Viscerally dramatic ... spellbinding ... Both Dr. King and Ray come to life in these remarkable pages. –
The New York Times "Impossible-to-put-down . . . a masterful work of narrative nonfiction, no one does it better than Hampton Sides." –
Associated Press Gripping, exciting, and engrossing . . . hits us with the shuddering intensity of a high-speed collision. –
The Times of London A taut, vibrant account....chilling in detail and particularly haunting in evoking the confusion and pathos in the minutes following the single crack of Ray's rifle. –
Los Angeles Times
An authoritative, engrossing narrative....thoroughly researched but executed with the pacing of a fine novel and a dash of top-notch police procedural....meticulous.–
Miami Herald
Searing. . . . A complex crime mystery that shifts the focus from Dr. King to his killer. . . . Gripping.–
Wall Street Journal
As urgent a page-turner as any crime novel – a feat Sides accomplishes without sacrificing historical detail and insight.
–St. Petersburg Times "Remarkable. . . . A window on the passions and contradictions of an era....a page-turner.–Christian Science Monitor
A riveting re-creation of a tragedy. . . . Through Sides' use of novelistic pacing, details and descriptions, he creates suspense that will propel readers through a slice of history.–
USA Today Enlightening . . . a valuable contribution to the historical record [and] a memorable and persuasive portrait. –
The Washington Post Meticulously researched, reads like nothing so much as a novel ... creating plenty of plain old-fashioned suspense that makes the reader's heart pound.–
The Portland Oregonian It's as much thriller as history book and the compulsive story races along like a fugitive on the lam.–
San Francisco Gate Sides' meticulous yet driving account of Ray's plot to murder King and the 68-day international manhunt that followed is in essence a true-crime story and a splendid specimen of the genre–a genuine corker."–
Salon Remarkable journalism. . . . compulsively readable. . . . [Sides] writes . . . with a passion that resonates.....Compelling –
Dallas Morning News Extraordinary....remarkable journalism.....compulsively readable.
–San Francisco Chronicle Hellhound unfolds like a mystery–one read not for the ending but for all the missteps, gotchas and near misses along the way.–
Time
Exhaustively researched, fast-paced and at times minute-by-minute telling....To Sides' great credit, this is a feat of shoe-leather reporting and research....astonishing....briskly alive.–
Austin American Statesman Meticulous....a page turner, and something more: It brings the disquiet of an era fully alive.–
Bloomberg A carefully researched and crisply written account....Sides crafts careful profiles of his major characters–
St. Louis Post-Dispatch [Sides] masterfully recreates the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr ....Though the outcome is clear, we are nonetheless rapt–and then devastated.–
Time Out New York Nailbitingly riveting.–
Newsday
