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3.58 AVERAGE
3.58 AVERAGE
Neo-noir: dames, fists, pistols. What more do you need?
This a NOVEL, not non-fiction, which somehow I missed. I was expecting The Suspicions of Mr. Wicher or something. (Good book, btw.) So it's the tale of two cops working to "solve" a case that was never actually solved. I thought that would be a problem, too, but that was pulled off just fine.
By the time I decided what was actually going in instead of what I expected, it all finally took off. The beginnig IS slow and has nothing to do with the murder, but the events described all turn out to have been necessary for the plot. I'd just roll with it. This isn't a perfect book, it's really a 4.5, but I rounded up. Nothing is written badly or weakly; the book just doesn't hit Dashill Hammett or the other greats of the actual era. Expect a good neo-noir following traditional tropes (including a last-moment twist) rather than new story ground covered. It's Chinatown. That's about all you need to know.
Recommended for noir and neo-noir fans and fans of historical fiction who can stand a greusome murder or two.
This a NOVEL, not non-fiction, which somehow I missed. I was expecting The Suspicions of Mr. Wicher or something. (Good book, btw.) So it's the tale of two cops working to "solve" a case that was never actually solved. I thought that would be a problem, too, but that was pulled off just fine.
By the time I decided what was actually going in instead of what I expected, it all finally took off. The beginnig IS slow and has nothing to do with the murder, but the events described all turn out to have been necessary for the plot. I'd just roll with it. This isn't a perfect book, it's really a 4.5, but I rounded up. Nothing is written badly or weakly; the book just doesn't hit Dashill Hammett or the other greats of the actual era. Expect a good neo-noir following traditional tropes (including a last-moment twist) rather than new story ground covered. It's Chinatown. That's about all you need to know.
Recommended for noir and neo-noir fans and fans of historical fiction who can stand a greusome murder or two.
Holy cow! I hesitate going five stars on my first Ellroy read - because where do you go from there? - but I ate this up fast. It's visceral, lurid crime fiction, appropriate for its legendary subject. I saw Ellroy's writing described as "literary crack." Apt label. I can't remember if I watched the movie version or not, but having dug Hollywood Babylon and Rockstar's L.A. Noire on Xbox, this was a thrill-ride. Looking forward to the next round!
rough, but good
If you can get past the racism, the misogyny, the homophobia, and the anti- Semitism, there’s a good book in there.
If you can get past the racism, the misogyny, the homophobia, and the anti- Semitism, there’s a good book in there.
Twisty twisty, gruesome gritty. Proper noir brought kicking and screaming into the modern age.
To be honest, the book was okay, but I did had to skip a few pages because it was a bit tedious. The first few chapters made me feel as if I had picked up the wrong book or that the pages had been exchanged with those of a WWE book just to fool me. Boxing was the main focus at first. Okay, if it had only been a side narrative for a few pages that would have been alright but I was approx. 70 pages in and still reading about the main character boxing. Wasn't this book meant to be a novel on the black dahlia crime? A little irritating.
Interesting reading this while knowing the real case was never closed. Really well done.
This book was face-meltingly good. I honestly may mark it as five stars in the future, I want to see how much it stays with me (haunts me); and what I feel when I read it again. I rarely keep books and I am keeping this one to read again.
Re-read still really love it...and I think 4 stars is right, there are parts that are 5 stars and parts that don't quite work. Reading more James Ellroy right now.
Re-read still really love it...and I think 4 stars is right, there are parts that are 5 stars and parts that don't quite work. Reading more James Ellroy right now.
Not what I expected at all. I was hoping for more of a crime story; the investigation of the Black Dahlia. Instead, all I got was S.L.O.W... m.o.v.i.n.g.... D.R.A.M.A... The story focused more on the personal life of the investigators involved. No one wants to read about the police involved in an investigation; people want to read about the investigation itself!
One thing I didn't expect from a famed L.A. crime novel was a total drive-by of my hometown, Aberdeen, Scotland. To drop one of my own though, I saw the film of this around a decade ago and remember virtually nothing about it and think this might have had a lot to do with how long it has taken me to get round to reading it.
This is a brilliantly plotted tale of obsession and lies pertaining to the real life unsolved "Black Dahlia" murder with Bucky Bleichert our view into things. It escalates from a book about a police investigation to the lies we'll tell ourselves and others in order to protect the ones we love. it's a real slow burn of a novel and I am certain there are many more reviews here that can do the book much more justice than me, but suffice it to say that I loved it in that way you can love something so pitch black.
I'll be back to explore "The Big Nowhere" in due course!
This is a brilliantly plotted tale of obsession and lies pertaining to the real life unsolved "Black Dahlia" murder with Bucky Bleichert our view into things. It escalates from a book about a police investigation to the lies we'll tell ourselves and others in order to protect the ones we love. it's a real slow burn of a novel and I am certain there are many more reviews here that can do the book much more justice than me, but suffice it to say that I loved it in that way you can love something so pitch black.
I'll be back to explore "The Big Nowhere" in due course!