What emerges is a violent, sexually squalid, nightmare version of America in the '60s, one that, through Ellroy's insertion of telephone transcripts and FBI and other documents, gains historical credence. While great men pull strings, however, smaller men not only dance but sometimes tug back a wide cast of characters-mercenaries, twisted cops, thieves, financiers, pimps, whores and cons-keep the conspiracies chugging while indulging in assorted vanities and vendettas. Big names play roles huge and small: the aforementioned celebs Bayard Rustin, an FBI blackmail target for his homosexuality Sal Mineo, a Mob blackmail target for carving up a male trick Oswald, Ruby, SirhanSirhan, James Earl Jones, patsies all Sonny Liston, sliding from world champion to world-class thug assorted 'Boys,' including mobster Carlos Marcellos, the spider at the center of the web. Edgar Hoover toward Martin Luther King, leading to the King killing months before bullets topple Bobby K. In between, Ellroy depicts the takeover of Vegas by the Outfit, with Howard Hughes as its beard the escalation of the war in Vietnam and the takeover of heroin cultivation there by the Mob the enmity of J. Running from one day of infamy (11/22/63) to another (6/5/68) and a bit beyond, it limns a confluence of conspiracies beginning with the shooting of JFK in Dallas and ending with the death of his brother in L.A.

It's easy to elbow Ellroy, but that's only because he's got his act down.

Ellroy vibes great lit-he's the Willie S.

James ellroy the cold six thousand