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Summary: One of my favorite books of all time.
Review: L.A. Confidential was complex to say the least. It is a long, cold, brutal look at the fifties in L.A. I picked it up after I saw the movie. I couldn't put it down. Ellroy came up with so many great characters, Sid Hudgens, tabloid reporter found hacked up with an ax. Jack Vincennes getting money from Sid for Narco stories. All characters are deeply flawed, and you come upon the notion of fighting fire with fire, bad guys against worse guys.
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Summary: The Master of Post-Modern Crime Fiction
Review: James Ellroy's L.A. Confidential is riveting, compelling, shocking, and, ultimately, satisfying. This is easily one of the most complex and mesmerizing stories in the genre of crime fiction. Just as in life, it is impossible to tell the "good guys" from the "bad." Take time with the subplots (there are many) and settle in for one of the best rides in fiction.
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Summary: No word short of "excellent" fits this novel.
Review: I read LA Confidential before the movie came out years ago. I was blown away and immediately went out and read the rest of the series, "The Black Dahlia," "The Big Nowhere," and "White Jazz." I suggest you do the same.What I found most striking about LA Confidential was the complexity of the plot. There are few books I have ever seen with this level of interrelationship between people and events...kinda like life, huh? There are several different threads, investigations, and lead characters (none truly likeable) and they sem to be going in completely different directions most of the time. In the end, the explanation for all events is satisfying, dizzying, and wonderful. The movie, which features about 1/3 of the plot and plot twists, is also great btw. Remember this is the third book in the series and the disadvantage to reading this book first was that the first two were not as complex. Ellroy was learning? Anyway, you'll do yourself a big favor in reading this one. I will warn you though, A LOT OF PEOPLE DIE in this book, and some not so nicely.
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Summary: What a plot!
Review: Oh man! I just finished reading the book yesterday, and as I approached the last pages, I started reading slower just to make the book last longer! I've also read the two predecessors ("Black Dahlia" and "The Big Nowhere") before I read "L.A. Confidential", and even though the plots in those to are brilliant, they don't even come near to the plot in "L.A. Confidential". I saw the movie back in 1997, but I don't remember the plot being this big and extensive. I was thrilled by all the persons and their interconnections, the corruption, the "taking sides", the sudden conversion in the "good guy/bad guy" aspect, who is on whose side and who's trying to get who down. I must admit ... I think this is definitely one of the best books I've ever read. I was fascinated with the plot. James Ellroy writes in a way that I could never imagine Los Angeles in the 1950s as being without all the corrupted cops, bloody murders, beautiful women, the good guy/bad guy cops, the gangsters, the drugs ... the darker side of a remarkable era.
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Summary: Epic Crime Saga
Review: The one regret i have aboout this book is that i can not read it again for the first time. I first picked this book up when i heard the movie was coming out. I started reading but the style got to me and I stopped. After seeing the movie I was entranced. It is the greatest movie of all time. I went back and went right through the book. I have read it 3 times to date and love every page. If you loved the movie read this book it really delves into the 3 characters and spans years. I can not put into words how truely classic this book is. Wish i could have been a cop back then.
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Summary: A great crime novel...
Review: This book is great! If you like crime novels in the old pulp style, this book is for you. It is not easy to read and the sub-crimes sometimes distract you form the plot, but stick with it and all is wrapped up in the end. The only complaint about the book is that one needs to pay close attention to the characters, especially those that have very small mention as the book gets going. 100 times better then the movie!
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Summary: Scott Turow for the louche!
Review: This is one of the most overrated books of recent years. I have no problem with people liking swill, they usually do, but people with otherwise good taste seem to LOVE this pretentious twaddler. Ellroy writes plot-dependant novels, but can't plot to save his damn life. Halfway through every one of his books, the plot breaks down, and, not that I read for plot, there's nothing else left. Save yourself time and read a good Ed McBain, Elmore Leonard, or, go to the source, Dash Hammett.
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Summary: Pure TORTURE
Review: The guy can't write worth sh#!, let alone tell a story. There isn't many complete sentences and even less complete thoughts. Example paragraph: "Voices: attaboy, Big Bud. Faces to the voices-skewed,wrong. Eexley still dumping, Mr. Teetotaler Witness. Bud ran down the catwalk, locked him in tight." I mean what the heck is that! It's nonsense! And that is how the whole 496 pages reads....like nonsense. If you can find the thread in here that's worth the effort of following more power to ya. To me it became more trouble than it was worth. What a disappointment. I DON'T RECOMMEND THIS BOOK AT ALL
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Summary: Do your homework and be happy
Review: LA Confidential has been rightly hailed as a masterpiece of American fiction, not just of American crime fiction. But you need to do your homework first, as this is actually the third book in Ellroy's L.A. Quartet. The set includes, "The Black Dahlia," "The Big Nowhere," "LAC," and "White Jazz." By the end of White Jazz, the driving plot and Ellroy's maturity as a writer have honed an already sparse style to something just short of hebeprenic monosyllabic stuttering. Perversely, though, rather than becoming almost funny (like Hemingway could get (The rain fell down. It fell on the trees. The trees got wet. I was drunk, in the rain.)), the spare language actually gets out of the way of the forceful and gripping dialogue and action. I strongly recommed that you read these four books in order, as the story arc unfolds over that much time. Cruical characters such as "Buzz" Meeks (who was criminally shortchanged in the film version) and Dudley Smith appear in two, three, or four of the books, all of which makes LA Con, the best of the uniformly excellent four, even better in context. It may be a lot of work to do, several thousand pages, but true fans of American fiction could do much worse.
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Summary: Hold on to your hat!
Review: This was my first of now many Ellroy books. They have all been great (especially The Big Nowhere, which you should read first, L A Con. will make more since if you do). This book is tough to read at first, the writing style almost has a rhythm to it. Once I caught on to the beat, I absolutely could not quit reading. I was breathless and begging for more at the end. Bud White is one of the most brutal characters I've ever seen in a fictional story, yet you had to like him for his softer side. The sudden violence that emerges through the book is so quick and blunt, I always had to back track several times to make sure what I read really happened....Read it!
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