Readers of James Ellroy's groundbreaking, best-selling American Tabloid (1995) know pretty much what to expect from The Cold Six Thousand (Knopf; 672 pages; $25.95), which seamlessly picks up the story at the moment the earlier novel ended. Neophytes, though, deserve some advice and counseling. Think twice before you begin the first page. Are you sure you want to witness nearly every lurid conspiracy theory concerning public events during the mid-1960s fleshed out in brutal, nightmarish and totally unsentimental fiction? No? We hardened veterans thought not. Goodbye.
Now, American Tabloid--which all of you still reading this know is about three imaginary psychopaths...