From the acclaimed modern master of noir–a huge, electrifying, explosive new novel, his first since the international bestseller American ...
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Dec 18, 2010
Kemper
rated it: 
American Tabloid was about criminals making history and culminated with the plot to kill Jack Kennedy. In the Cold Six Thousand, the characters aren't trying to make history, they're just trying to survive it.
American Tabloid is one of my all-time favorite books. The second part of the trilogy, The Cold Six Thousand, has always been a bit of a disappointment to me. I read both again to prep for the release of the final book, Blood's A Rover. With that one sitting here, just waiti More...
American Tabloid is one of my all-time favorite books. The second part of the trilogy, The Cold Six Thousand, has always been a bit of a disappointment to me. I read both again to prep for the release of the final book, Blood's A Rover. With that one sitting here, just waiti More...
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Dec 16, 2009
Greg
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American Tabloid ends with Pete Bourdant watching Barbara do a rendition of "Unchained Melody" in some Dallas lunchtime geek joint on a particularly historical November morning in 1963. The novel ends with Pete watching and waiting for the screams to start.
The Cold Six Thousand picks up earlier that morning with a new character Wayne Tedrow Jr. flying from Vegas to Dallas to hunt down a black (sorry I can't bring myself to use a more PC term nor can I bring myself to put More...
The Cold Six Thousand picks up earlier that morning with a new character Wayne Tedrow Jr. flying from Vegas to Dallas to hunt down a black (sorry I can't bring myself to use a more PC term nor can I bring myself to put More...
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Jul 18, 2009
brian
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“There are times when an abortion is necessary. I know that. When you have a black and a white*” -- nixon was a racist, red-baiting bastard. nixon was a paranoid insecure fuck who probably jacked it at night thinking about days spent bugging offices and launching latin american juntas. nixon said "make their economy scream" to 'the jew' (his term of affection for kissinger) as a means to destabilize Chile in order to insert an american-friendly right-wing dicktator.
LBJ wa More...
LBJ wa More...
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Jul 27, 2010
Rob
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This one gets the full-on review because I wrote one up a few years back in an attempt to understand whether I liked the book. I'm a big Ellroy fan, but the moral stance he takes in this novel is complex, and I had to think it through. I end up siding with him, if you don't want the whole thing. Or, if you have a few minutes:
James Ellroy’s novel The Cold Six Thousand,i>, is an addictively compelling story driven almost exclusively by morally repugnant characters. The characters in More...
James Ellroy’s novel The Cold Six Thousand,i>, is an addictively compelling story driven almost exclusively by morally repugnant characters. The characters in More...
Jan 12, 2010
Alfonso
rated it:
WARNING: reading more than 50 pages of this book after a six hour Marathon Final Fantasy Crisis Core, finishing The Catcher in the Rye and watching a crappy Bruce Willis movie may result in total and absolute psychological melt down… that being said I’ma go put on my aluminum foil hat and protect my cake flour cuz I know them aliens want it!!!
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Dec 17, 2009
Prateek
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The second in Ellroy's still unfinished trilogy, Cold picks up right where American Tabloid leaves off -- the Kennedy Assassination. All the same elements are in place -- the sleazy underworld who, in Ellory's world, are in charge of everything, the pulpy lowlifes, and caustically cynical worldview that leaves zero room for optimism. Here, Ellroy offers his unique take on the RFK and MLK assassinations. But it cuts deeper than American Tabloid. There are more double-crosses, more moral crises an
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Dec 17, 2009
David
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This book is the worst car crash you've ever heard of, unfolding in excruciating slow motion. The characters are monsters. The action starts at the Kennedy assassination and ends at one of the other assassinations of the 60's, Bobby I think. I winced my way through this book and at the end I wondered why I had stuck with it. I have never been so horrified and repulsed by characters in fiction. But the writing has a force and brutal brevity that I found fascinating. I may read more Ellroy in the
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Jan 16, 2012
Ian
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You have to experience these books. No one can tell you what it is like to read them.
Is it literature? I think not, the repetitive style, the lack of descriptions, the frankly non existant characterisation, the way key events hang at the end of sentances and moves on. We know next to nothing about what motivates these characters and why they are doing the things they do.
Is it Fiction? Possibly, but it is an alternative take on 60s america, following on from American T More...
Is it literature? I think not, the repetitive style, the lack of descriptions, the frankly non existant characterisation, the way key events hang at the end of sentances and moves on. We know next to nothing about what motivates these characters and why they are doing the things they do.
Is it Fiction? Possibly, but it is an alternative take on 60s america, following on from American T More...
Sep 26, 2011
Rincewind
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The Cold Six Thousand begins where American Tabloid ended - on an eventful day in Dallas, TX when the history of the United States was possibly re-written. It moves on two other chapters that shaped American history - the Vietnam War and the Civil Rights movement.
Two of the leads from Tabloid, Littell and Bondurant, continue to live their troubled lives and their hidden agendas. Add to this mix Wayne Tedrow Jr, who, despite questionable upbringings, seems to have a value system (of More...
Two of the leads from Tabloid, Littell and Bondurant, continue to live their troubled lives and their hidden agendas. Add to this mix Wayne Tedrow Jr, who, despite questionable upbringings, seems to have a value system (of More...
Oct 31, 2010
sikael
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After writing 'American Tabloid', his best novel in a body of work made up of several great novels, Ellroy can be forgiven for not
taking his writing to even greater heights. With 'The Cold Six Thous-
and' he picks up right where he left off at the end of 'American Tabloid': the assassination of JFK, orchestrated by a group of gangsters, mercenaries, and CIA hardcases pissed-off over the bloody and
embarrassing 'Bay of Pigs' fiasco. This time the bullseye is on Martin Luth More...
taking his writing to even greater heights. With 'The Cold Six Thous-
and' he picks up right where he left off at the end of 'American Tabloid': the assassination of JFK, orchestrated by a group of gangsters, mercenaries, and CIA hardcases pissed-off over the bloody and
embarrassing 'Bay of Pigs' fiasco. This time the bullseye is on Martin Luth More...
Jun 22, 2010
F.R.
rated it:
This volume of James Ellroy’s alternate and hysterical history of the Sixties, stretches from the aftermath of the JFK assassination right up to the death of RFK. That was obviously a turbulent period in American history and it’s not surprising that this book at times feels rushed, as if trying to unpack too much at once. Which in a way is odd, as it also feels at points more style over substance. All of Ellroy’s various literary ticks are given full reign in this volume, to the level that someo
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Apr 05, 2011
Trevor
rated it:
Starting in Dallas on November 22nd, 1963, the day JFK was assassinated, this story follows three protagonists: Wayne Tedrow Jr., a Las Vegas cop sent to Dallas to kill a man for $6,000; Ward J. Littell, a former FBI agent and current mob lawyer; Pete Bondurant, a French-Canadian ex-sheriff and current mob "fixer". These three men all become involved in the JFK assassination cover-up, and a five-year saga that follows. History and fiction blur together as their lives tie into Las Vegas
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Nov 05, 2009
Jeremy
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Yah, this one gets 5 stars too. I loved American Tabloid - never read anything like it, and so I'd give AT 6 stars if I could. I've had the hardcover of this one for years, and had it half-finished before I walked away. Went with the audiobook version instead and plowed right through it. So yes, five stars, but I feel the need to take a verrry long shower to try and get this book off of me. With perhaps the tiny exception of RFK, there are NO redeemable characters in this book. Everyone is a scu
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Oct 31, 2009
Zeno
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Unfortunately this book just isn't as good as American Tabloid. And I think the problem with it is that the main plot is just not that compelling. In AT we knew that everything was leading up to the assassination of JFK. And even a fraction of the way in, we knew that the Bay of Pigs was coming down the pike.
In the Cold Six Thousand, we know that MLK and RFK are both going to die before the end of this 650 page story. It's more of the same... multiple shooters, set up a patsy. T More...
In the Cold Six Thousand, we know that MLK and RFK are both going to die before the end of this 650 page story. It's more of the same... multiple shooters, set up a patsy. T More...
Jun 25, 2011
Kenny
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Yeah, this is the book that really hooked me on Ellroy. Fact and fiction intertwine here in this reimagining/repurposing (or is it recounting/retelling) of the JFK, MLK and RFK murder plots and circumstances/incidents surrounding same in the tumultous 1960's, with lots of descriptive prose detailing everything from insider mafioso relations and scandal to political corruptions of the highest order, interplay and interference run by both state and local law enforcement and the Feds, relationship
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Jul 27, 2011
While American Tabloid was a novel that read like a piece of cool jazz, this follow-up is just completely deconstructed in it's sentence forms, dialoques and paragraphs. Ellroy has taken this fresh approach and pushed the envelope too far in that the reader must contend with working through a laborious reading exercise rather then enjoying the cool ride he's taking them on. According to Ellroy himself (BBC World Book Club), his ex-wife had pointed out to him the flaws in this narrative and it'
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Aug 11, 2011
Ryan
rated it:
I could just ditto my "American Tabloid" review. This wasn't as hard to follow, probably because I've caught on to Ellroy's style, structure, sense of humor, sense of narration, etc. I love the quoted review on the front of my edition, adequately surmising my thoughts: "Ellroy rips into American culture like a chainsaw in an abattoir... Pick it up if you dare; put it down if you can." He certainly holds nothing sacred, shredding apart the legacies of MLK, RFK, J. Edgar Hoover
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Jun 10, 2010
Chad
rated it:
First of all, what's up with the crappy description on this site? Why does it completely ignore the other two major protagonists? This is not (just) the story of Wayne Tedrow Jr., but a massive, encyclopedic, deftly imagined chronicle of several years of American history. Ellroy's style is way too idiosyncratic, insular and oppressive to name him the Great American anything (capital G, capital A) - but this trilogy is shaping up to be one of the finest efforts on record. I have beautiful chi
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Nov 19, 2010
Agent Zero
rated it:
In Sei pezzi da mille, Ellroy schiaccia il piede sull'acceleratore. Rompe ossa. Spacca culi.
Uomini e donne vivono la Vita. Uomini come Ward Littell, come le Grand Pierre Bondurant, come Wayne Tedrow Jr. Donne come Jane-Arden Smith, Barb Jahelka, Janice Lukens.
Uomini e donne che vivono la Vita davanti ai tuoi occhi, pagina dopo pagina.
Basterebbe solo questo.
E poi c'è lo stile.
Quale scrittore degli ultimi cinquant'anni può vantarsi di aver letteralmente inventato More...
Uomini e donne vivono la Vita. Uomini come Ward Littell, come le Grand Pierre Bondurant, come Wayne Tedrow Jr. Donne come Jane-Arden Smith, Barb Jahelka, Janice Lukens.
Uomini e donne che vivono la Vita davanti ai tuoi occhi, pagina dopo pagina.
Basterebbe solo questo.
E poi c'è lo stile.
Quale scrittore degli ultimi cinquant'anni può vantarsi di aver letteralmente inventato More...
Dec 08, 2009
Krishna
rated it:
James Ellroy's second volume in his USA Underworld trilogy follows the aftermath of the Kennedy assassination and culminates in the killing of his brother Robert and Civil Rights leader Martin Luther King. Once again told through a 3-man arc (returning American Tabloid alumni Pete Bondurant and Ward Littell and newcomer Wayne Tedrow Jr.), The Cold Six Thousand, is a massive, demanding read, hardly helped by Ellroy's pared-to-the-bone prose and a plot that isn't so much labyrinthine as it is a li
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Oct 23, 2009
Nick
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Amazon 2009-10-20. I got this one delivered before American Tabloid, argh, and started reading it before I realized it was the second in the series...I think I'm becoming a believer already; after intensely disliking the first few pages (is it just me or does Ellroy sound an awful lot like Henry Rollins when he paired up with Les Claypool and the Holy Mackerel for Delicate Tendrils?), I'm already getting sucked in...looking like good stuff here.
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Jun 20, 2011
Maarten
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Didn't expect this book be so great. American tabloid blew me of my feet, rarely read something so shocking, so impressing. When I started this one, the surprise element wasn't there but the story and his characters were even more real then in American Tabloid. There was a shade of grey in the blackness of the characters, something of hope for mankind, especially the character of Ward Littell. Everybody interested in American history should read this, not saying the US is all like this. ( I am D
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Nov 14, 2009
Adam
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While not as good as the amazing American Tabloid, Ellroy's second novel in the Underworld USA trilogy at least lives up to the amazing standard set by part one.
Covering 1963 to 1968, a lot of interesting social and cultural events play into the novel's plotline, including Vietnam, the civil rights movement, and, still, the Castro-controlled Cuba. Surviving characters return, including J. Edgar Hoover and Howard Hughes, among other. I have to say that Ellroy's J. Edgar Hoover charac More...
Covering 1963 to 1968, a lot of interesting social and cultural events play into the novel's plotline, including Vietnam, the civil rights movement, and, still, the Castro-controlled Cuba. Surviving characters return, including J. Edgar Hoover and Howard Hughes, among other. I have to say that Ellroy's J. Edgar Hoover charac More...
Oct 17, 2008
Rod
rated it:
Distinguishing features of this book are staccato ‘sentences’ and extreme violence. I got truly fed up with the sheer quantity of ‘scoped’, ‘braced’ and ‘clipped’. The staccato thing is an affectation of the author, who can write genuine sentences when he wants to. He usually wants to during exchanges between J Edgar Hoover and others, these having the effect of making J Edgar appear the most articulate individual in the book. I tend to think you can’t be articulate without being intelligent, so
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Oct 10, 2011
Bryan
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Reading The Cold Six Thousand is a harrowing, sometimes traumatizing experience. In a July 2006 essay, James Ellroy wrote about how, while he finished writing the book, his life started to unravel: his marriage dissolved, anxiety consumed him and he fell back into addiction. The book feels like something that was written just ahead of a complete emotional breakdown. It's all conspiracies and double-crosses, the violence is frequent and horrifying, and the characters so paranoid that they’re men
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Nov 04, 2010
Chris
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I love Ellroy...this follow on to American Tabloid is good, but Ellroy really was at the top of his form through the 1990s with the sequence of L.A. Confidential, White Jazz, American Tabloid, and the non-fiction My Dark Places. It's a revelation to read the L.A. Quartet (The Black Dahlia, The Big Nowhere, L.A. Confidential and White Jazz) if only to see his be-bop style evolve and emerge, then hit a peak with American Tabloid, and get the back-story of his life with My Dark Places.
May 23, 2010
Gordon
rated it:
We know things aren't going to go well for our main characters in this novel. Wayne Tedrow Jr. is a hitman with a conscience, someone who is a professional assassin and one of the nicest guys in his group. His father is a bigot, a member of the Klan and a connection to "the Life" something that his son can't get out of, especially since he loves his step-mother. For people who want a grey world without a sense of right or wrong, only survival, these three books are tremendous.
Sep 19, 2009
Jack
rated it:
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers.
To view it, click here
Jul 05, 2011
Rebecca
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It's been years since I read American Tabloid and several months since The Big Nowhere, my favorite of the books in James Ellroy's L.A. Quartet, but I don't remember either leaving me quite as exhausted as The Cold Six Thousand. Ellroy's words, his style, is jacked up on Dexedrine. It's slapping you hard in the face after the end of each rapid-fire sentence, making you dig the real score here, leaving you breathless and wondering how the hell anyone survived the Sixties.
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Nov 20, 2008
Juan
rated it:
Weird, wild, crazy...are you kidding me? Never read anything like this before. Not sure I can/should recommend it to too many. It's a gut-check. But I loved it. Short, violent sentences. Staccato rhythms,clipped, stylized, hard-nosed and repetitive. Entire story (and way of telling it) is like getting kicked in the groin and then bitch-slapped while ordering a very dry vodka martini.
