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A review by jakewritesbooks
Blood's a Rover by James Ellroy
4.0
The conclusion of James Ellroy’s Underworld USA trilogy is probably not the best work of is but it may be one of my favorites.
If you haven’t followed along with my reviews, allow me some framing: I have a weird relationship with James Ellroy’s books. LA noirs and overarching American conspiracy are definitely my thing. But for years, I wasn’t able to connect with Ellroy’s style. Not necessarily his writing style, per se, though that often leaves something to be desired. Rather, Ellroy reads were tough for me because of their rampant, unapologetic cynicism. Every character was little more than their motives and entire people seemed to exist to sprout exposition and then be killed or do something transgressively sexual.
But then November 8, 2016 happened. And I gave into a heavy dose of cynicism myself. Last summer, I picked up The Cold Six-Thousand and was surprised at how quickly I devoured it. I then switched to Perfidia, which was one of the best things I read last year. Furiously, I made my way through his original LA quartet and now back to this in order to finish both.
This is no different from other Ellroy’s in terms of plot: the peek behind the curtain of the compromised men and women who do bad things for those with more power than they have. But there is a maturity to Ellroy’s style that wasn’t here in TC6T. It’s almost as if he wants us to appreciate these characters in a way he hasn’t otherwise done so before. Because I was able to connect with them, feel their joys/pains/struggles. Perhaps it’s because rigging the 68 election or an attempt to build mob casinos in the DR isn’t as compelling as political assassination but by having lesser stories, I became closer with the people who lived them. There’s a lot of tragedy here and Ellroy deals with it honestly.
Of course, this is still Ellroy so racism and homophobia are rampant, as well as a plot that hurtles itself off the interstate at every opportunity (though this one is easier to follow than others). Still, I appreciated what he was doing here and the stories he told through these people.
If you haven’t followed along with my reviews, allow me some framing: I have a weird relationship with James Ellroy’s books. LA noirs and overarching American conspiracy are definitely my thing. But for years, I wasn’t able to connect with Ellroy’s style. Not necessarily his writing style, per se, though that often leaves something to be desired. Rather, Ellroy reads were tough for me because of their rampant, unapologetic cynicism. Every character was little more than their motives and entire people seemed to exist to sprout exposition and then be killed or do something transgressively sexual.
But then November 8, 2016 happened. And I gave into a heavy dose of cynicism myself. Last summer, I picked up The Cold Six-Thousand and was surprised at how quickly I devoured it. I then switched to Perfidia, which was one of the best things I read last year. Furiously, I made my way through his original LA quartet and now back to this in order to finish both.
This is no different from other Ellroy’s in terms of plot: the peek behind the curtain of the compromised men and women who do bad things for those with more power than they have. But there is a maturity to Ellroy’s style that wasn’t here in TC6T. It’s almost as if he wants us to appreciate these characters in a way he hasn’t otherwise done so before. Because I was able to connect with them, feel their joys/pains/struggles. Perhaps it’s because rigging the 68 election or an attempt to build mob casinos in the DR isn’t as compelling as political assassination but by having lesser stories, I became closer with the people who lived them. There’s a lot of tragedy here and Ellroy deals with it honestly.
Of course, this is still Ellroy so racism and homophobia are rampant, as well as a plot that hurtles itself off the interstate at every opportunity (though this one is easier to follow than others). Still, I appreciated what he was doing here and the stories he told through these people.