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A review by ohmyvisage
Suicide Hill by James Ellroy
4.0
"And my death was a thrill, on suicide hill"
Oh yeah, this is where the rubber meets the road for Ellroy. Where all of his talent begins to show and where Lloyd Hopkins justifies himself as a classic detective character.
The amount of growth Elroy shows from Because the Night to Suicide Hill is astounding. While I did enjoy Brown's Requiem and Clandestine, the first two Hopkins books were decidedly uneven and, until I read Suicide Hill, unnecessary.
SH changed all that. Hitting the ground running with a tense and atmospheric introduction of The book's main villain, we don't even get to meet Hopkins until almost 40 pages into the book. The character work is also much more well-rounded than the previous two novels. Hopkins finally SHOWS why he is a hotshot detective that the boss have to tolerate, and the trio of antagonists all have fairly complex and deep pathologies, while also showing hidden depths and the capacity for change. It takes quite a bit of effort to generate sympathy for a character whose primary character tic is to hum the Jaws theme as he chases after women, but by the end he is redeemed and sympathized. It's an incredible piece of work.
The prose isn't quite as dynamic or engaging as future Ellroy novels, but it does still have plenty of interesting turns of phrase and shows his talent as a wordsmith. There's one particular passage, that I won't fully quote since it's fairly graphic, but shows that particular talent of his where it is a seemingly crass declaration, but actually says more about society and particularly men's views of women than not. I've been thinking about it constantly.
Perhaps it was the lowered expectations set by the first two novels, but suicide Hill delivers the goods and is worthy of inclusion with Ellroy's canonical works. Also, it heightens the previous two novels by incorporating themes from them into the conclusion. It is very much worth a read for even a casual fan of the demon dog
4.5/5
Oh yeah, this is where the rubber meets the road for Ellroy. Where all of his talent begins to show and where Lloyd Hopkins justifies himself as a classic detective character.
The amount of growth Elroy shows from Because the Night to Suicide Hill is astounding. While I did enjoy Brown's Requiem and Clandestine, the first two Hopkins books were decidedly uneven and, until I read Suicide Hill, unnecessary.
SH changed all that. Hitting the ground running with a tense and atmospheric introduction of The book's main villain, we don't even get to meet Hopkins until almost 40 pages into the book. The character work is also much more well-rounded than the previous two novels. Hopkins finally SHOWS why he is a hotshot detective that the boss have to tolerate, and the trio of antagonists all have fairly complex and deep pathologies, while also showing hidden depths and the capacity for change. It takes quite a bit of effort to generate sympathy for a character whose primary character tic is to hum the Jaws theme as he chases after women, but by the end he is redeemed and sympathized. It's an incredible piece of work.
The prose isn't quite as dynamic or engaging as future Ellroy novels, but it does still have plenty of interesting turns of phrase and shows his talent as a wordsmith. There's one particular passage, that I won't fully quote since it's fairly graphic, but shows that particular talent of his where it is a seemingly crass declaration, but actually says more about society and particularly men's views of women than not. I've been thinking about it constantly.
Perhaps it was the lowered expectations set by the first two novels, but suicide Hill delivers the goods and is worthy of inclusion with Ellroy's canonical works. Also, it heightens the previous two novels by incorporating themes from them into the conclusion. It is very much worth a read for even a casual fan of the demon dog
4.5/5