The Devil and John Holmes: And Other True Stories of Drugs, Porn and Murder

by Mike Sager

"John Holmes was every man's gigolo, a polyester smoothie with a sparse mustache, a flying collar and lots of buttons undone. He wasn't threatening. He chewed gum and overacted. He took a lounge singer's approach to sex, deliberately gentle, ostentatiously artful, a homely guy with a pinkie ring and a big dick who was convinced he was every woman's dream."

John Curtis Holmes had the longest, most prolific career in the history of pornography. He had sex on-screen with two generations of leading ladies, from Seka and Marilyn Chambers to Traci Lords, Ginger Lynn, and Italian Member of Parliament Ciccolina. The first man to win the X-Rated Critics Organization Best Actor Award, Holmes was an idol and an icon, the most visible male porn star of his time.

Holmes started in the business around 1968 and made more than two thousand movies. But after descending into a world of drugs and crime, he became the central figure in one of the most publicized mass murders in L.A. history, the 1981 Wonderland Avenue killings in Laurel Canyon, in which four people were brutally bludgeoned to death. Holmes was tried and acquitted of the crimes in 1982. He died from from complications of AIDS on March 13, 1988.

"The Devil and John Holmes" is one of the most terrific sagas we have ever published." - Jann Wenner, editor and publisher, Rolling Stone

"I can recognize the truth in these stories-tales about the darkest possible side of wretched humanity. Sager has obviously spent too much time in flop houses in Laurel Canyon." - Hunter S. Thompson, author of Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas and Hells Angels.

Genres: Nonfiction, True Crime

190 pages, Paperback

First published November 20, 2014

About the author

Mike Sager is a best-selling author and award-winning reporter. A former Washington Post staff writer under Watergate investigator Bob Woodward, he worked closely, during his years as a contributing editor to Rolling Stone, with gonzo journalist Hunter S. Thompson. Sager is the author of four collections of non-fiction, two novels, and one biography. He has served for more than fifteen years as a writer at large for Esquire. In 2010 he won the American Society of Magazine Editors’ National Magazine Award for profile writing for his article “The Man Who Never Was.” Many of his stories have been optioned for film. For more information, please see www.mikesager.com.

Sager is also the founding editor and publisher of The Sager Group. for more information, please see www.TheSagerGroup.Net.

Reviews

[Jacob Mchaney · Rating 4 out of 5]

Just finished and really liked it. Is it just me or is the sketchy, seedy side of Hollywood fascinating? Go back to the late 18 to early 1900s and look at all the scandal that continues today. Stars that end up almost slave like due to the dependencies of their vices, even worse back in those early days due to the fact that the production houses literally had a contract on the lives of their stars some ended up dead, out of work, or blacklisted for good. Add that the Hearst empire could and would write anything about you in his papers if you wouldn't submit to demands.
Another thing that is interesting is how close these crimes and stories happened so close in proximity to one another. Research the Laurel Canyon area history and be amazed what pops up. Enjoy

[Author Jenn · Rating 3 out of 5]

I went down the rabbit hole for this book after listening about John Holmes from the Morbid Podcast. Being a true crime junkie this is like nothing I have ever read before. Interesting to say the least. I learned a lot about the "Porn Lifestyle" than I wanted or cared to know. I understand that it is all part of their stories.

[Sarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

Mike Sager sort of specializes in gonzo style reportage of the sketchy side.