An incredibly entertaining read, full of absurd, shocking, and sometimes unbelievable scenes. An awesome example of writing as craft. The material is varied and funny, the pace never lets off, the dialogue is very engaging, the repetition of certain words throughout the book – rotten, filthy, fear, loathing – really drives home the paranoia and insanity of the two treacherous beasts (I think those two words also appear often) that stumble and pillage their way through Las Vegas.

I didn’t feel that Thompson really tackled the question of whether the American Dream is dead, like many seem to think or assume… he muses on the hollowness of drug-centred self-actualization and the evil of Nixon’s America, but to me this seemed more like commentary rather than the big claim everyone sees.

I optimistically assume that the awful behaviour of the characters are not condoned. But it’s hard to be sure because this is supposedly based on true events.