Rating: 
Summary: HORRID
Review: I may not be qualified to review this book having only read about fifty pages but as the man said, I dont have to eat the whole cake to know its bad. This book is vile and unreadable, a nonstop assault of vice and sleaze, from necrophilia to drinking listerine. Watch Chinatown instead, or read some Sherlock Holmes, but DONT READ THIS BOOK
Rating: 
Summary: A skillful piece of crime drama
Review: After more than enjoying Ellroy's Black Dahlia and L.A. Confidential, I gripped this book. Maybe it was a tiny disappointment, since the story didn't really get going until I was halway through, but in the end I felt satisfied anyway. Ellroy is really a tough guy, his books are among the most brutal and cynical I've ever read. There is humanity, he seems to say, but it's destiny is always to give way for lust of power and money. A realistic view, truly. The Big Nowhere is maybe even darker than his other books - in the end, all there's left is... well, the big nowhere, and man driving through it, probably heading for his own death. That's what they call existentialism, I suppose. Ellroy has something to say, which is rare nowadays.
Rating: 
Summary: genius hideous and delicious
Review: The Big Nowhere is one of the most satisfying hardboiled pieces of writing I've ever come across. It is brutal and frustrating and unrelenting. The characterisation is stellar and leads to emotional investment rewarded with cruelty: perfect dark-hearted Ellroy realism. Ellroy is always a treat and the intricacy of his novels is amazing. The structure of his work seems to force me to become a better reader. The only problem I have with the Mysterious Press paperback is that there are some irksome typographical errors. If you expect them from the get-go, it makes their presence a bit less of an intrusion. Aside from that, please read it immediately.
Rating:
Summary: A ripping yarn--lots of ripping in fact.
Review: I agree with the reader who felt that the violence was a bit numbing in the "TBN". If there had been just one horrible, wretched murder and a few less dark, twisted chapters from the characters' past then there might have been more (for lack of a better word) AIR for the reader. As it stands, TBN doesn't let anyone off the hook, including the audience; it's all so dense, so teeming with ugliness that the violence no longer "thrills" the reader but just overwhelms--which may in fact be part of Ellroy's art of drawing the reader into the heads of these people he's created. By creating a sensory and information overload in his book, he wills the reader into the book. It's unsettling and disturbing to read these horrible things and feel immune to the awfulness, but it works on some levels. Eventually you find yourself a little removed from the gore--and as he keeps reaching for more and more black dealings, things get further and further away from t! he reader somehow-- sometimes yes, sometimes no. Maybe a little less dirt/mayhem/blood would be fine, but Ellroy, I think, is a writer who believes less is less. So he gives more. Lots more. ("LA Confidential" brims with even more weirdness, believe it or not. I'd rate both that novel and TBN as equals, a step above "The Black Dahlia") The fact is that all the characters have their shady pasts and, on occasion, rise above their pasts and discover better selves--or at least discover the truth about themselves and the crimes in this book.
Rating:
Summary: TOO PERFECT
Review: The best noir novel ever written. pure art.pure literature but i have to warn you that this book is a study in paranoia. It is very sick but a masterpiece.
Rating:
Summary: An American Masterpiece
Review: I picked up a paperback copy of this book on a whim years ago and became a life-long Ellroy fan. Brutal? Yes. Compelling? Even more so. The book grabs your head in a vise and will not allow you to look away no matter how painful. Ellroy wrote several books before this, not showing too much promise until The Black Dahlia when suddenly he burst onto the scene as a writer to be reckoned with. The Big Nowhere is a full-fledged masterpiece of American Mystery Fiction and can not be ignored. My 19 year old son tried to read it but gave up saying, "I'll try again when I grow up." The writing style exhibited here has evolved way beyond that of ordinary thrillers and, to Ellroys credit, it keeps evolving through his next books culminating in the unique White Jazz. Again, to his credit, he returns to his more conventional, but still one-of-a-kind style for American Tabloid. Still, if you only read one Ellroy novel, indeed, if you read only 1 mystery The Big Nowhere is the place. An astounding novel.
Rating:
Summary: What a book!
Review: This book, as the previous reviewer stated, leaves one's jaw hanging open. It was morbidly shocking, suspenseful and unexpected, and viscerally unexpected. I could pile on some more adjectives, but why not just read it. Ellroy's historical setting is very carefully done, too, and his writing is sometimes inspired. After discovering this book, I read "The Black Dahlia," and I can't recall a more abrupt transformation of a writer. The leap from the clumsily written and implausible "Dahlia" to the expertly paced and psychologically insightful "Nowhere" is a chasm. Also, there's a reason Hollywood did "LA Confidential" and ignored "The Big Nowhere": the latter's content is simply too shocking for a general audience. So if you want to find out what it is all about, you'll just have to read it.
Rating:
Summary: The Big Nowhere - Perhaps Ellroy's Best
Review: A work that fully validates the LA Times' claim that Ellroy is not only a master of detective fiction, but "One of the Great American Writers of our Time." The compexity of plot and structure, the depth of characterization, the attention to historical detail - the Big Nowhere excells in all of these, but perhaps the best thing I can say about it is that there were moments, reading this book, when my jaw literally hung open.
Rating:
Summary: Powerful, raw fiction; not for the meek and timid.
Review: Pure, powerful, hard-boiled mystery. I rate James Ellroy among the top 10 fiction writers in America. His later style is an acquired taste, kind of like Sauza Commemorativo served in a dirty shot glass. When recommended to friends, they either love it or don't get it. Once I began reading American Tabloid or White Jazz, I had bags under my eyes for a couple days. The non-fiction My Dark Places is as interesting and disturbing as the fiction.
Rating: 
Summary: Not his best
Review: I recently got hooked on this stuff, but I won't keep on reading if I don't have the time, don't like what I'm reading or if it's impossibly tough to cut through. In this case it was a little bit of all three. Additionally I disliked the main character Dave Klein enough, that I abandonded the book. Maybe I'll try it some other time. I have read "LA Confidential": a little disappointing, still great "Black Dahlia": Great "The Big Nowhere": When one of the main characters was killed, I took it really personally! My favorite so far! "American Tabloid": Favorite character: "Big Pete" Kooky writing style that I really enjoyed. Kept me hangin in until the end. "Hollywood Nocturne" Still reading (short stories)
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