American tabloid

John Kennedy is a less talented politician who can't resist a skirt. Howard Hughes is a paranoid drug addict. Sinatra, betrayed by his wife Ava Gardner, attends partying parties. When seen through the eyes of James Ellroy in American Tabloid, none of these, or any other figure in American politics or showbiz, escapes unscathed. In the first book of the Underworld USA trilogy, the acclaimed author of "Los Angeles: Confidential City" retells recent American history in a very unique way, leaving no stone unturned. In the late 1950s, while Robert Kennedy investigates the Mafia, the FBI investigates his brother Jack, the CIA investigates everyone, and everyone fights with all their might against the communist Fidel Castro, who had just seized power in the then paradise of forbidden pleasures: Cuba. The violent and thrilling plot mixes criminals, ex-cops, politicians, millionaires, movie stars, and all sorts of characters capable of engaging, even briefly, in more or less illicit acts, from prostitution to murder, including invasion of privacy, corruption, influence peddling, and heroin. Even Kennedy is caught taking drugs intravenously. Although certain images border on the absurd, everything is absolutely believable. Many things could have happened as Ellroy describes in the book (the recruitment of Cuban refugees to fight Castro, illicitly funded CIA operations, Kennedy's fence-jumping, or Howard Hughes's madness), with the addition of a character or two. An American tabloid—illustrated by São Paulo cartoonist Lourenço Mutarelli and with graphic design by Glenda Rubinstein—unmasks American hypocrisy and shows a country corroded by corruption. An America that, like a siren, seduces men with its charms and then casts them upon the rocks. Ellroy's dry, hard-boiled style, considered by many to be the greatest contemporary crime writer, makes the story even more gripping. This American tabloid pushes the boundaries of the genre and emerges as one of the best and most merciless portraits of the United States ever created. A masterpiece perfectly suited to the Black Collection, dedicated to the greatest masters of crime fiction. "The greatest crime writer of our time, perhaps of all time." — Newsweek "Narrative fragments that, united with exemplary coherence, form a captivating story from the very first chapters. It's crime fiction, and the good kind." — Folha de S. Paulo