Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas – Detailed Book Review

This book starts off by introducing us to Raoul Duke, Hunter S. Thompson’s pseudo name, and his trusted attorney. They are on their way to Las Vegas to write a story about the Mint 400, a riveting off-road motorcycle race that attracts thousands of people. They are also in search of “the American Dream.” Of course, they cannot embark on this journey without an immense amount of illegal narcotics including cocaine, ether, LSD and marijuana to name a few. Their plan is to buy a top of the line motorcycle so that they can participate in the race themselves.

The sports centered magazine that hired Duke to cover the story allocated $300 for his trip expenses, which wasn’t quite enough to buy the motorcycle he desired. Instead, they took that money to rent a luxury car, thoughtfully name, “the Great Red Shark,” and a top of the line tape recorder for interviews. As a side note, this story was derived from Thompson’s real-live tape recordings of the trip.

Duke and his attorney picked up a hitchhiker on the outskirts of Las Vegas. They both snorted a few pills before they proceeded to tell the hitchhiker that they’re heading to Las Vegas to murder someone named Savage Henry. Although this was completely untrue, the hitchhiker immediately jumped out of the car while it was still in motion. When the men arrive at the Mint Hotel, Duke introduced his attorney as Dr. Gonzo, which is where the term Gonzo journalism originated.

Once they checked into the hotel, they ordered lots of food from room service. Feeling as if their earlier drugs were wearing off, they ate some mescaline and turned on the news. The headline story was about the Laos Invasion, a historically accurate reference that we greatly appreciate. Ready for some excitement, Duke, and his attorney try to enter the Great Red Shark into the off-road race. However, they reached a stumbling block when the attendant refused to register them due to their obvious drug addiction.

This is the start of the 4^th Annual Mint 400 race; 10 bikes race at a time, every two minutes. This quickly becomes too overwhelming for Duke and his attorney, who decide to stop following the race and get some beers from the bar instead. The only other interesting event that takes place during this chapter is the exchange between Duke and a group of military veterans about their feelings towards the journalist who wrote The Selling of the Pentagon.

Duke drinks so heavily that night that he blacks out and has no recollection of what happened. He finds a series of notes on cocktail napkins that only make him more confused. We never do find out what happened to him that night, but whatever it was we are sure it wasn’t good. To get his mind off of it, Duke and his attorney decide to gamble at the Circus Circus. The attorney took too much ether and started to become paranoid though. So in order to avoid a scene, the two men leave.

When they returned, the attorney ate an entire blotter of acid and can’t stop listening to the song, “White Rabbit” by Jefferson Airplane. Things take a turn for the worse when the attorney becomes violent and pulls a blade on Duke. Duke shows the attorney his mace, who then willingly backs down. The chapter ends with Duke locking the attorney in the bathroom so that he can get some rest.

Duke reminisces about his first LSD trip five or six years back. He then goes on to explain to his readers that the mid-sixties was a monumental time in American culture, characterized by a “sense of inevitable victory over the forces of old and evil.” Everything that once seemed meaningful in the sixties was finally starting to be revealed for what it really was: frivolous.

Duke and his attorney start this chapter off in a panic after they receive a large bill from the hotel and realize that they don’t have nearly enough money to cover it all. Duke lends what little money he has left to his attorney for airfare and sends him off. He leaves the hotel a few hours before checkout, acting nonchalant about the fact that he has yet to pay his bill.

Just as he is walking out, a voice calls out to him. He tries to run away, believing the hotel has realized that he was trying to skip out on his bill. Much to his surprise, the clerk simply wants to deliver a telegram to him. The telegram, from Dr. Gonzo, reveals that Rolling Stone wants him to cover the National Conference of District Attorneys’ Seminar on Narcotics and other Dangerous Drugs. After receiving the news, he quickly rushes out of the hotel and starts to mentally prepare for his new assignment.

Since he doesn’t technically have to check out of the hotel until noon, Duke plans to get as far away from Las Vegas as possible. He stops at Wild Bill’s Café just outside of Las Vegas to fuel up before he gets back into his car and speeds towards Los Angeles at 120 miles per hour.

Just as he is about to approach Baker, California, a cop turns on his lights, demanding that he pulls over. Duke contemplates pulling over right away or speeding up a little first; of course, he chooses the latter. Still high on drugs, Duke eventually pulls over, stepping out of his vehicle with a beer in his hand. He could easily be thrown in prison, no questions asked. However, the young cop agrees to have mercy on him as long as he promises to take a nap at the next rest stop.

At the beginning of this chapter, Duke has a sudden urge to kill something. He pulls over, takes out his .357 Magnum (an illegal gun of course), and tries to aim in at an iguana. Realizing how bad this would look to a cop and paranoid about someone finding the narcotics in his car, he decided to pull ahead to a gas station for a break. He buys more tequila, liquor and ether, because he obviously didn’t have enough on hand.

Duke travels back to the Las Vegas airport to pick up his attorney. He returns the now broken down, “Great Red Shark” and exchanges it for a beautiful white Cadillac that Rolling Stone reserved for him. Too tired to wait for his attorney, Duke decides to check into the Flamingo so he can get some rest. Over 200 police officers are staying there for the conference, which makes Duke feel a little uneasy.

Duke makes his way up to his room where he finds his attorney about to get it on with a crazy woman named Lucy. The attorney leaves the room to help Duke with his bags, which is when he reveals that he met her at the airport and gave her acid. An innocent girl from Montana, she had never even had a drink before. They talk back and forth about their options; they could pimp Lucy out for money, kill her, or send her off to another hotel and hope she forgets what happened. They decide to take the gentle approach, as the attorney has real feelings for her.

After Duke and his attorney returned to their room at the Flamingo, they were shocked to discover that Lucy has called and left a message. Worried that Lucy would report them for drugging her and taking advantage of her, the attorney tried to convince her that he and Duke were about to head to the desert to fight to the death over her. The winner of the duel would be calling her within a few hours.

The attorney called Lucy one last time, claiming that he managed to kill Duke and could not wait to see her again. He then goes on to warn her that Duke cashed a bad check and used her as a reference, so she needs to keep a low profile for a while. Before he’s about to end the phone call, he proceeds to fake his own death. Luckily for him, she fell for all his lies and is no longer a problem for them.

The very next morning, the two men arrive at the Dunes for the drug conference. The keynote speaker gives a very long speech on the dangers of drug use, while Duke spends the entire time critiquing his inaccurate information. Duke and his attorney become very paranoid towards the end of this chapter after they realize that they wrote a bad check to cover their registration fee.

As the conference continues, Duke day-dreams about which drugs would make this assembly more bearable. Duke and his attorney eventually can’t stand to be there any longer, so they fake an illness and leave the auditorium. They find themselves at the bar, talking to a Georgia cop about how violent drug users in California are becoming. They make up detailed and graphic stories that blow that cop’s mind.

The men eventually leave and find themselves in a run-down diner in North Las Vegas, the place where people only end up after they’ve been forced to leave the Strip. Thompson uses this chapter to reflect on one of this books’ more subtle themes: the relationship between power and money. At the end of the chapter, the attorney tries to make a pass at their waitress, who is less than thrilled about the offer. The men decide to leave before they get thrown out, taking a homemade lemon meringue pie with them.

This chapter stands out among the rest, as the editor reveals that Thompson’s notes on this were so fragmented that everything had to be taken directly from the tape recordings. Proceeding on with the story, the two men stop to buy some tacos and tell the waitress of their pursuit to find, “the American Dream.” Thinking they are searching for an actual place, she directs them to the Old Psychiatrist’s Club, which she describes as a prime location for drug users. They decide to check it out, only to find that it burnt down three years back.

They return to Las Vegas, barely making it in time for the attorney to catch his flight to California. Duke, alone now, spends this chapter trying to decide whether or not he will get arrested for anything he has done on this trip. He remembers the story his friend told him about how he got charged with vagrancy simply for wearing a certain style of clothing. While it took him nearly a week to get out of prison, nearby drug dealers were able to bribe their way out of jail in no time at all. This shows the messed up law enforcement system of Las Vegas at that time.

The beginning of this chapter again focuses on the 60s counterculture and how religious movements at that time including cults and Eastern religions all stemmed from people’s search for fulfillment. He spends a long time pondering this motion until he finally arrives back to his room at the Flamingo, only to find that it is a complete mess; all the nice furniture had been destroyed and there were ashes and burn marks everywhere. To avoid any penalties, he convinces the maid that he will pay her $1,000 to be a spy for her. She agreed to do that service, and had nothing to say about the room’s condition.

For some unknown reason, Duke is seriously considering buying an ape. He agrees to meet an interested seller at the Circus Circus, but by the time he gets there, they are already taking the ape away for terrorizing people at the bar. In order to get his mind off of this disappointment, Duke meets up with an old friend at the bar. They reminisce about old times and their liberal beliefs.

Just before Duke is about to sit down and enjoy a game of baccarat, two security guards escort him out of the building and explain that both he and his attorney are banned from this casino for their behavior last time they were there. On that note, Duke realizes that he may have overstayed his welcome at Las Vegas. He takes a cab and rushes to the airport.

Duke reflects on his trip to Las Vegas, deciding that it was a big waste of his time. Not only did he not learn anything new about drugs that was worth writing about, but he doubted that anyone else at that conference learned anything either. On his layover in Denver, he goes on a mad search for amyls. As soon as he gets a hold of it, he snorts it, and then the story ends abruptly.