This saga plunges into the hidden corners of mid-to-late 20th-century American history, weaving together the intertwined fates of the underworld, politics, and major societal events. It follows fictionalized accounts that infiltrate real historical moments, exposing dark connections between organized crime and power structures. This is a gripping narrative of corruption, ambition, and influence that shaped modern America from within. Readers will discover a fascinating alternative perspective on the events that defined an era.
A novel of the Kennedy era, portraying the president in a far from flattering light. There are three protagonists: a CIA agent who pimps for JFK, another agent who trains anti-Castro rebels, and a lawyer who is a Mafia hunter. Through their eyes are seen the conflicting interests of the Kennedys, the director of the FBI, organized crime, organized labor, Castro and Cuban exiles.
With its hypnotic rhythms and edgy intensity, this novel feels like a narrative from a hyperactive Dr. Seuss, driven by a hunger for violence. It explores the chaotic aftermath of the JFK assassination, asserting that absolute power corrupts absolutely. The story moves through Las Vegas, Vietnam, Cuba, and Memphis, weaving a tapestry of complicity, greed, and fear connecting three main characters: Ward Littell, a former FBI agent entangled with the mob and Howard Hughes while admiring the Kennedy brothers and Martin Luther King; Pete Bondurant, a hitman and anti-Communist who navigates between Vegas casinos and CIA heroin labs in Saigon; and Wayne Tedrow Jr., a young Vegas cop sent to Dallas in late November 1963 to eliminate a black pimp, struggling with his violent tendencies. J. Edgar Hoover serves as the master puppeteer, manipulating events with a blend of visionary zeal and pragmatism. His darkly comic predictions about LBJ and Cuba reflect the novel's tone. Weighing in at 700 pages, the narrative may seem excessive, but it captures the dual impulses of idealism and corruption in American culture, giving life to conspiracy theories while poking fun at our belief that such knowledge can effect change.
It's 1968. Bobby Kennedy and Martin Luther King are dead. The Mob, Howard Hughes and J Edgar Hoover are in a struggle for America's soul, drawing into their murderous conspiracies the dammed and the soon-to-be damned. Wayne Tedrow Jr.: parricide, assassin, dope cooker, mouthpiece for all sides, loyal to none. His journey will take him away from the darkness and into an even greater darkness. Dwight Holly: Hoover's enforcer and hellish conspirator in terrible crimes. As Hoover's power wanes his destiny lurches towards Richard Nixon and self-annihilation Don Crutchfield: is a kid, a nobody, a wheelman and a private detective who stumbles upon an ungodly conspiracy from which he and the country may never recover. All three men are drawn to women on the opposite side of the political and moral spectrum; all are compromised and ripe for destruction. Only one of them will survive. The final part of James Ellroy's Underworld USA trilogy is set during the social and political upheaval of 1968-72. Blood's a Rover is an incandescent fusion of fact and fiction and is James Ellroy's greatest masterpiece.