Helpful Score: 2
An absolutely haunting book by one of the most brilliant crime writers around, James Ellroy. Ellroy goes back in time and back to Los Angeles to ivestigate the murder of his own mother.
A New York Times Notable Book of the Year
"Both a harrowing autobiography and a disturbingly fixated love story blunt, graphic, and oddly exhilarating." San Francisco Chronicle
"Both a harrowing autobiography and a disturbingly fixated love story blunt, graphic, and oddly exhilarating." San Francisco Chronicle
Helpful Score: 1
Wow! James Ellroy really opened himself and his personal life for all to see. Excellent, excellent book.
Helpful Score: 1
One of my favorite crime novels.
worst book i've ever read
Interesting story, but his obsession went on far to long to keep my interest.
Ellroy likes sentences. Lots of short sentences. James Patterson gets paid by the chapter. Ellroy, by sentences.
This is a very dark book, and written in a very "noir" style. James Ellroy's mother was murdered when he was 10 years old, and of course it affected his life. He grew up angry and very lost--and fascinated with serial murderers, in particular the Black Dahlia case, which he has written about extensively. This book chronicles his attempts years later, as an adult, to go back and solve his mother's murder, but he also tells of his harrowing youth--much of it mired in drugs and violence. Parts of this book were very hard to read about. But the writing is vivid and very urgent, and Ellroy obviously is a very talented writer. I am glad I read this book.
