Rating: 
Summary: Amazing! Every character is not worth a penny!!
Review: Unbeliavable! Ellroy wrote a book where 99,9% of all characters are vile and mean, totally indecent and immoral, including the ones with real names!Kemper Boyd and Pete Bondurant are pure killers and even when Ellroy talks about the background of these characters, we simply can not care about their welfare: we just despise them. Ward Littel begins with a little more possibility of being a good man, but soon is also lost to "evil"... Totally original here is the courage to introduce real life characters as Hoover and the Kennedy brothers and insert dialogues in their mouths freely. Amazing technique, it works wonderfully! This is a great book, but don't go for it expecting to find nice words or poetry..it's about a society nasty, cheap and corrupt. By the way, even before reading this book, is there someone else out there that still thinks that Lee Oswald acted alone...?
Rating: 
Summary: A Master at the Top of his Game
Review: In "American Tabloid", James Ellroy achieves what few authors ever accomplish. He flawlessly writes his own characters into the political and mob world of the late 1950's and early 1960's, and he makes his plot believeable. As you read conversations that include, JFK, RFK, Sam Giancanna and other famous mob bosses, you have to wonder "this IS fiction, isn't it" "American Tabloid" focuses on the mafia's role in the election of JFK, the Bay of Pigs, and the JFK assasination. As in all of Ellroy's books, no one gets away clean. Pete Boudurant, mob bagman and muscle; Kemper Boyd, FBI agent, CIA operative, looking out only for number one; and Ward J. Little, an FBI agent with a bizzare love/hate obsession with the Kennedy's. These ruthless men and their dealings provide the framework for one of the most brutal, ambitious novels ever written. Ellroy has finally perfected his staccatto prose that he dabbled with in "LA Confidential" and experimented with openly in "White Jazz". The effect is like a literary high, as the book manages to develop several complex charchters with 50's/60's slang and short sentances. The book picks up quickly and never lets up. This book turned me onto the world of James Ellroy, and any reader with an interest in crime fiction needs to read this. Ellroy's second masterpiece, after "LA Confidential".
Rating:
Summary: American Tabloid by James Ellroy
Review: Listen, let's cut through the long, lenthy review process. This book is violent, bitter, corrupt, and brillant. I have never read a book like it, and along with the follow up volume 'The Cold Six Thousand' it represents a blurred and chaotic glimpse into a utterly fascinating time period. Ellroy mixes real characters (Sinatra, Howard Hughs, J. E. Hoover, various mafia figures) and his fictional players seamlessly. He distorts time and the reader's perception of what is transpiring before them. The 'Bay of Pigs' landing is a highlight, and the last line leaves you wanting more. Luckily there is a sequel, which almost tops this book. Not recommended as bedtime reading for the youngsters, but well worth the ride.
Rating: 
Summary: started off rather interesting...
Review: Started off rather interesting, but degenerated into absurd non-stop cussing and comic book-style violence. It seems that every paragraph or two people were getting their teeth knocked out and getting casually executed by the "heroes". I finally discarded the stupid thing when Super-Pete knocked out this guy's teeth, and then kicked him in the balls, just to "test" him, to see if he was OK. What a crock! This guy should be writing comic book story lines, or wrestling scripts for the WWF. I also strongly object to his falsification of history, taking real people and putting them into his fictitious "docudrama" to get their teeth knocked out... I was overly generous and rated it a 2.
Rating:
Summary: Ellroy's Masterwork
Review: This is Ellroy's greatest acheivement, documenting the confluence of politics, organized crime and corruption in the turbulant mid-1900's. He weaves plotlines and characters into an enormous tapestry of fiction (based on non-fiction) that can mesmorize the reader.
Rating:
Summary: labyrinthine and brilliant.
Review: With American tabloid James Ellroy has created something remarkable and brilliant. Defying many who would pigeon-hole him as simply a crime writer, Ellroy comes into his own as very astute political observer. Tracing the fortunes of 3 ruthless men in the run up to the Kennedy assassination, Ellroy masterfully weaves a tapestry of intrigue that never fails to capture the readers imagination. The three men, kemper Boyd: a Machiavellian FBI agent/Kennedy consort/CIA operative, Ward J Littell: an FBI agent who finds himself becoming disillusioned with both his job and J Edgar Hoover's rabid campaign against communism. And Pete Bondurant, sometime contract killer, shakedown man and Howard Hughes's own personal Mr fixit.
Of course everyone knows that the book is leading up to the assassination of JFK. But it's how Ellroy gets us there, and the theories that he presents that really set this book apart. As fascinating as Ellroy's dissection of the JFK conspiracy is, it never leaves behind in any way the character development of all three protagonists. Kemper Boyd who's own particular house of cards start to tumble with the inevitable results. Ward J Littell who from seeing the Kennedy administration as his own (and indeed America's) personal salvation, starts to realise that reality is a much less idealistic proposition. And Pete Bondurant, a man who like Boyd is walking a tightrope between the mob, the CIA and his own conscience. The scale and ambition of tabloid are amazing. Taking us from early 1958 right up to November 22nd 1963 and *that* motorcade, Ellroy never lets the tension drop. It is a tribute to Ellroy's skill as a writer that the 500+ page book never once drags,and if anything defies the reader to put it down lest they miss something. A true masterpiece of contemporary fiction.
Rating:
Summary: Great achievement with a few shortcomings
Review: I don't want to bore anybody and discuss the strengths of this book in great detail; other reviewers have already said everything about AT that needs to be said. Let me just say that it is a breathtaking thriller; a mesmerizing description of a fascinating period in American history; and a crazy maze of interwoven fictitious and historically true events. Let me warn ya'll: Do not start reading this book while studying for finals, finishing a project, or getting ready to get married: you'll fail the bar, get fired, or lose your loved one. This book is a page turner; it's basically impossible to put it down before you know what finally happens to Kemper Boyd, Ward Littel, and Pete Bondurant, and their crazy friends from Camelot, the mob (watch out for the duck: "Quark, Quark"), and the insane Cuban brain splasher faction.
What you should not expect from this book is historically accurate information. Take in mind that this is a novel, not a history book. Does anybody seriously believe that such a large number of people knew (and know) the truth abouth Kennedy's assassination and none of them ever talked, none of them ever revealed the truth, not even on their deathbed? It takes a fool to believe that. However, I don't believe that Ellroy would ever claim to make an attempt at rewriting American history. What he does, though, is painting a vivid picture of the Kennedy years, a dense description of the people that defined this time and the events that shaped this and coming eras.
There were a few things I didnt't particulary like (that's why I didn't award the book the highest possible rating).
I just don't understand why Ellroy's main characters always have to be such super heros. Had this not been fiction but a real story, Pete Bondurant would have had his brain blasted out on several occasions. E.g., the way he takes out whole packs of Cuban thugs sometimes borders on the comical.
Another thing that I found somewhat irritating were the never-ending effusions of profanities. I can not imagine and I have never heard anybody using the f... word as many times as Ellroy's characters do. I can't help it, but I am under the impression that Ellroy just wants to demonstrate that, the successfull author he is, he can basically write whatever he wants and however he wants.
And finally, the ending was disappointing. It seems as if there was a specific reason for Ellroy to end the book in such hasty a way. Perhaps the manuscript was due, I don't know. But the final pages of AT were about the lamest Ellroy has ever written.
However, despite its few shortcomings, I consider this book a great achievement. I don't know of any novel in which fiction and historic events are interwoven in such an artful and artistic way, and I can't wait to start reading "The Cold Sixthousand".
Rating:
Summary: Kemper Boyd: American Anti-Hero
Review: Some hardcore Ellroy fans might not enjoy American Tabloid and it's sequel, The Cold Ten Thousand, as much as they could, because these books represent a significant departure from Ellroy's 1940s and 1950s noir-detective novels. These readers should give them a chance, I think, because American Tabloid is arguably the best thing Ellroy has ever written. And if it is the best thing Ellroy has written, that means it is among the top American works of fiction in the past fifty years. Ellroy creates a truly memorable cast of characters, including the unforgettable Kemper Boyd - Kennedy family insider aspirant - and Pete Bondurant - rock-hard extortionist, bag-man, killer - and he sets them loose in a wonderland of early 1960s American mayhem: J. Edgar Hoover's diabolic machinations; the Bay of Pigs; the apex of Mafia power. And all the events, all the characters, roar ceaselessly if unconsciously toward a singular end - the assassination of JFK. Fantastic book. Strongly recommended.
Rating:
Summary: American Mayhem
Review: Cops act like criminals, criminals act like cops, and the twain collides and melds over and over again. There are no good guys in "American Tabloid," just guys who are mired in various levels of corruption. Ankle deep, waist deep, and in over their heads. One of the lessons James Ellroy gives us is that once you've touched your toe to the muck it will eventually suck you down. Redemption may present itself, but Ellroy's characters are so far around the bend that even good things are done for all the wrong reasons. In an introduction Mr. Ellroy tells us he's going to create the new myth of the Camelot years - the dark myth - and he succeeds admirably. In the tautest prose between covers we follow a handful of near and complete psychopaths as their lives intersect through John F. Kennedy's presidential campaign, and his 1000 day reign. Big shots and underlings alike. Their machinations are complex, and almost always involve extortion, but solutions are often simple - a beating for a lesson, a bullet to the head for the more recalcitrant. But why stop there when torture, and dismemberment are so fulfilling. The lead characters suffer, but except for one ex-Jesuit seminarian become FBI agent, become mob lawyer, the suffering is physical rather than existential, and it's so much easier to deal with a migraine than a crisis of conscience. "American Tabloid," for all the horror contained therein, is one of the best books I've read in the past five years. It's right up there with Cormack McCarthy's "Border Trilogy," but where McCarthy can go sentimental, James Ellroy never lets up.
Rating:
Summary: Great! A Historical Masterpiece!
Review: This book was great! I had read before Ellroy's L.A. Quarte and got instantly hooked on his subject matter and style. I've read this book twice (once when I originally received it and just recently before I started reading The Cold Six Thousand) and both times I've enjoyed it immensley, each time being suprised at the many twists. I enjoyed all of the characters and the way Ellroy incorporates historical events into a novel. An overall great book for those that are experts or admirers of this time in American history!
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