Fever City
A Thriller
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- £5.49
Publisher Description
Fever City, this year's hottest thriller - shortlisted for the John Creasey New Blood Dagger
'[a] superb debut novel. A direct hit.' Spectator
'A blistering debut of great ambition and scope, realised with the skill of an old pro.' Eva Dolan, author of Long Way Home
'An inventive take on the great American conspiracy theory.' The Times, Crime Club
Nick Alston, a Los Angeles private investigator, is hired to find the kidnapped son of America's richest and most hated man.
Hastings, a mob hitman in search of redemption, is also on the trail. But both men soon become ensnared by a sinister cabal that spreads from the White House all the way to Dealey Plaza.
Decades later in Dallas, Alston's son stumbles across evidence from JFK conspiracy buffs that just might link his father to the shot heard round the world.
Violent, vivid, visceral: FEVER CITY is a high--octane, nightmare journey through a Mad Men-era America of dark powers, corruption and conspiracy.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
James Ellroy fans will appreciate Australian-born Baker's ambitious debut with its nervous, jittery style, large cast of characters, and cynical, nihilistic attitude. Set mainly during the early 1960s, the story focuses on the ransom kidnapping of the adopted son of one of America's richest men and the approaching assassination of President Kennedy in Dallas, though the action at times shifts back to the 1940s and forward to 2014. A parade of sadistic thugs, former movie stars, hopelessly corrupt police, revenge-seeking private eyes, and power-hungry billionaires mix with such familiar faces and famous names as Elvis Presley, Marilyn Monroe, Lee Harvey Oswald, Jack Ruby, Sam Giancana, Howard Hughes, Jimmy Hoffa, Bobby Kennedy, Richard Nixon, and Lyndon Johnson. Crammed with violence, sadism, torture, and sex, this audacious novel is sure to appeal to champions of Oliver Stone's 1991 film JFK, though some readers may grow weary of all the excesses long before the end.
