Great Book Alert! Hellhound on His Trail: The Stalking of Martin Luther King, Jr. and the International Hunt for His Assassin

My entire life I was convinced that books were my passion until I realized that they were the porthole to my real passion—history. (What gave it away, I wonder…the documentary collection, the repeated readings of Shelby Foote’s Civil War trilogy, the college major?).

On the book front, I’ve been on a roll lately. Somehow—and I honestly don't know how this happened—I missed Hellhound on His Trail: The Stalking of Martin Luther King, Jr. and the International Hunt for His Assassin when it was released last year. And shame on me. Needless to say I’ve made up for lost time and devoured the non-fiction thriller in three days. 

Author Hampton Sides (Ghost Soldiers, Blood and Thunder, Americana) is a truly proficient storyteller and at top of his game with the hold-your-breath Hellhound—a lightning-quick account of the months leading up to and the aftermath of the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. All three of book’s principal characters—a human King; his assassin, the enigmatic James Earl Ray, and J. Edgar Hoover, a riddle who for years waged his own campaign to bring down the Civil Rights leader, but instead would be tasked with hunting down his killer. A riveting three-parter, Hellhound does the impossible—it humanizes King, while giving us a glimpse into the troubled Ray, who not only engineered an ingenious escape from prison (he was on the lam when he shot King), but very nearly evaded justice for one of the most notorious slayings in history. 

Sides is at his best when describing the moments following King’s killing (a brutal, sometimes beautiful rendering by the author), the night after his now prophetic Mountaintop Speech, when he said “Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord!” 

My one quibble (maybe) is that Hellhound is a little thin on Ray’s motives for killing King beyond racist comments and a connection to George Wallace’s presidential campaign—a shortcoming Sides compensates for with a compelling story and meticulous reporting. 


I encourage you to read all about it in the book! And please leave a comment to recommend what I should be reading…