Scan barcode
grs909's review against another edition
2.0
This book was a chore to read. Ellroy's writing style wears me out.
stevendedalus's review against another edition
5.0
Absolutely perfect noir. Ellroy finally sheds the assassination climaxes and lurid focus on celebrity and major political events.
Instead he focuses on an emerald heist and an intricate strands that weave his characters together. It's brilliant and it's fun.
It also flows a lot better than "The Cold Six Thousand" since Ellroy's sentences are less short and jagged. There's great flow, as well as variety with diary entries serving to break up the narrative voice. The characters, as always, are awful people, but since the stakes are smaller, they're allowed to breathe a little and it all feels more natural.
It's weird to have the third book of a trilogy be the best by far, but there you go.
Instead he focuses on an emerald heist and an intricate strands that weave his characters together. It's brilliant and it's fun.
It also flows a lot better than "The Cold Six Thousand" since Ellroy's sentences are less short and jagged. There's great flow, as well as variety with diary entries serving to break up the narrative voice. The characters, as always, are awful people, but since the stakes are smaller, they're allowed to breathe a little and it all feels more natural.
It's weird to have the third book of a trilogy be the best by far, but there you go.
stevenk's review against another edition
4.0
Not having read the first two parts of the trilogy that Blood's a Rover completes, I found this an enjoyable read. Lots of characters (some real and some purely fictional) and several different story lines happening at the same time, interspersed with "file inserts" and the authors writing style make this book jump around, but it kept my attention through the ending. The story takes place in the gritty underbelly of late 60's LA, Vegas, Haiti, the Dominican Republic, Miami and Washington involves a multitude of unsavory characters that are well developed and interesting, lots of violence and rough language set the appropriate tone for the action.
strong_extraordinary_dreams's review against another edition
3 stars: for story with only splatters of plot:
-1: for going on and on and on with only splatters of plot;
+1: for a cool LA Noir, lingo of the age, the street.
-1: for going on and on and on with only splatters of plot;
+1: for a cool LA Noir, lingo of the age, the street.
darwin8u's review against another edition
4.0
"You will read with some reluctance and capitulate in the end. The following pages will force you to succumb. I am going to tell you everything.”
― James Ellroy, Blood's a Rover
This is how the 60s ends, this is how the 60s ends, not with a bang, but a peeper. James Ellroy's Underworld trilogy was fantastic, but this was my least favorite of the three books. Looking back, I think they all were amazing, but this one just dragged a bit too far and wasn't as tight or stylized as his other two. But tied all together they create an amazing (and yes depressing) portrait of the corruption and conspiracies of the JFK ([b:American Tabloid|36064|American Tabloid (Underworld USA, #1)|James Ellroy|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1403181563s/36064.jpg|35975]) assassination, Bobby Kennedy & MLK ([b:The Cold Six Thousand|4191|The Cold Six Thousand (Underworld USA #2)|James Ellroy|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1403182681s/4191.jpg|22797]) assassinations, and Hoover years. Filled with CIA agents, FBI agents, rogue cops, corrupt cops, black panthers, femme fatales, voodoo, Cuba, conspiracies, intrigue, etc., these books read like the back side of some warped people's history. This isn't your mother or father's history. This is the devil's diary, the assassin's journal, the sludge and the gout of history. It is the underbelly and the corruption. Sometimes you learn as much from the worm as the eagle. This book is the worm and it is brilliant. I'm sad it is over and sad this series will never again be a shock. Reading these books seems to be as close as you can come without ingesting methamphetamine of experiencing the chalk, crystal, and ice of those years of Camelot that weren't photographed in Life magazine. The prose and the dialogue seemed to drill into my brain as I read. It was relentless. I think about the prose and the narrative and I wonder about how any writer could emerge from birthing this series without scars, wounds, and serious therapy debt. I'm glad Ellroy paid the price that we might experience this work of art.
― James Ellroy, Blood's a Rover
This is how the 60s ends, this is how the 60s ends, not with a bang, but a peeper. James Ellroy's Underworld trilogy was fantastic, but this was my least favorite of the three books. Looking back, I think they all were amazing, but this one just dragged a bit too far and wasn't as tight or stylized as his other two. But tied all together they create an amazing (and yes depressing) portrait of the corruption and conspiracies of the JFK ([b:American Tabloid|36064|American Tabloid (Underworld USA, #1)|James Ellroy|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1403181563s/36064.jpg|35975]) assassination, Bobby Kennedy & MLK ([b:The Cold Six Thousand|4191|The Cold Six Thousand (Underworld USA #2)|James Ellroy|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1403182681s/4191.jpg|22797]) assassinations, and Hoover years. Filled with CIA agents, FBI agents, rogue cops, corrupt cops, black panthers, femme fatales, voodoo, Cuba, conspiracies, intrigue, etc., these books read like the back side of some warped people's history. This isn't your mother or father's history. This is the devil's diary, the assassin's journal, the sludge and the gout of history. It is the underbelly and the corruption. Sometimes you learn as much from the worm as the eagle. This book is the worm and it is brilliant. I'm sad it is over and sad this series will never again be a shock. Reading these books seems to be as close as you can come without ingesting methamphetamine of experiencing the chalk, crystal, and ice of those years of Camelot that weren't photographed in Life magazine. The prose and the dialogue seemed to drill into my brain as I read. It was relentless. I think about the prose and the narrative and I wonder about how any writer could emerge from birthing this series without scars, wounds, and serious therapy debt. I'm glad Ellroy paid the price that we might experience this work of art.
alanfederman's review against another edition
3.0
I really like James Ellroy - he has a very unique cadence to his story-telling, but this one dragged on just a little too long. Lots of JFK/MLLK and J Edgar Hoover conspiracy theories.
muninnherself's review against another edition
4.0
The final book in the Underworld USA trilogy, this takes place after the assassinations of Robert Kennedy and Martin Luther King and is the usual extremely complex, not to say labyrinthine Ellroy plot, involving police corruption, the FBI, President Nixon, the Mob, the Black Panthers, anti-Castro Cubans etc. etc. and so forth.
Some of it's set in the Dominican Republic and Haiti, which is interesting as I don't know much about either country, so in addition to the usual LA/ Las Vegas fun and games we also have voodoo and the machinations of the Mafia trying to find an alternative to Cuba for their dodgy casinos. Ellroy's three main protagonists, Dwight Holly, Wayne Tudrow jr and Donald 'Crutch' Crutchfield are all extremely complicated and compromised characters, the first two familiar from the previous books in the series. It's always hard to tell what Ellroy's own position on any of this stuff is, sometimes making the reader feel they are complicit, which makes for uncomfortable reading. And don't worry, people get hit with phone books just like they always do. *spits out teeth*
Some of it's set in the Dominican Republic and Haiti, which is interesting as I don't know much about either country, so in addition to the usual LA/ Las Vegas fun and games we also have voodoo and the machinations of the Mafia trying to find an alternative to Cuba for their dodgy casinos. Ellroy's three main protagonists, Dwight Holly, Wayne Tudrow jr and Donald 'Crutch' Crutchfield are all extremely complicated and compromised characters, the first two familiar from the previous books in the series. It's always hard to tell what Ellroy's own position on any of this stuff is, sometimes making the reader feel they are complicit, which makes for uncomfortable reading. And don't worry, people get hit with phone books just like they always do. *spits out teeth*
rafalreadersinitiative's review against another edition
3.0
Kolejna dobra powieść Ellroya. Dlaczego "tylko" dobra? Cóż, niestety, mocno chaotyczny styl tego, znakomitego skądinąd, pisarza, potrafi być uciążliwy - wymaga on od czytelnika całkowitego skoncentrowania się a na dodatek zbyt wiele pozostawia w sferze domysłów. Tym razem w tym twórczym bałaganie posuwa się za daleko, nawet jak na moją dużą - względem jego twórczych kaprysów - tolerancję. W zasadzie jest tak, że przez około 3/4 powieści nie wiadomo, o co tak naprawdę chodzi. Sytuacja robi się nieco bardziej klarowna pod koniec, który, po raz pierwszy - odnosząc się do znanych mi powieści Ellroya - mocno rozczarowuje.
Ciężko nazwać "Krew..." kryminałem (ta etykietka zresztą nie pasuje do żadnej z powieści Ellroya, moża poza "Czarną Dalią") - jest to ponownie solidne i dosadne political fiction z elementami thrillera sensacyjnego. Tradycyjnie już, każda z postaci mniej, lub bardziej lepi się od "brudu", nie ma tu charakterów pozytywnych, wszyscy od góry (prezydent) do samego dna, to nieprzebierający w środkach, słowach i czynach popaprańcy, każdym kierują prymitywne przesłanki, nawet jeśli zasłania się tą czy inną ideologią.
Jest brutalnie, jest krwawo (do granic gore), wulgarnie i syfiasto. Takie są powieści Ellroya, i być może taki właśnie jest świat. Jednak po kilkuset stronach nurzania się w tym brudzie, odetchnąłem jednak z ulgą - a nie zupełnie taki powinien być efekt obcowania z literaturą. Zabrakło tutaj solidnej kanwy, dobrej fabuły spajającej poszczególne wątki, czegoś, o czym już wcześniej autor nie napisał lepiej, czegoś, czego by tutaj nie powtórzył...
Ciężko nazwać "Krew..." kryminałem (ta etykietka zresztą nie pasuje do żadnej z powieści Ellroya, moża poza "Czarną Dalią") - jest to ponownie solidne i dosadne political fiction z elementami thrillera sensacyjnego. Tradycyjnie już, każda z postaci mniej, lub bardziej lepi się od "brudu", nie ma tu charakterów pozytywnych, wszyscy od góry (prezydent) do samego dna, to nieprzebierający w środkach, słowach i czynach popaprańcy, każdym kierują prymitywne przesłanki, nawet jeśli zasłania się tą czy inną ideologią.
Jest brutalnie, jest krwawo (do granic gore), wulgarnie i syfiasto. Takie są powieści Ellroya, i być może taki właśnie jest świat. Jednak po kilkuset stronach nurzania się w tym brudzie, odetchnąłem jednak z ulgą - a nie zupełnie taki powinien być efekt obcowania z literaturą. Zabrakło tutaj solidnej kanwy, dobrej fabuły spajającej poszczególne wątki, czegoś, o czym już wcześniej autor nie napisał lepiej, czegoś, czego by tutaj nie powtórzył...
nigellicus's review against another edition
5.0
With Spring busily springing and the ice gradually thawing from our hair and the feeling coming back to our fingers and toes, it would, perhaps, behoove us to recommend something of a bright and cheerful nature to our readers, something warm and sparkly and happy and such. Well, maybe next time.
Blood’s A Rover is the third book in James Ellroy’s Underworld USA trilogy, which has charted the dark and murky underbelly of American history, from JFK to Nixon. The current volume brings us up to the seventies on a wave of drugs, racism, violence and corruption on a massive scale. Ellroy pulls no punches and spares no sacred cows. Everyone’s dirty, everyone’s scamming and nobody’s innocent.
Dwight Holly, Wayne Tedrow Jnr and Don Crutchfield are Ellroy’s damaged, morally compromised antiheroes, charting a course between the depraved paranoia of J Edgar Hoover, the insane profligacy of Howard Hughes and the scheming unctuousness of Richard Nixon. While working to build mob-financed casinos in the Dominican Republic, the must also engage in a clandestine race war, targeting black power organisations in Los Angeles. They find themselves drawn to women on the opposite side of the political spectrum, and these obsessions spell their doom.
Epic in scope, relentlessly paced and written in terse, pared down, hard-boiled staccato sentences, this is a hyped-up, pumped-up journey through a vision of social and personal damnation, which will be immensely satisfying to readers of previous volumes. New readers may want to go back to American Tabloid and The Cold Six Thousand, though be aware that the middle volume is also the weakest of the three.
So yes, it’s grim and violent and straddles the line between unflinching realism and outright voyeurism, but
it’s also a hell of a thriller that will glue itself to your eyeballs.
Blood’s A Rover is the third book in James Ellroy’s Underworld USA trilogy, which has charted the dark and murky underbelly of American history, from JFK to Nixon. The current volume brings us up to the seventies on a wave of drugs, racism, violence and corruption on a massive scale. Ellroy pulls no punches and spares no sacred cows. Everyone’s dirty, everyone’s scamming and nobody’s innocent.
Dwight Holly, Wayne Tedrow Jnr and Don Crutchfield are Ellroy’s damaged, morally compromised antiheroes, charting a course between the depraved paranoia of J Edgar Hoover, the insane profligacy of Howard Hughes and the scheming unctuousness of Richard Nixon. While working to build mob-financed casinos in the Dominican Republic, the must also engage in a clandestine race war, targeting black power organisations in Los Angeles. They find themselves drawn to women on the opposite side of the political spectrum, and these obsessions spell their doom.
Epic in scope, relentlessly paced and written in terse, pared down, hard-boiled staccato sentences, this is a hyped-up, pumped-up journey through a vision of social and personal damnation, which will be immensely satisfying to readers of previous volumes. New readers may want to go back to American Tabloid and The Cold Six Thousand, though be aware that the middle volume is also the weakest of the three.
So yes, it’s grim and violent and straddles the line between unflinching realism and outright voyeurism, but
it’s also a hell of a thriller that will glue itself to your eyeballs.
More...