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3.58 AVERAGE
3.58 AVERAGE
I wanted to love this book. I finished almost hating it. I am thinking that I was hoping for a pure true story. In this particular scenario I am thinking that the true story would have been more interesting than delving into the lives of two shady police officers.
I am very disappointed and I will probably never read another James Ellroy book again. It takes almost 70 pages to get to the Elizabeth Short part and even then it is not that intriguing until you get to the end of the book. By then your desire and passion is spent and the book has you more frustrated than excited.
I feel conned by James Ellroy. The greatest mystery,crime story writer of all time? Far from it. I would pick any Hardy Boys or Nancy Drew mystery story over this drool.
I am very disappointed and I will probably never read another James Ellroy book again. It takes almost 70 pages to get to the Elizabeth Short part and even then it is not that intriguing until you get to the end of the book. By then your desire and passion is spent and the book has you more frustrated than excited.
I feel conned by James Ellroy. The greatest mystery,crime story writer of all time? Far from it. I would pick any Hardy Boys or Nancy Drew mystery story over this drool.
Top notch crime drama, more fiction than fact, though obviously based upon the real-life murder of Elizabeth Short, who in death became known as The Black Dahlia. The investigation moves fast, accumulating complexity and weight, and Ellroy never falters. This is assured, capable storytelling, full of compelling characters and raw, dark emotion.
You either like Ellroy or you don't, and I like him. I think he's got style.
This book may have turned many off because of the roundabout route Ellroy takes in getting to the hub of the story. God knows I was wondering what the whole thing was about around page 100. But hang in there!
This book may have turned many off because of the roundabout route Ellroy takes in getting to the hub of the story. God knows I was wondering what the whole thing was about around page 100. But hang in there!
adventurous
dark
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Content Warnings
Graphic: Homophobia, Racial slurs, Violence
I decided to read this because I am entralled by the Root of Evil podcast and wanted to learn more about the Black Dahlia case. This was not the book for me. Too much gratuitous sex and violence. I realize that the topic of the Black Dahlia needs to have those things, but it was the sex and violence not related to the case that I found excessive.
This was a dark read. I like characters with shades of grey, but I need some light grey in with the blacker shades.
This book didn't have enough points of light for me. I didn't feel that the darkness brought any new perspectives to me, or that I learned from in. I just felt it was dark for the sake of being dark, and that just isn't my kind of book.
I did think the mystery was interesting, enough so to save it from being a 2 star book.
This book didn't have enough points of light for me. I didn't feel that the darkness brought any new perspectives to me, or that I learned from in. I just felt it was dark for the sake of being dark, and that just isn't my kind of book.
I did think the mystery was interesting, enough so to save it from being a 2 star book.
It was slow at parts, but eventually a well-woven story, filled with some truth (The Black Dahlia really did exist and was murdered as described) and very dark characters. There was not a single character I would like to have as a friend.
As a noir/hardboiled fiction lover, I would like to thank Mr. Ellroy for putting everything I hate about the genre into one book, or rather four as I dragged myself through all four samey miserable novels of his original L.A. Quartet. I think my main criticism is that his characters are all mild variations on what Ellroy sees as the 40/50s man who is violent, usually sex-crazed, defined by his job, and gets obsessed very easily. Now, this type of character can work if they have charm or likeable supporting cast, but everyone's miserable here. His plots are a tangle that goes for both the profound impact of realization for his lead character and the presumed realism of only kind of making sense. The blow for the first is that his characters are two-dimensional garbage as I mentioned earlier. Th blow for the second is that he treats the end of all his books like the end of a murder mystery and explains the shit out of them for way too long. Honestly, I've seen people like the "nihilism" of this, but I think nihilism only works when you care about anything happening. The titular Dahlia herself is reduced to some plot points and disappears for large chunks of the story. I do not understand the praise.