genuine humanity. The book is written in a short, punchy style, which becomes more clipped as the story builds to its shattering climax. Fast paced, and energetic, this book should please Gorman devotees, both old and new.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This Ain't Your Parents' Camelot!, June 5, 2011

By 

Quite Contrary (Iowa) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Marilyn Tapes (Kindle Edition)

Even before I saw the bibliography at the end of The Marilyn Tapes, I knew this novel had been meticulously researched. As intense as the action gets and as extreme as some of the characters' behaviors are, it has the ring of truth to it--especially during Marilyn Monroe's reminiscences that are presented in her own "voice." You won't find J. Edgar Hoover wearing women's clothes, but you will encounter a deeply flawed man who is desperate to regain the power he believes has slipped away from him during the Kennedy administration. To this end, he is trying to get his hands on tapes that contain secret recordings of Kennedy trysts with Marilyn Monroe, which he will use to blackmail the Kennedys. Using a lack of judgment that, once discovered, is deeply troubling to his friend and colleague, Clyde Tolson, Hoover has enlisted the aid of Melanie Baines, to secure the tapes. Melanie is a "rogue FBI agent" who is both off the books and a sociopath.

Not surprisingly Hoover is not the only person who is driven to gain possession of the tapes for monetary gain or social leverage. Louella Parsons plans on using them to regain her glory days of the 1930s and `40s. The private eye who created the tapes wants to double-cross his employer, studio head, Mayhew, who, in turn, is trying to procure the tapes for his mobster business partner, Rosetti. Needless to say, the Kennedys are the most motivated of all to gain possession of them.

Other characters, both based in fact and fictional, are caught up in this multi-layered plot, including a mother, separated from her unfaithful husband, who loves Old Hollywood and writes for, "Insight," a once respectable magazine that has been taken over by a man with tabloid sensibilities and secrets of his own.

The Marilyn Tapes is an engrossing and compelling book - both as a thriller and an insightful glimpse into a time of history that has long been mythologized.