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A review by dknippling
The Black Dahlia by James Ellroy
5.0
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.