Elvis: the Last 24 Hours

by Goldman Albert

Ten years after the publication of his book on the life of Elvis Presley, the author examines the last 24 hours of Elvis' life. Goldman argues that at the stage when Elvis died his career had been reduced to third-rate one-nighters, his money had been siphoned away by the people he most trusted and that he was so dependent on drugs that he took a massive dose on an empty stomach. The author argues that death had become an obsession for Elvis, from his first suicide attempt in 1967 to his final surrender to the drugs that eventually killed him. Goldman argues that Elvis meant to take his own life.

Genres: Music, Biography, Nonfiction

208 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1990

Reviews

[Sam · Rating 2 out of 5]

So, I wasn't expecting a 'sugar coated' biography, but this book, like a lot of post 1977 Elvis biographies, tends to do a lot of 'character bashing'. It seems that Goldman was focusing far more on his distaste of Elvis than on Elvis' last 24 hours. However, it was interesting enough to keep my attention to the finish.

[Timothy Rg · Rating 4 out of 5]

Goldman gets a bad rap for being a sort of tabloid journalist. His full-length Presley biography does not even make Robert Christgau's shortlist of books on the singer.

Here, however, is a lurid piece of pulp worth getting your hands on. Goldman takes as his thesis, "Nobody outside of a hospital is more closely watched or more frequently scrutinized by medical personnel than is Elvis Presley."

Goldman describes Graceland as a pharmacy or hospital unto itself. Rather than disillusioning this fan, _The Last 24 Hours_ clarified the difference between man and myth. One had shoe-polish-black hair, the other a carefree existence.

[David Nichols · Rating 3 out of 5]

The literary equivalent of Lay's Potato Chips - it's a junky book but you can't stop until you've read the whole thing. Recommended for anyone who wants to know the precise menu of Elvis's Last Supper (which was simple but gut-wrenching).

[Robert Gowan · Rating 4 out of 5]

I know Goldman is generally reviled, but he tells an interesting, apparently well-documented story. His theory that Elvis’s overdose was not an accident and that Elvis committed suicide is fascinating, plausible and backed up by at least one of the Memphis mafia (Elvis’s step brother). I could have done without the last few pages of Goldman criticizing Elvis as a talentless phony).

[Vincenzo Ridente · Rating 1 out of 5]

A piece of trash disrespectful to Elvis and his memory

[Keith Astbury · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pretty trashy but interesting all the same and written with a lighter touch than Goldman's Lennon book x

[Rcavictory · Rating 4 out of 5]

I got the distinct feeling that Albert Goldman didn't like Elvis Presley at all. This is the second book by Goldman that I read and I got the same feeling when I read that book also! All in all, I liked the book, found it factual, however he's an author that clearly is one sided and doesn't hide his dislike of Presley. It did hold my interest as it only took me about 4 hours to read it. That's not to say that I agree with his opinion of what happened to Elvis Presley. You be the judge!

[Ed Haslam · Rating 2 out of 5]

A morbid curiosity read; expectedly conspiracist tabloid shite (the death being a suicide and details of Elvis’s anal sphincter) from notorious billy no mates loser Albert Goldman, but kind of fun to read. Luckily I was effectively paid to read this as I binged it during a long work break (I’d accidentally left the much better Guralnick one at home 😔)