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The Enchanters
- A Novel
- Narrated by: Craig Wasson
- Length: 19 hrs and 8 mins
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Publisher's summary
AN NPR BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR • James Ellroy—Demon Dog of American Letters—goes straight to the tragic heart of 1962 Hollywood with a wild riff on the Marilyn Monroe death myth in an astonishing, behind-the-headlines crime epic.
Los Angeles, August 4, 1962. The city broils through a midsummer heat wave. Marilyn Monroe ODs. A B-movie starlet is kidnapped. The overhyped LAPD overreacts. Chief Bill Parker’s looking for some getback. The Monroe deal looks like a moneymaker. He calls in Freddy Otash.
The freewheeling Freddy O: tainted ex-cop, defrocked private eye, dope fiend, and freelance extortionist. A man who lives by the maxim “Opportunity is love.” Freddy gets to work. He dimly perceives Marilyn Monroe’s death and the kidnapped starlet to be a poisonous riddle that only he has the guts and the brains to untangle. We are with him as he tears through all those who block his path to the truth. We are with him as he penetrates the faux-sunshine of Jack and Bobby Kennedy and the shuck of Camelot. We are with him as he falters, and grasps for love beyond opportunity. We are with him as he tracks Marilyn Monroe’s horrific last charade through a nightmare L.A. that he served to create — and as he confronts his complicity and his own raging madness.
It’s the Summer of ’62, baby. Freddy O’s got a hot date with history. The savage Sixties are ready to pop. It’s just a shot away.
The Enchanters is a transcendent work of American popular fiction. It is James Ellroy at his most crazed, brilliant, provocative, profanely hilarious, and stop-your-heart tender. It is a luminous psychological drama and an unparalleled thrill ride. It is, resoundingly, the great American crime novel.
Critic reviews
"In Ellroy's latest audiobook, former cop Freddy Otash finds himself jammed up. He's investigating the death of Marilyn Monroe but has police officials, Jack and Bobby Kennedy, and a swarm of others--actors, a psychologist, and people from the seedier side of Los Angeles--getting in his way. Craig Wasson relishes his narration, bringing a high level of emotion when needed. A few fight scenes are especially well done." (AudioFile)
"James Ellroy, the neo-noir eminence of L.A. crime fiction, is back, with his favorite snake, Fred Otash, in tow. . . . And he sure can shoulder a novel. . . . To pick up a James Ellroy novel in the year 2023 is to know the score. . . . [Ellroy’s] fiction, at its most potent, is driven less by plot than by ritual. He has been canonized and censured; he writes now, in his mid-seventies, on a plane beyond the exigencies of either, enjoying a rare kind of freedom.” —The New Yorker
“James Ellroy's The Enchanters is classic Ellroy: a filthy, boozy, fast-paced, violent romp through the history and important figures of early 1960s Los Angeles, all told in Otash's frantic voice. . . . Ellroy keeps things moving at breakneck speed at all times, which is a fantastic feat considering this is a 448-page novel that delves deep into a plethora of scenes and seamlessly mixes fact and fiction. The trick to it is Ellroy's incomparable style; fast, punchy, telegrammatic prose that demands to be read quickly and that flows like an enraged river.” —NPR
“[The Enchanters] blends the real and imagined into the kind of atmospheric psychosexual spectacle fans have come to expect from the grand master of L.A.-noir. . . . Thoroughly crooked yet unexpectedly appealing, Otash … is a fixer with an eidetic memory who operates in the shadowy fringes of the west coast glamour factory. . . . The plot of The Enchanters is sprawling yet intricate, a riveting series of events made all the more vivid by the precision of the details — the heavy wiretap surveillance opens up a prominent peripheral cast of hangers on, psychiatrists, pornographers and other petty criminals that swirl around the edges of the scene. Ellroy’s writing matches its sensational subject. . . . Filtered through Freddy’s drug- and booze-addled but brilliant mind, the novel is vibrant and vivid, with a pungent whiff of decay. . . . Otash is a fascinating guide. . . . Carnivalesque—literary roller coaster meets Tilt-a-Whirl.” —The Washington Post
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It’s 1984, and life has changed beyond recognition. Airstrip One, formerly known as Great Britain, is a place where Big Brother is always watching, and nobody can hide. Except, perhaps, for Winston Smith. Whilst working at the Ministry of Truth, rewriting history, he secretly dreams of freedom. And in a world where love and sex are forbidden, where it’s hard to distinguish between friend and foe, he meets Julia and O’Brien and vows to rebel.
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A Revelation!
- By wotsallthisthen on 04-07-24
By: George Orwell, and others
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After You've Gone
- By: Margot Hunt
- Narrated by: Stephanie Einstein, Tyla Collier, Dina Pearlman, and others
- Length: 2 hrs and 59 mins
- Original Recording
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Tessa and Charlie have been best friends since childhood. Now Tess is a famous travel writer who documents her adventures on social media while Charlie rarely leaves the safety of her home, living in fear after narrowly escaping a vicious attack years earlier. But despite their different lives, their bond of friendship remains unbreakable...even in death.
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Beautiful
- By Daniel Garcia on 07-22-24
By: Margot Hunt
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Mad Love
- By: Wendy Walker
- Narrated by: Julia Whelan, Alexis Bledel, Renée Elise Goldsberry, and others
- Length: 4 hrs and 11 mins
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They were madly in love. The perfect couple. That was the story everyone in South River believed...until Gin Talcott and Adam Archer are found shot in their bed. Adam is dead at the scene. Gin is fighting for her life. Detectives Greta Jessup and Finn Pate are assigned to the case. Greta has a long history with Gin’s first husband, Eddie, and is determined to protect his 18-year-old twins. Piper discovered the bodies. Daniel is missing—and so is Adam’s gun.
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Surprised
- By marcie on 05-25-24
By: Wendy Walker
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Oregon
- By: Don Winslow
- Narrated by: Ed Harris
- Length: 1 hr and 6 mins
- Original Recording
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It was 1970 in a defeated Rhode Island fishing town. Vietnam and Nixon dominated the national news. Both the near and distant future looked bleak. But they were five inseparable high school friends with something incredible in common: an unwavering resolve to look after each other no matter what hell life threw at them. And they were on a mission. The plan was simple: Go off the grid before they turned 18 to avoid the draft. They’d sell some grass, stack some cash, then head west and start a commune. What could possibly go wrong?
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This really hit home.
- By Ray Beaulieu on 05-26-24
By: Don Winslow
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Too Late
- Definitive Edition
- By: Colleen Hoover
- Narrated by: Ryan Gray, Maxine Mitchell, Joe Arden
- Length: 10 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
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Sloan will go through hell and back for those she loves. And she does so, every single day. Caught up with the alluring Asa Jackson, a notorious drug trafficker, Sloan has finally found a lifeline to cling to, even if it’s meant compromising her morals. She was in dire straits trying to pay for her brother’s care until she met Asa. But as Sloan became emotionally and economically reliant on him, he in turn developed a disturbing obsession with her—one that becomes increasingly dangerous every day.
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Triggering and poor narration
- By Katherine Epperson on 07-11-23
By: Colleen Hoover
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The Cut
- By: Richard Armitage
- Narrated by: Richard Armitage, Jacob Dudman
- Length: 10 hrs and 13 mins
- Original Recording
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Welcome to Barton Mallet, a remote village in the Midlands that has been chosen as the unlikely location for a new feature film from Hollywood producer Max Crow. Teenagers from the local drama group are encouraged to audition for a story about the trials and tribulations of growing up. Benjamin Knot, the CEO of a well-known architecture firm, discovers that his children, Lily and Nathan, have each been offered a role. But Barton Mallet has a deep wound that has never truly healed.
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Hard to get into
- By felicialeash on 09-15-24
By: Richard Armitage
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Downward Facing Doug
- By: Don Winslow
- Narrated by: Ed Harris
- Length: 1 hr and 8 mins
- Original Recording
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One September morning, Doug accidentally runs right into another surfer on the beach. There are rules about these things. The other guy should call Doug a jerk, Doug should say, "my bad", and they should both paddle back out and move on. Problem is, the other surfer doesn't want to move on. He wants to fight. And for once in his life, Doug wants to fight back.
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It’s always the quiet ones
- By 🔥 Phx17 🔥 on 07-21-24
By: Don Winslow
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Artemis
- By: Andy Weir
- Narrated by: Rosario Dawson
- Length: 8 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
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Jazz Bashara is a criminal. Well, sort of. Life on Artemis, the first and only city on the moon, is tough if you're not a rich tourist or an eccentric billionaire. So smuggling in the occasional harmless bit of contraband barely counts, right? Not when you've got debts to pay and your job as a porter barely covers the rent. Everything changes when Jazz sees the chance to commit the perfect crime, with a reward too lucrative to turn down.
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A ferrari with no motor
- By will on 11-18-17
By: Andy Weir
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Sherlock Holmes: The Definitive Collection
- By: Arthur Conan Doyle, Stephen Fry - introductions
- Narrated by: Stephen Fry
- Length: 71 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
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Ever since he made his first appearance in A Study In Scarlet, Sherlock Holmes has enthralled and delighted millions of fans throughout the world. Now Audible is proud to present Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes, read by Stephen Fry. A lifelong fan of Doyle's detective fiction, Fry has narrated the definitive collection of Sherlock Holmes - four novels and four collections of short stories. And, exclusively for Audible, Stephen has written and narrated eight insightful introductions, one for each title.
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Chapter Guide!
- By Katya Rice on 05-25-18
By: Arthur Conan Doyle, and others
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Pulp. Mucho Pulp. Too much pulp.
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Why did they take out all the racist/homophobic dialogue?
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On January 15, 1947, the tortured body of a beautiful young woman was found in a vacant lot in Hollywood. Elizabeth Short, the Black Dahlia, a young Hollywood hopeful, had been brutally murdered. Her murder sparked one of the greatest manhunts in California history.
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Great naration
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Destination: Morgue!
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Dig. The Demon Dog gets down with a new book of scenes from America’s capital of kink: Los Angeles. Fourteen pieces, some fiction, some nonfiction, all true enough to be admissible as state’s evidence, and half of it in print for the first time. And every one of them bearing the James Ellroy brand of mayhem, machismo, and hollow-nose prose.
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A Masterpiece of Writing and Narration
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January '42. L.A. reels behind the shock of Pearl Harbor. Local Japanese residents are rounded up and slammed behind bars. Massive thunderstorms hit the city. A body is unearthed in Griffith Park. The cops tag it a routine dead-man job. They're wrong. It's an early-warning signal of chaos. There's a murderous fire and a gold heist. There's Fifth Column treason on American soil. There are homegrown Nazis, Commies, and race racketeers. It's populism ascendant. There's two dead cops in a dive off the jazz-club strip. And three men and one woman have a hot date with history.
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Pulp. Mucho Pulp. Too much pulp.
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On January 15, 1947, the tortured body of a beautiful young woman was found in a vacant lot in Hollywood. Elizabeth Short, the Black Dahlia, a young Hollywood hopeful, had been brutally murdered. Her murder sparked one of the greatest manhunts in California history.
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Great naration
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Destination: Morgue!
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Noir in the 21st century
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On the streets of 1970s Brooklyn, a daily ritual goes down: the dance. Money is exchanged, belongings surrendered, power asserted. The promise of violence lies everywhere, a currency itself. For these children, Black, brown, and white, the street is a stage in shadow. And in the wings hide the other players: parents; cops; renovators; landlords; those who write the headlines, the histories, and laws; those who award this neighborhood its name. The rules appear obvious at first. But in memory’s prism, criminals and victims may seem to trade places.
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Not Lethem’s Best
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Detective Sergeant Lloyd Hopkins can't stand music, or any loud sounds. He's got a beautiful wife, but he can't get enough of other women. And instead of bedtime stories, he regales his daughters with bloody crime stories. He's a thinking man's cop with a dark past and an obsessive drive to hunt down monsters who prey on the innocent. Now, there's something haunting him. He sees a connection in a series of increasingly gruesome murders of women committed over a period of 20 years.
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Looking for new answers
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In disgrace after a badly handled arrest in New Orleans, Sergeant Lloyd Hopkins is assigned as a liaison officer to an FBI investigation of a series of diabolical and clever bank robberies. Three men have done their homework: they choose bank managers who are having affairs, kidnap their girlfriends, and force the managers to open the banks early.
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Try this title for a change of pace
- By Robert on 04-19-16
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My Dark Places
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In 1958 Jean Ellroy was murdered, her body dumped on a roadway in a seedy L.A. suburb. Her killer was never found, and the police dismissed her as a casualty of a cheap Saturday night. James Ellroy was ten when his mother died, and he spent the next thirty-six years running from her ghost and attempting to exorcize it through crime fiction. In 1994, Ellroy quit running. He went back to L.A., to find out the truth about his mother--and himself.
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Haughting. I did cry. A good cry.
- By Nerda Trusty on 09-12-19
By: James Ellroy
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A Drink Before the War
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With novels like Mystic River and Shutter Island, Dennis Lehane has dramatically altered the landscape of the crime thriller—while boldly overstepping the boundaries that have long separated mystery from literature. Now two of his sensational early novels have been combined in a single volume—two gritty and mesmerizing masterworks of suspense featuring the private eye duo of Patrick Kenzie and Angela Gennaro.
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White Bread
- By Jim "The Impatient" on 06-30-12
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London Fields
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The murderee is Nicola Six, a "black hole" of sex and self-loathing who is intent on orchestrating her own extinction. The murderer may be Keith Talent, a violent lowlife whose only passions are pornography and darts; or the rich, honorable, and dimly romantic Guy Clinch. As Nicola leads her suitors towards the precipice, London--and, indeed, the whole world--seems to shamble after them in a corrosively funny novel of complexity and morality.
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Big chewy novel, excellent narration
- By Sand on 08-21-14
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Hollywood Nocturnes
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Nobody plays accordion like Dick Contino. His skilled fingers can find beauty in even the schmaltziest Borscht Belt favorites, and with his matinee-idol looks he could be a real star. Right now, though, he’s slumming it as the headliner in a Grade Z teenybopper picture called Daddy-O. He’s too good for this movie, and finishing it is going to take him to a very dark place. Daddy-O and Dick Contino are both real, their stories dredged out of the past by James Ellroy, a master of historical crime fiction. In Dick Contino's Blues he takes us to B-List Hollywood in 1957 - a time when movies were cheerful and dirty secrets lurked just off camera.
By: James Ellroy
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Lowdown Road
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It's the summer of '74 . . . Richard Nixon has resigned from office, CB radios are the hot new thing, and in the great state of Texas two cousins hatch a plan to drive $1 million worth of stolen weed to Idaho, where some lunatic is gearing up to jump Snake River Canyon on a rocket-powered motorcycle. But with a vengeful sheriff on their tail and the revered and feared marijuana kingpin of Central Texas out to get his stash back, Chuck and Dean are in for the ride of their lives—if they can make it out alive . . .
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hmm... what have I been sold?
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Down Cemetery Road
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When a house explodes in a quiet Oxford suburb and a young girl disappears in the aftermath, Sarah Tucker becomes obsessed with finding her. Accustomed to dull chores in a childless household and hosting her husband’s wearisome business clients for dinner, Sarah suddenly finds herself questioning everything she thought she knew, as her investigation reveals that people long believed dead are still among the living, while the living are fast joining the dead.
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A bit of a slog....
- By rhl60 on 01-26-24
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Since We Fell
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Since We Fell follows Rachel Childs, a former journalist who, after an on-air mental breakdown, now lives as a virtual shut-in. In all other respects, however, she enjoys an ideal life with an ideal husband. Until a chance encounter on a rainy afternoon causes that ideal life to fray. As does Rachel's marriage. As does Rachel herself. Sucked into a conspiracy thick with deception, violence, and possibly madness, Rachel must find the strength within herself to conquer unimaginable fears and mind-altering truths.
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Wait ....
- By Ann on 05-17-17
By: Dennis Lehane
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Life and Fate: The Complete Series (Dramatised)
- By: Vasily Grossman
- Narrated by: Kenneth Branagh, David Tennant
- Length: 7 hrs and 35 mins
- Original Recording
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Kenneth Branagh stars in BBC Radio 4's ambitious eight-hour dramatisation of Life and Fate, Vasily Grossman's epic masterpiece set during the Battle of Stalingrad. This powerful work, completed in 1960, charts the fate of both a nation and a family in the turmoil of war. Its comparison of Stalinism with Nazism was considered by Soviet authorities to be so dangerous that the KGB placed the manuscript under arrest and Grossman was informed his book would not be published for at least 200 years.
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Vasily Grossman's Life and Fate
- By Alifa on 02-13-12
By: Vasily Grossman
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Small Mercies
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- By: Dennis Lehane
- Narrated by: Robin Miles
- Length: 10 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
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In the summer of 1974 a heatwave blankets Boston and Mary Pat Fennessey is trying to stay one step ahead of the bill collectors. Mary Pat has lived her entire life in the projects of “Southie,” the Irish American enclave that stubbornly adheres to tradition and stands proudly apart. One night Mary Pat’s teenage daughter Jules stays out late and doesn’t come home. That same evening, a young Black man is found dead, struck by a subway train under mysterious circumstances. Mary Pat, propelled by a desperate search for her daughter, begins turning over stones best left untouched.
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Sadly these streets are my home…
- By shipyardjay on 05-10-23
By: Dennis Lehane
What listeners say about The Enchanters
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- bugsmeany
- 06-18-24
Most enjoyable Ellroy novel in years
The Enchanters is a welcome break from the DOURNESS of Perfidia and This Storm. Despite what he says in interviews about Fred Otash (a real-life figure), it's clear Ellroy has found a character he likes to write for. Frankly, I needed a break from Dudley Smith anyway.
Craig Wasson's brand of mannered over-acting, which might derail another author's work, continues to be a perfect fit for Ellroy. I wish they'd re-release all of Ellroy's essential titles (especially White Jazz) with Wasson behind the microphone.
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- Tennessee Wilson
- 07-05-24
The Book I've Been Waiting For
The early 60s is my favorite decade because the cast of characters in those years was unequaled. Ellroy skillfully interlaced history, conjecture, favorite names and the unbridled LAPD of the era, as only he can do. If this time period is of interest, it's definitely worth listening to. With that being said, I think it could have been a shorter book, as I found a lot of repetition starting to mount about 3/4 through, and I began to lose a little interest. I stayed with it, though, and glad I did, because the glossary of characters and terms at the end was helpful. The narrator, Craig Wasson, was absolutely amazing! I still remember him from the haunting film Body Double. His ability with accents is a joy to listen to.
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- Michael Dean
- 11-17-23
Epic and electric
James Ellroy's electric prose rendered with verve and gusto by Craig Wasson. An epic vision of early 60s LA in all its pulp glory. Ellroy is the master crime novelist. Loved it!
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1 person found this helpful
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- Elijah
- 11-24-23
Ellroy’s Prose Crackles, Wasson’s deeply emotional performance
Craig Wasson, star of the ever underrated De Palma flick Body Double, hits this reading out of the park. The characterizations, the emotions he takes on & transmutes, all while slamming home Ellroy’s fastball web of jargon, fractured language and repetitious rhythms. This & Wasson’s version of Blood’s a Rover are not to be missed. I didn’t think I liked books on tape in general, especially not epics like latterday Ellroy, until I heard these.
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- Tom
- 01-09-24
Essential Ellroy
His evocation of Post-War L.A. may or may not be accurate but the Real-Life Characters seem on point. Hoffa, Eddie Fisher, Peter Lawford, Marilyn Monroe, L.A. Cops, JFK, and RFK all sound like their PR projections I remember.
All this wrapped up in the Ellroy-style Enchanted haze of booze, pills, smoke, brass-knuckles, and guns. Enjoyable trip to Pre-JFK America. Four Stars. ****
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- Torin Evatt
- 06-24-24
Charming, but not Enchanting
Got this book because there was a 2 for 1 deal going on ‘select books’ and the synopsis sounded interesting. First time reading James Ellroy and the style was a bit of an acquired taste. Did come to enjoy it and the narrator’s delivery was awesome. Content was a bit trashy at times but I believe that to be part of what he was going for in this late 50’s-early 60’s era noir gumshoe. Fred Otash, the real-life notorious alcoholic pill-junky ex-cop turned private eye protagonist/narrator, will not be everybody’s bag. But then again, I also think that might have been part of what the author was going for. The book had a lot of character, and even more characters. In brief, what it lacked in exciting plot it made up for in whit. I’m certainly going to check out more of James Ellroy’s books.
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- Mr Dangerous
- 09-30-23
Great to have Wasson back!
The 2nd book in the series is just okay with a fantastic backdrop. It just never quite got there for me. Solid just not quite great. first book was better.
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- Amazon Customer
- 11-23-23
the old mastard still has it
like an old boxer waiting in the shadows he steps into the ring and delivers a masterpiece of chaos. For those James Ellroy loyalists it's Christmas morning.
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- GARY R ZION
- 10-25-23
Great Fun
A huge cast from the early 60’s of characters from the movie biz, the criminal underworld and the LA police. Lots of dope, sex and crime.
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- Stefan Filipovits
- 03-30-24
Noir with a pulse
I've always loved noir as a genre. Novels like "The Maltese Falcon", "Farewell, My Lovely", and "Double Indemnity" as well as films like "Out Of The Past", "Kiss Me Deadly", and "Touch Of Evil" always had a way of grabbing me and keeping me immersed. And how not? In a genre rife with femme-fatales, driven yet morally ambiguous protagonists, and labyrinthine plots, it was impossible for me not to become enamored with the dangerous allure of "noir" as we know it. Yet it wasn't until I first read James Ellroy that I became what addicts call a "lifer". His work opened up a world of visceral, gritty danger. His staccato prose, enthralling mysteries, implacable yet irreparably broken characters, and the palpable, simmering atmosphere he conjured up with his stories grabbed me (and many others) by the throat and never let us go. That said, I had begun to fear that "The Demon-Dog of American Letters" had lost a step. Some of his novels in recent years had seemingly begun to lose their focus and impact. "This Storm" in particular was tedious, desperately in need of another edit (or four), and had a plot that was practically incomprehensible. Fortunately, the reigning king of noir is back with a vengeance with "The Enchanters".
The story begins with "Widespread Panic" protagonist, and Hollywood's sleaziest private eye (i.e. shakedown artist), Freddy Otash getting word that America's biggest star, Marilyn Monroe, has been found dead. What looks to the outside world as an accidental overdose, or possible suicide, is to Freddy anything but. Otash had been investgating Monroe at the behest of Jimmy Hoffa in the hopes of taking some of the luster off the Kennedy's and Camelot. After months of surveillance, wiretaps, and almost banal brutality, Otash has seen how volatile, dangerous, and uncontrollable her life had become in the year leading up to her death. What follows is an investigation that takes Otash straight to the black heart of 1960's Hollywood like a shot of adrenaline. Like the Ellroy of old, the author gives "The Enchanters" a pace that grips you by the throat and squeezes. Political intrigue, Cold War paranoia, Hollywood exploitation, and casual violence abound. In “The Enchanters”, Ellroy plays with the conspiracies surrounding Monroe's death in much the same way he played with the JFK assassination conspiracies in "American Tabloid". He exhaustively studied the actual historical event and uses it as a jumping off point to craft a narrative that is entirely his. And while "American Tabloid" might be his finest work, "The Enchanters" is no less impressive, no less compelling, and no less engrossing.
History geeks and readers new to the Ellroy style might need to prepare themselves for a...let us be polite and say "less than reverential" look at historical figures like Monroe, Jack & Robert Kennedy, and many others, however. At this point, any practiced Ellroy reader is entirely cynical and jaded (myself included) and very well aware that "America was never innocent". If, however, you are new to the works of James Ellroy, do prepare yourself. The casual racism, sexism, homophobia (to say nothing of violence) of the setting are in abundance and so is Ellroy's own nihilistic sensibilities in regards to power and the people who wield it. This is not the reverential "icon of the silver screen" take on Monroe we’re all used to. Ellroy writes her as an exploited, mentally unstable, almost pathetic fantasist who is entirely in over her head and blind to the very real danger she's in. JFK is not written as the inspiring, noble, and progressive president most americans hold in such high esteem. Ellroy establishes him as a philandering, exploitative, hypocritical trust-fund baby. Even Otash himself, a real historical figure that Ellroy himself had met a time or two is not spared from a scalding characterization and the contempt the author feels for the man is palpable. This iconoclastic take on titanic figures of American history is not out of the ordinary for Ellroy however, and the characterizations never take the reader out of the novel.
"The Enchanters" is Ellroy at his very best. The story and mystery sucks the reader in and never lets them catch their breath. It's a story with despicable characters you cant help but follow, a mystery so captivating you won’t want to stop, and a gritty atmosphere so palpable you'll want to take a bleach-bath after you finish reading it. It is noir with a pulse….
And I loved every second of it.
If you enjoyed "The Enchanters" as much as I did and are looking for similar works, then definitely check out some of Ellroy’s earlier efforts like the aforementioned “American Tabloid" or "Widespread Panic". You might also enjoy “The Black Dahlia”, “L.A. Confidential”, or “Perfidia”. If however you’re looking to explore the dark side of old Hollywood some more, you might also appreciate “Tinseltown: Murder, Morphine, and Madness” by William J Mann, “Helter Skelter” by Vincent Bugliosi, "The Garden On Sunset" by Martin Turnbull, or "The City of Angles" by Jonathan Leaf.
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