Hellhound on His Trail: The Electrifying Account of the Largest Manhunt in American History Paperback – March 22, 2011

Like all of Hampton Sides books this one is exceptional very interesting and entertaining. I loved it. Gave a real feel for the times and the racial divide the country was experiencing. He portrays the angst the country was experiencing in the late 60’s. Book is very well written and fast paced. Highly recommend it.

Bottom line - very well done. A well told story, actually many stories, that leaves one both fulfilled but also reflective. It is much more than just the story of James Earl Ray, the man who killed MLK. The real beauty of Hampton Sides' writing is that he ties together several different stories to create a clear picture of a moment in history. HellHound is a great example of this skill; just as his earlier book Ghost Soldiers: The Epic Account of World War II's Greatest Rescue Mission was a great example of his skill.The real power of Hellhound on His Trail is not the story of James Earl Ray. Actually that in and of itself would have been a fascinating read. However, it is the story of the Sixties, of the Civil Rights movement, of a country and society that was tearing itself apart, and above all a ast of characters that tell the story of their time. J, Edgar Hoover, MLK, RFK, LBJ, George Wallace, the leadership of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, the King family, and law enforcement and government leaders are all there, warts and all. Credit to Sides as an author - he does not hesitate in being historically accurate - he talks of people how they were, not just what their reputations or image was.Hellhounds on His Trail is a great read as just a stand alone book. IT keeps your attention, is easy to read, but is also a great piece of historical writing and research. Yet what has stayed with me is how it makes one stop and think "this was only 40 odd years ago". How people thought, what was seen as "right and wrong", how judgments were made, the lenses people saw events through, makes one reflect on how things are seen today, and how they will be viewed with 40 years of hindsight.Well done on every level. If one wants more of the MLK story, there is nothing better than Bearing the Cross: Martin Luther King, Jr., and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (Perennial Classics) but for shear readability and enjoyment, as well as a great overview on a time, the men and women of that era, Hellhounds is a great book.

Hampton Sides's Hellhound on His Trail recounts the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr., and the manhunt for killer that followed. It is a fascinating, well-written piece of narrative nonfiction that captures a tumultuous time in American history.Sides covers the final months of King's life while interweaving the movements of James Earl Ray - his killer - up until to the moment they violently intersect on April, 4, 1968. Sides succeeds by portraying King as a complicated man overburdened by his commitment to the Civil Rights Movement and his own fading popularity on a national level. Doggedly pursued by Hoover's FBI (who had an axe to grind) and disintegrating marriage, Sides paints King in nuanced strokes - fully capturing what made him such a force to reckoned with and what made him human.While reading Hellhound, I was reminded how little I actually knew about King's assassination and his killer. James Earl Ray is an enigmatic and puzzling character - there are large gaps in our historic knowledge of Ray precisely because he seemingly lied to everyone, including himself.The book's standout moment is the assassination itself. Sides chronicles the minutes before and after the Ray pulls the trigger in near real-time - following the trajectory of the bullet, to the frantic rush to the hospital, and the confused and panicked response of the local authorities. In the midst of the massive riots triggered by King's death, the FBI - once tasked with digging up dirt on the Reverend - were now in charge of finding the man's killer. The details of the sixty-five day manhunt - which encompassed two continents - makes up the back half of the book.A harrowing testament to a moment in a time and good old fashioned police work, Hellhound on His Trail is a fascinating look at two very different men who will forever be linked together by an act of shocking violence.The afterward included in the paperback edition discounting the numerous conspiracy theories is also well worth the read.