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.

took some time

It was painful getting to know the authors style, and i have to tell you I nearly turned it off in the first 5 chapters. The use of the three word sentences is annoying at first, but once I got into it, I could not turn it off. Really makes me look at historical events with a much more critical eye now.

Didn't care for the writing. Guess I'm not a fan.

Would you try another book from James Ellroy and/or Craig Wasson?

Only by Craig Wasson

What was one of the most memorable moments of The Cold Six Thousand?

Couldnt listen to the whole thing.

Would you be willing to try another one of Craig Wasson’s performances?

I absolutely love Craig Wasson

Could you see The Cold Six Thousand being made into a movie or a TV series? Who should the stars be?

Yes. It would be great as a movie. You wouldn't have to listen to

Any additional comments?

Why would an author write a book like that? Kept repeating the characters names like we were going to forget.

Brilliant 60’s Underworld Crime as Social History

While I’ve given full marks to this book and production, I’ll caveat my ratings: read the first book of the series “American Tabloid” or better yet, start with “White Jazz” which takes place earlier. Ellroy’s perfected minimalist prose interspersed with natural dialogue and “document inserts” are superb. The traumatic events of the 60’s are told by the “unsung leg-breakers of history” who dwell in the ugly world behind the scenes.

Craig Wasson’s performance is outstanding and perfect for Ellroy’s complex narrative.

Smile more and hate less.

"I'm seeing visions, Dwight. I'm seeing all the Latter-day Saints."
― James Ellroy, The Cold Six Thousand

I remember when I was 5, thinking: "if I just didn't screw up, I could have been Jesus". I remember when I was 8, thinking: "if I just killed myself when I was 7, I could have gone straight to Heaven." I remember when I was 12, thinking: "Mormons could make fantastic mobsters." I hadn't yet learned about the John Birch society. I hand't learned about Howard Hughes and his cabal of Mormon fix-it men. I was still fresh. I was still a long way from the darkness bred from hate, from money, from greed, from racism.

***** Pete said, "Shut Up." Pete Said, "Smile more and hate less."

Like American Tabloid, 'The Cold Six Thousands' deals intimately with the Mob, J. Edgar Hoover, Howard Hughes and the pornography of violence that was the 60s. Now, post JFK assassination, we are dropped into the clean-up, the rise of Las Vegas, the rise of Vietnam, RFK (I share a first and middle name with that man), and MLK. This is another dense novel where the story is told from the middle; from the dark, dank core of conspiracy. Two of the main protagonists traveled from 'American Tabloid'. One was left behind, buried. A new one was introduced. Mormons in Vegas and with Hughes take on a larger role.

I could write a whole book on the Oedipal implications of this novel too. The relationship between Wayne Tedrow, Jr and Sr., could fill an entire psychology textbook. It was a plum fermenting on the Tree of Life. There was some sick shit mixed into all of that. My favorite characters Ward Littell and Pete Bondurant find themselves firmly planted in this book. A trinity of femmes fatale (Jane, Barb, Janice) jump, jive, and swirl like olives jumping from Ward's martini to Pete's martini to Jr's martini.

**** "Hate Strong. Hate brave. Don't hate like Mr. Hoover."

Probably the only thing I didn't enjoy about this book as much as the last was the prose.* It was a bit too clipped, heavy and fugly for me. Like all of Ellroy's prose there is a bit of a madman, a bit of a savage, stuffed into every clipped, dense sentence, but after a while, I was dreaming of long sentences and sunshine; just a bit of variety. I somehow imagine Ellroy thinking that writing four word sentences was, perhaps, the only way he was going to trim this second novel down by 1000 pages. It is dense. It is rapid. It is rabid. It is almost too much. One more killing. One more spike. One more mike and I might drop dead before I find out who dies other than America. And like all the characters in this sick-mother of a novel, I want to be there to watch. I want to see it framed. I want to hear the crunch and the crack of the very last page.

* "The style I developed for The Cold Six Thousand is a direct, shorter-rather-than-longer sentence style that's declarative and ugly and right there, punching you in the nards. It was appropriate for that book, and that book only, because it's the 1960s. It's largely the story of reactionaries in America during that time, largely a novel of racism and thus the racial invective, and the overall bluntness and ugliness of the language."
― James Ellroy, The Onion A.V. Club

Two-Fisted Adaptation of an Awesome Novel

I have previously read (& love!) "American Tabloid" and "The Cold Six Thousand." I knew I wanted to see what the audiobook had to offer & am glad I did! The reader really does a good job of characterizing the numerous figures in the book consistently & convincingly. He does J.Edgar Hoover & Dwight Holly particularly well. The book is a little overwhelming at first, with the angry writing style and mutitudes of characters, but eventually you get the hang of this "world" & everything fits together after the first hour or so. Too bad the first book in the series ("Tabloid") wasn't made into an audiobook!

Wasson is my favorite narrator.

Where does The Cold Six Thousand rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

I like language. Words and sentences more than stories and books. Ellroy's Wasson-narrated novels are a delight to listen to. They're a perfect match and I can't recommend them enough.

What did you like best about this story?

The language/cadence.

If you could rename The Cold Six Thousand, what would you call it?

It is perfectly named.

Any additional comments?

Late-period Ellroy is not for everyone. If you're the type to get frustrated by not being able to completely follow the plot on first-listen, this is not the book for you. There are many, many characters -- some with relationships spread across many novels, and it take effort and dedication to get the most out of the books. If this doesn't sound like you, this is not the book for you.

James Ellroy is my favorite author.

And this is one of my favorite of his books. I had read it before in hardcover, but I really liked hearing it in audio. It seems that I get into the characters much better when hearings them. It's been a while and I don't remember who read this book, but he really brought it to life. 5 *****

overall good

good story, good performance. staccato writing style takes some getting used to. I felt like I was listening to Jimmy from Seinfeld who refers to himself in the 3rd person.

Great ending!

While parts of this book annoyed me, overall I enjoyed it. The last two minutes were worth it !

hard to listen too

This book was really hard to listen to. The story is long and involves most of the 60's conspiracy theory's. JFK, MLK, Vietnam-cia-drug connection, it takes alot of concentration to remember what threads are going on at any one time. I wonder if it was easier to read than to listen to.