The Cold Six Thousand
OCLC 46867617 | | |
Preceded by | American Tabloid | |
---|---|---|
Followed by | Blood's a Rover |
The Cold Six Thousand is a 2001 crime fiction novel by James Ellroy. It is the first sequel to American Tabloid in the Underworld USA Trilogy and continues many of the earlier novel's characters and plotlines. Specifically, it follows three rogue American law-enforcement officials and their involvement in the turmoil of the 1960s. James Ellroy dedicated The Cold Six Thousand "To BILL STONER."
Plot
Ward Littell, former
Structure and style
The Cold Six Thousand has a structure substantially similar to that of American Tabloid. As in American Tabloid, the chapters are divided into named Parts, and each chapter is numbered and identified by location and date. The action of the book is completely sequential, as the dates indicate. Each chapter has a
The highly stylized prose used in the main chapters builds upon the style used in American Tabloid (and, to a certain extent, White Jazz). Of the novel's style, Ellroy noted:
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.[1]
Film adaptation
In 2002, Bruce Willis optioned the rights to produce and star in a TV miniseries based on American Tabloid and The Cold Six-Thousand.[2] Willis's option expired before production began.
In 2008, HBO and Tom Hanks's production company, Playtone, were developing Tabloid and Six Thousand for either a mini-series or ongoing series.[3] Screenwriter Kirk Ellis was said to be drafting a screenplay for the potential series.[4]
References
- ^ James Ellroy, The Onion A.V. Club
- ^ "Bruce Willis plans to make TV series based on James Ellroy novels". Findarticles.com. 2002. Retrieved 2010-02-24.
- ^ "'Tabloid' news for HBO. (American Tabloid: A Novel)". Encyclopedia.com. Retrieved 2010-02-24.
- ^ Siegel, Tatiana (May 14, 2009). "Kirk Ellis to adapt 'Papa Hemingway'". Variety.