L.A. confidential (alkuperäinen julkaisuvuosi 1990; vuoden 1998 painos)

You've got to be kidding me: the endlessly complicated whodunnit hinges on one gigantic case of coincidence and mistaken identity? BOOOOOOOOOO.

There were redeeming things about this book, but I unenjoyed reading it too much to focus on them. FINITO! ( )

La storia è costruita intorno a tre poliziotti, Bud White, Jack Vincennes ed Ed Exley nella Los Angeles (L.A.) dei primi anni cinquanta, la Los Angeles di Hollywood, delle dive del cinema e della polizia più efficiente al mondo. Dopo aver costruito ad arte una tensione feroce fra i tre protagonisti, in occasione del cosiddetto Natale di Sangue (una gigantesca zuffa scoppiata fra poliziotti e criminali proprio la notte del Natale del 1951 e che avrà strascichi pesantissimi per il Dipartimento), Ellroy fa del massacro del Nite Owl (sei persone massacrate in un coffee shop losangelino, apparentemente senza moventi precisi e senza che vi siano prove schiaccianti a carico di chicchessia) il cuore dell'intricatissima trama del romanzo: a poco a poco, emergerà un verminaio fatto di collusioni fra polizia e stampa sensazionalistica, polizia e criminalità organizzata dedita alla produzione di materiale pornografico estremo e al traffico di droga, potere politico e criminalità. E nessuno dei protagonisti potrà non fare i conti con sé stesso e con il proprio passato (specie Ed Exley, figlio dell'influentissimo ex-capo della Polizia Preston Exley, in realtà anche lui tragicamente coinvolto nelle oscure trame della vicenda). Proprio il Nite Owl scombussolerà le vite dei protagonisti per sempre, mettendoli faccia a faccia alla ricerca di una verità scottante e terribile. Romanzo hard-boiled che riprende i moduli della narrativa noir di Dashiell Hammett e Raymond Chandler.

La storia spicca anche per un intreccio tra fiction e realtà: nel romanzo appaiono o vengono citati personaggi realmente esistiti come il magnate Howard Hughes, l'allora capo della polizia di Los Angeles William H. Parker, l'editore Robert Harrison, il musicista Spade Cooley, il mafioso Jack Dragna, il noto gangster Mickey Cohen e il suo braccio destro Johnny Stompanato, il quale ebbe veramente una relazione con l'attrice Lana Turner e fu successivamente ucciso dalla figlia di questa.

A set of twists and turns through the landscape of the underworld of L.A. This is another fine novel in James Ellroy's L.A Quartet and is different enough from the movie (which I viewed previously) to entice and bring the reader along for the wild ride. The plot is unpredictable and the characters are somewhat stoic in their bearing, possessing the attributes that are generally known in crime fiction. Nevertheless, there is much to like here and I felt fully engaged for the duration of the novel.

4 stars. ( )

A horrific crime at a late-night cafe unexpectedly brings together very different police officers whose individual burdens to bear may help as much as they hinder.

Picking up where The Big Nowhere left off, L.A. Confidential looks at corruption within the LAPD during the 1950s. Once again, there are three separate protagonists (this time Ed Exley, Bud White, and Jack Vincennes) and a multitude of subplots. It takes a bit, but Ellroy does tie everything in together nicely. The first 50 pages or so were a little slow going, but after that I was completely hooked and read the majority of the 500-page novel in a single day after work.

Before reading this series, I had seen the film based on this title; I thought that might prevent me from enjoying this book as much because I would already know where it was going. However, the book is much more complicated in both plot and character development, so there was plenty here, even for those who have already seen the movie.

Although not quite as bad as the previous two titles, the description of the murders can be a bit gruesome at times. Further, Ellroy highlights a bygone era not with nostalgia for "the good old days," but by showing the racism and other problems. However, it is easily (and understandably) off-putting for some readers to hear the various epithets and so forth. For that reason in particular, this book won't be for everyone. ( )

Bloody, brutal, brilliant noir epic about three cops dealing with the aftermath of a violent massacre set in corrupt 1950s Los Angeles. ( )