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Book Review By Daniel Staebler
American Tabloid by James Ellroy

AMERICAN TABLOID, the first part of the Underworld U.S.A. trilogy has been published in 1995.

Ellroy alternates three different points of view describing the 1958-1962 period. There's Kemper Boyd's, a FBI agent sent by Edgar G. Hoover into the Kennedy's family circle in order to get informations about the intentions of John and Robert Kennedy. Kemper Boyd becomes a fervent admirer of the new President and has some difficulties to reconcile his task for the Minister of Justice Robert Kennedy, his ties with the bosses of the american mafia and his C.I.A. engagement among the anticastrist groups.

There's also the point of view of Pete Bondurant, a canadian hitman who's sharing the esteem of Jimmy Hoffa and the main figures of the mob. He's hired by Kemper Boyd to train the men who will be the heroes of the Bay of Pigs' affair. He'll convince the mob to finance this operation for the C.I.A. in order to get back the Havana casinos.

Finally, there is Ward Littell, a close friend of Kemper Boyd who desperately hopes to rejoin the Kennedy clan he's always admired. He'll steal the hidden accounting books of the mafia but is broken by Edgar G. Hoover who describes him as an alcoholic to Robert Kennedy. Dreaming of revenge, he'll become then the lawyer of the main figures of the american mob.


Plot & Themes
Tone of story - very upbeat
Time/era of story:
Spying/Terrorism Thriller Yes
Cloak & Dagger Plotlets:
Kid or adult book? - Adult or Young Adult Book
The crook is.... - commit white collar fraud or con
descript. of violence and chases - 50 %
Planning/preparing, gather info, debate puzzles/motives - 20 %
Feelings, relationships, character bio/development - 10 %
How society works & physical descript. (people, objects, places) - 20 %
Crime Thriller Yes
Who's the terrorist enemy here?
Is MAIN CHARACTER an EVIL criminal? Yes
General Crime (including known murderer) Yes
Who's the criminal enemy here? - breaking up mobsters

Main Character
Gender - Male
Profession/status:
Age: - 40's-50's
Ethnicity/Race

Main Adversary
Identity: - Male
Age: - 40's-50's
Profession/status:
Eccentric: Yes
Motive of antagonist - revenge
The antagonists are: - US mafia
How sensitive is this character?
Intelligence - Smarter than most other characters

Setting
United States Yes
The US: - Northeast - Southeast - Deep South - California
The Americas (not US): Yes
The Americas: - The Caribbean - Central
City? Yes
City: - Los Angeles - dangerous - rude people - Washington D.C. - Miami - Chicago
Misc setting - fort/military installation

Writing Style
Accounts of torture and death? - very gorey references to deaths/dead bodies and torture
Explicit sex in book? Yes
What kind of sex: - descript of kissing - licking - actual description of sex - descript. of breasts - descript. of other female areas - descript. of male nudity
Unusual forms of death - boiling - diced - flamed - decapitated - perforation--bullets - perforation--swords/knives
Unusual form of death? Yes
Amount of dialog - roughly even amounts of descript and dialog
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