Reviews

American Tabloid by James Ellroy

bookhawk's review against another edition

3.0

American Tabloid is a fast paced historical fiction ride involving rogue FBI agents, the mafia, the CIA, Howard Hughes and the Kennedy family. The ingenuity of the premise and the way Ellroy weaved the pieces of American history from 1958 to 1963 into a lurid tale of violence, seduction, exploitation and angles was remarkable. The writing style was so hard hitting and quick that it sometimes created a bit of a disjointed feel. The book started a little slow in part due to the many characters being introduced but came on strong in the second half. This was a very high 3 star book (3.9) with a five star premise I recommend for readers who like old hard boiled detective style books and lots of double crosses. American Tabloid was a book on Esquire's List of 75 Books Every Man Should Read.

bookwarm_220's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

A roller coaster of a ride.  Great noir story of the Kennedys, Castro,  Hughes, J E Hoover, Hoffa, the mob, and an assortment of low-lifes.  If this is even close to the way things actually happened, well, I'm scarred.  What a complicated picture of the crimes committed by the supposed good guys as well as the bad guys.  No one in this tableau comes off well.  Pageturner; history lesson.  

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Torture, Addiction, Cancer, Alcoholism, Cursing, and Drug abuse

_danhill's review against another edition

5.0

Disclaimer: I am a HUGE history nerd and I'm particularly enamored with this period in America; the 'New Frontier', the Rat Pack and the Kennedy's, Cuba, the Cold War etc.

Ellroy takes the same multi layered, labyrinth plotting he perfected in the LA Quartet and applies it to the dark underbelly of American history. Three characters all on a collision course with destiny.

Easily a top 5 novel for me. Absolutely epic, spanning years, with a fantastic cast of characters. The back half of the book really flies by too with a sense of quickening, expectant dread as all of the pieces move into place, plot within plots start to align, all building towards that day in Dallas.

flexluthor's review against another edition

adventurous challenging sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

what a book

ajnel's review against another edition

dark informative reflective tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

"American Tabloid", the first novel in James Elroy's "American Underworld" historic crime trilogy, covering the five years from 1958 to 1963.  An era where men like  John, Joe and Robert Kennedy, Jack Ruby, J Edgar Hoover, Jimmy Hoffa and Howard Hughes, played pivotal roles.  Elroy expertly creates natural personas intertwined with historical events to give the novel an almost true crime feel; an utterly amazing feat.  As Vikram Jayanti said, “It’s raw, visceral, brutal, profane, hilarious, and deeply true about the darkness underlying the American Empire: politics as street crime moved up a rung.”

adampm97's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

Grimey dark and violent, really doesn't pull any punches. Not all just style though, the plotting is really well done and the three main characters are all sympathetic (relatively) in their own ways. Over the course of the novel each of them became my favourites at certain points. Ellroy is really good at exposing how crime, intelligence, assassinations and blackmailing, all works. At times I was surprised by how violent this is but it's never gratuitous, and written very matter-of-factly. Highlights would have to be the Bay of Pigs sequence and really most of the last half of the book. Again I want to commend Ellroy for making three horrible guys basically quite loveable. I'll miss hanging out with Big Pete!

dcox83's review against another edition

5.0

Somehow Ellroy takes the quick and dirty writing style he perfected with LA Confidential and masterfully expands his plot ideas of corruption, greed and power to a national level.

The story follows two rogue FBI agents and an ex-LA cop during the late 1950s and early 1960s. These three men navigate their way through shady parts of American history and play central roles in FBI searches for communists, the Bay of Pigs, JFK’s election, RFK’s hunt for the mafia, and Jimmy Hoffa’s Teamster Union. Ellroy’s three anti-heroes are either empowered or deconstructed throughout the novel and these huge events reshape the characters as much as they reshaped America.

This is a book for anyone enjoying noir mysteries, political intrigue or realistic political drama. Heck, it’s also for anyone who enjoys a fast moving, but detailed plot. Oh, and for anyone who likes to finish a book and go, “Wow, I can’t believe it’s over.”

shari_billops's review against another edition

American Tabloid : A Novel (Vintage) by James Ellroy (2001)

x_tora's review against another edition

I couldn't really get into it. The language and some of the character choices, although probably time period accurate, also annoyed me a bit.

connorlowsley's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0