The Cold Six Thousand

By: James Ellroy

Narrated by: Craig Wasson

Length: 24 hrs and 18 mins

Publisher's summary

The Black Dahlia, The Big Nowhere, L.A. Confidential, White Jazz, American Tabloid....

James Ellroy's high-velocity, best-selling novels have redefined noir for our age, propelling us within inches of the dark realities of America's recent history. In The Cold Six Thousand, his most ambitious and explosive novel yet, he puts the whole of the 1960s under his blistering lens. The result is a work of fierce, epic fiction, a speedball through our most tumultuous time.

It begins in Dallas. November 22, 1963. The heart of the American Dream detonated.

Wayne Tedrow Jr., a young Vegas cop, arrives with a loathsome job to do. He's got $6,000 in cash and no idea that he is about to plunge into the cover-up conspiracy already brewing around Kennedy's assassination, no idea that this will mark the beginning of a hellish five-year ride through the private underbelly of public policy.

Ellroy's furiously paced narrative tracks Tedrow's ride: Dallas back to Vegas, with the Mob and Howard Hughes, south with the Klan and J. Edgar Hoover, shipping out to Vietnam and returning home, the bearer of white powder, plotting new deaths as 1968 approaches....

Tedrow stands witness, as the icons of an iconic era mingle with cops, killers, hoods, and provocateurs. His story is ground zero in Ellroy's stunning vision: historical confluence as American nightmare.

The Cold Six Thousand is a masterpiece.

Please note: This 2001 recording represents the technology of the time when it was produced. This is currently the best available source audio from the publisher.

©2001 James Ellroy (P)2001 Random House, Inc. Random House AudioBooks, A Division of Random House, Inc.

Great spin on this time in history.

Would you listen to The Cold Six Thousand again? Why?

Great spin on the conspiracy timeline from JFK's death to RFK's.

What did you like best about this story?

Enjoyed the death the author provided on his theory.

Wasson and Ellroy -- An Elite Duo!

Wasson really "gets" Ellroy. And that's a good thing because this is a tough book to plod through on one's own. Wasson serves as the perfect tour guide, allowing you to more easily process Ellroy's dense prose, to understand the intended tone, style and humor, and become completely immersed in Ellroy's intricate plotting and brooding atmosphere.

Wasson also does a bang up job with giving distinct and convincing voices to a multitude of characters. In sum, Wasson is truly an elite talent and one of the few worthy of Ellroy's genius. Give this man a raise!

Mesmerizing Ellroy & Wasson. Great Duo!

The Cold Six Thousand is a slow burner in the best sense. Ellroy's Telegraphic Jazz word play style is at its peak. Wasson was born for this. He keeps you glued. American Tabloid is a Masterpiece and my favorite Ellroy Book. The Cold Six Thousand is a wonderful follow up.

World Class Narrator...Terrible Story

Elroy is smart, no argument, and a great writer. Among the best, but why do this. I really liked American Tabloid. Great story, superlatively written. Cold Six Thousand is a story about psychopaths, sociopaths and losers...not a redeeming character in the book. ..and the writing is brutal... 'Wayne looked. Wayne walked. Wayne stopped. Wayne bent down.'...repeated 20 or 30 times. Boring, unnecessary, a waste of time, money and mental effort...and thoroughly depressing. ...Except for Craig Wasson....he is just very talented and executes this repetitious and unexciting story tirelessly and flawlessly. He deserves a medal. I would buy a book just to hear him. He really conveys the story and the characters better than any other I have heard.
Elroy writes fiction, but sometimes claims to be a historian. He says his books are more accurate than the actual histories of the events he writes about. Maybe, but he makes it pretty tough to stay with.
Sorry, but give me 'The Searchers', 'Empire of the Summer Moon', or Thomas Fleming anytime. Elroy's genius comes through in this book, as in most of his others. He is undoubtedly a great writer, but he is wasting himself on such unreedeeming works as this. It's about as interesting and exciting as a multi-year saga of a homeless encampment.

Excellent book...but beware

I have loved Ellroy's books in the past, and his book the Black Dahlia was packed with narrative that let you "get into the mind" of the characters. The first fifteen minutes of this book completely put me off, I almost just gave up. The quick-fire, rapid shoot sentences drove me crazy--I had a tough time trying to keep up with it and the multiple characters. BUT, then it drew me in. I couldn't NOT WAIT to get in the car and commute to work and home. I loved how Elloy weaved the story into the troublesome events of the 1960s--the JFK assassination, FBI/Hoover chicanery, the Civil Rights movements, MLK, and RFK. Underneath all of this is the backdrop of the mob and the Vietnam War. This is a GREAT LISTEN, but you must be ready to start absorbing from the get-go.

Ellroy Delivers another masterpiece

The followup to the American Tabloid begins just one hour after the Tabloid finishes. I was overwhelmed not just by the words but also by the ideas that Ellroy can spin in my head. It is so difficult to understand the difference between fact and fiction. Each one of us must make the decision at every turn.
I felt overwhelmed and I had to read it again. It was just as good the second time, maybe better

Narrator kinda wrecked this...

WRONG narrator for this. Where was they guy who did American Tabloid? That guy was brilliant. This guy can't do pulp or grit.

The story was solid and i think I might have enjoyed it much more if it wasn't for narrator Craig Watson.

Amazing!!!!

I listened to this book about a year ago. The writing style makes this a challange to listen to, but once I got my bearings, I absolutely loved it. It's one of the few books I have listened to more than once (three times!) As the other review says, listen to the sample, but bear in mind that your mind adapts to the style after a bit. And it's addicting. The reader molds to the writing style perfectly -- he is awesome. I loved this book....

Terrific reading of an amazing novel

The LA Quartet and The USA Underworld Trilogy by James Ellroy are my 2 favorite series of crime/detective/espionage novels, lol, both in terms of content and literary style (some people find Ellroy’s hyper-vivid staccato writing style to be labored I guess, but personally I f***in’ love it). And thankfully, in this audiobook version of C6T, Craig Wasson does a truly fantastic job of handling the reading of it. His tone of voice in general is a good fit to me, and I really enjoyed the range of voices he uses to cover what is admittedly an INSANELY large cast of characters. It’s not quite as good as if Ellroy had done the reading himself (I can dream, can’t I? 😂) but it’s pretty much the next best thing. I really can’t recommend this book enough, it is straight fire, along with the 1st and 3rd parts of the series too 🔥🤟

An Achievement That Won't Insult Your Intelligence

At first I thought I wouldn't be able to listen to this because of Ellroy's sentence style. I counted something like 15 sentences in a row that began with the word WAYNE. At first the style seemed like a parody but later I realized how brilliant it was. The style captures the blunt and brutal character of the key individuals portrayed and of the roll bigotry and hatred played in 1960's USA. If you listen to this you must pay attention. Ellroy's unique style, the complexity of the story, and the fact that this author (refreshingly) doesn't insult his reader's intelligence all demand that you think as you listen. This is an amazing story told poetically. You might back up the audio to catch an important sentence you missed, (Ellroy claims there is not an unnecessary or wasted word in the book. Actually I think I caught one somewhere around the 18th hour) but chances are better that you'll back to listen again to his beautifully crafted writing. If you listen to the sample and are put off by the style you may be doing yourself a disservice. In short time you'll adjust to the style, and before long you'll be addicted to it.