Author(s): Hampton Sides

American

"Hellhound on His Trail" is the story of two very different men whose lives catastrophically interweaved over the course of some nine months in the late 1960s: one was a thief and con man called James Earl Ray, the other one of the greatest American figures of the twentieth century, Martin Luther King Jr. Hampton Sides follows in Ray's footsteps as he escapes from prison, creates a new identity for himself and becomes convinced of his mission to kill King. "Hellhound on His Trail" is equally the story of King himself in his last months, fighting to keep his ideals alive in the face of intensive FBI surveillance and his own exhausted frustration. With relentless storytelling drive, Sides follows Ray and King as they crisscross the country, one stalking the other, until the fateful moment, on 4 April 1968 at a Memphis hotel, when the drifter finally caught up with his prey. Nationwide riots were sparked by the assassination, followed by the largest manhunt in American history.

Review: [Praise for Ghost Soldiers]: An enthralling, deeply disturbing look at the horrors of war. It is impossible to read without wondering uneasily how you, the reader, would respond if forced to undergo the monstrous trials described with such immediacy by Hampton Sides. -- Jon Krakauer, Author Of Into Thin Air [Praise for Blood and Thunder]: An Epic of the American West: Absorbing and well written ... Anyone who has read Cormac McCarthy's Blood Meridian or grew up on John Ford westerns will be enlightened. -- Michael Moorcock Guardian

First published 2010.


Paperback 480pp h234mm x w153mm