{"product_id":"books-widespread-panic-by-james-ellroy","title":"Widespread Panic","description":"\u003cp\u003e'\u003cb\u003ePurgatory is rarely this much fun.\u003c\/b\u003e' - \u003ci\u003eFinancial Times \u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eFrom The Modern Master of Noir comes a novel about the malevolent monarch of the 1950s Hollywood underground - a tale of pervasive paranoia teeming with communist conspiracies, FBI finks, celebrity smut films and\u003c\/b\u003e \u003ci\u003e\u003cb\u003estrange\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e \u003cb\u003ebedfellows.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eFreddy Otash is the man in the know and the man \u003ci\u003eto\u003c\/i\u003e know in '50s L.A. He operates with two simple rules - he'll do anything but commit murder and he'll never work with the commies.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eFreddy is an ex-L.A. cop on the skids. He snuffed a cop killer in cold blood - and it got to him \u003ci\u003ebad.\u003c\/i\u003e So Chief William H. Parker canned him. Now he's a sleazoid private eye, a shakedown artist, a pimp - and, most notably, the head strongarm goon for \u003ci\u003eConfidential\u003c\/i\u003e magazine. \u003ci\u003eConfidential\u003c\/i\u003e presaged the idiot internet - and delivered the dirt, the dish, the insidious ink and the scurrilous skank on the feckless foibles of misanthropic movie stars, sex-soiled socialites and potzo politicians. Freaky Freddy outs them all!\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIn \u003ci\u003eWidespread Panic\u003c\/i\u003e, we traverse the depths of '50s L.A. and dig on the inner workings of \u003ci\u003eConfidential.\u003c\/i\u003e You'll go to Burt Lancaster's lushly appointed torture den; you'll groove overhyped legend James Dean as Freddy's chief stooge; you'll be there for Freddy's ring-a-ding rendezvous with Liz Taylor; you'll be front and centre as Freddy anoints himself the 'Tattle Tyrant Who Held Hollywood Hostage'.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"World of Books ","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":53767548272913,"sku":null,"price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/9781785152573.jpg?v=1783937198","url":"https:\/\/www.worldofbooks.com\/en-gb\/products\/books-widespread-panic-by-james-ellroy","provider":"World of Books ","version":"1.0","type":"link"}