Rating: 
Summary: As hard-boiled as it gets.
Review: Stunning. Mind-numbing. The style annoys at first, but then sucks you into a madhouse stream of consciousness heading full-bore to a bloodbath. The horror of L.A. post-war development gets laid bare here, stuff Chandler only pointed at politely, and that Jim Thompson showed us, but never made us touch. Ellroy's telegraphic prose dips the reader deep into the filty underbelly of Tinseltown, LA's mask and ego. Spectacular violence explodes with alarming frequency. And these characters, frantic and grasping, somehow slog on, remorselessly. It's weird and quite disturbing, really. And simply not to be missed. It really stares into the abyss and then shows us what our suburban obsession with ostensibly keeping our neighborhoods decent really does to people on both sides of the law. And, ahem, is that line very distinguishable?
Rating:
Summary: Dark, brutal and scary - and very different from the film
Review: Having seen the film and heard a lot about Ellroy's books - a friend of mine loves them - I decided to buy this book; and although it was vastly different from the movie, I was not disappointed. Ellroy's writing is very brutal, but it doesn't wallow in its brutality, IMO. His staccato style of writing is stunning, and once you're used to it, you're pulled into the plot. Admittedly, L.A. Confidential has some plot developments that are extreme at best and might strain credibility, but it's mainly about characters - one thing which the movie, IMO, got very right. It's about Jack Vincennes, Bud White, Ed Exley, all the others... and everyone has secrets. Usually pitch black secrets. It's not an easy read - because it is brutal, because of Ellroy's style, because of the many 50s idioms and colloquialisms. But it's worth while, *if* you're interested in characters and like to look into the abyss every now and then.
Rating:
Summary: I like the movie - LOVED THE BOOK !!!
Review: When I went to see L.A Confidential with my sister, I have to admit, I became a fan. But it wasn't until I read the book that I saw the "whole" picture - if you know what I mean ! I really liked how everything was more violent in the novel, downplayed in the movie, it came as a surprise. After that, when ever I was in a conversation about "L.A Confidential", the movie and people were saying how good it was....I'd always say "Read the book, then get shocked !!!" But I'm now reading "The Big Nowhere" and that's coming along nicely ! can't wait to finish it !!!!
Rating: 
Summary: ONE CASE WHERE THE MOVIE OUTSHINES THE BOOK
Review: EVER HEAR THAT OLD ADAGE "THE BOOK'S ALWAYS BETTER THAN THE MOVIE"?I CERTAINLY USED TO THINK SO,BUT IT SEEMS IN THIS CASE THAT OLD CLICHE IS WRONG.AT OVER 400 PAGES,THE AUTHOR LOSES HIS WAY MORE THAN ONCE AND HIS TERSE,SLAM BANG DELIVERY DOES NOT MAKE THE BOOK ANY EASIER TO UNDERSTAND. SOMEONE SHOULD GIVE MR.ELLROY SOME PROZAC.ABSOLUTELY NO CHARACTER IN THIS BOOK OFFERS ANY REDEEMING QUALITIES,EVERYONE'S WORKING AN ANGLE,EVERONE'S OUT FOR THEIRSELF,AND EVERYONE'S GOT A SCORE TO SETTLE.ALL WELL AND GOOD IF ELLROY MANAGED TO TIE UP ALL HIS LOOSE ENDS( AND BELIEVE ME,THEY ARE NUMEROUS )AND BRING THE BOOK TO SOME SORT OF COHERENT END BUT EVEN THIS ESCAPES HIM.CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT IS NONEXISTENT AND THE PLOT IS SO CONVOLUTED I DOUBT IF EINSTEIN COULD FOLLOW IT WITHOUT THE AID OF PENCIL AND PAPER.SPEAKING OF WHICH,THE READER WILL DEFINATELY REQUIRE THE AID OF PENCIL AND PAPER TO KEEP TRACK OF THE HUNDREDS OF CHARACTERS ELLROY INTRODUCES(MOST OF WHICH ARE SUPERFLUOUS). TAKE MY ADVICE,THIS IS ONE CASE WHERE YOU SHOULD RENT THE MOVIE.
Rating:
Summary: Ab-so-lu-te-ly wonderful
Review: You'll have to bear with me because this can get a bit problematic. Reviewing "L.A. Confidential", that is, without giving away any of the many surprises it contains (like in the famed film "Seven" - one of my favourites, may I add - this is a story full of surprises, some of them pleasant, most of them unpleasant). Be prepared for a no-return ride to the depths of the human soul. The darkests depths, that is.So, we have three main characters, Ed Exley, Bud White and Jack Vincennes. One of the most brilliant assets of the book is the way how Ellroy was capable of making them multi-textured and completely belieavable and at the same time kept the dense plot completely under control. The way how Jack Vincennes' personality evolves from hotshot super-cop to "man past redemption" and then he manages to regain his honour is quite simply brilliant. Not a single word is wasted, not a single plot-turn is dispensable, not a single line of dialogue is less than perfect. A masterpiece, doubtlessly. Now, about the film, as they are more or less indissociable by now - it is also a masterpiece, and that is what is amazing about it, since most films adapted from great novels have a way to get somewhat muddled. Not this one, though. I write film critiques for a local magazine and I have to say that this is one of the - if not "the" - best novel-to-film adaptation I have seen in years. Kevin Spacey, who also happens to be one of my favourite actors, was finally cast against type - such a pity that his part had to be somewhat pared down. Finnishing off, one piece of advice - READ IT!!!
Rating:
Summary: Although I'm a non-native speaker
Review: Reading a booklike this is just a like a heavy punch in the stomach; the way Leonard tells his story is so absorbing that I read the book in two days; I just couldn't stop reading it! As a non-native speaker of English (I'm brazilian), I didn't expect that amount of slangs and coptalk I was about to face with, and it surely gave me a lot of work to understand all the subtleties of the violence so agressively exposed in this book; the way the story is told is absolutey "mind sticking", and I mean by that that once you've read it, it's hard to forget it.
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Summary: The Ultimate Tough Guy Book
Review: A vigorous, athletic, roaring romp through the brutal, ugly, crazy underside of 1950s Hollywood. Great writing makes for a great read, and L.A. CONFIDENTIAL is just such a read, though some of the scenes are gratuitously and excessively brutal (implausible, rather than stomach-churning). A warning to the reader: The book is a page-turner, but take your time, because it's also deeply involved and complex (the film won't prepare you for it). Miss a word, and a whole scene 50 pages later may come as a complete surprise. Enjoy!
Rating: 
Summary: Extremely strong content, weak character development.
Review: Extreme violence and lude sex are the common theme throughout this book. Character development is poor in my view. Although his choppy writing style may be reflective of Ellroy's attempt to keep the fast-paced killing and sex rolling along, it was annoying and discomforting to me.
Rating:
Summary: My favorite book...
Review: I have a really bad habit: I start a book, and quit when I get halfway through. When I started reading this book, I couldn't put it down. I actually finished one. After I read this book, I just stared wide eyed thinking about what I had just read. I watched the movie first, so I bought the book. When I read the book, I was surprised and happy that hardly any of the movie was in the book. This book made me think. Which is what a book is supposed to do. I really, really liked the book. In fact, after I finished, I bought the entire "L.A. Quartet" at Amazon almost a day later. James Ellroy has since become my favorite author. What I really liked about the book, was the character developments of Jack Vincennes. I really wish the movie went more into that. What I also really enjoyed about the novel, was the use of Newspaper headlines and stories to move the plot along. Great writing style for a great book.
Rating: 
Summary: An excllent read in one-two punch declarative sentences.
Review: As in his other novels, Ellroy delivers an excellent mystery-thriller to the reader in his inimical hard one-two punch declarative sentences. Set in post-war LA, Ellroy once again takes us into the shabby, ugly, bloody underside of lost angels. For Ellroy, anything beautiful or tantalizing in LA is always a sham, a cover for the hick: if the woman is gorgeous, you can bet she's a whore; if the guy is a cop, you know he's on the take; if the character seems to be taking the moral highroad, you know it's only to cover the basest of motives. Ellroy's mother was murdered in LA, and he seems to have never forgiven the city or the LAPD. There are no clean souls in Ellroy's LA. Yet, in Confidential (as in his other works) there seems to be an elemental justice at work where simply by the flow of events the evil die or are destroyed. However, there is no balance in Ellroy's justice: no matter how many of the evil ones are destroyed in no way are the innocents avenged for there are no innocents: just shams for the hicks. Reading Ellroy touches that part of all of us who, when passing a particularly horrible automobile accident, know it's wrong to look, but take a long hard one anyway. Like Kafka in Metamorphosis, Ellroy demands you make a decision in the first sentence: are you willing to suspend your disbelief and travel with him through the ugliness and banality of the soul? If not, read no further. If so, you have a marvelous, page-turning read in your hands. Go ahead; take a chance: BUY THIS BOOK.
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