The Blood Circus (1968)
Fawcett Gold Medal
Great biker trash with newly minted LAPD officer going undercover to infiltrate "The Beasts," a particularly sadistic gang led by a LaVey-like baldie looking to stage the biggest rumble in Harley history. Writing in the wake of Hunter S. Thompson's famous book on the Hell's Angels, Fitzpatrick is obviously peeved at the nation's growing fascination with biker lore. At various points in the book, LAPD officials rail about how disgusted they are that "long-haired journalists" are trying to turn these gangs into outlaw heros and underground icons--when of course bikers are nothing more than degenerate trash. To ensure we don't identify with the biker lifestyle, Fitzpatrick opens the book with the gang chain-whipping to a pulp a former University of California tennis player, right in front of his wife and kid (although for some sickos, this no doubt has the opposite effect than Fitzpatrick had hoped).
