James Ellroy

Kai

Author of LA Confidential.

He has a few books in the series and ive heard they are very good, just wondering if anyone here has read any of his works. What did you think.

henbane

Pretty much read everything he's written. Quick rundown

That series in the L.A. quartet - The Black Dahlia, The Big Nowhere, L.A. Confidential and White Jazz. The Dahlia is probably the best of the 4, The Big Nowhere is excellent as is Confidential. White Jazz should be read before his later stuff, well worth a read but you may not like his style as it is getting very staccatto at that stage.

You should probably read Brown's Requiem (his 1st book) early as it suffers in comparison to his later stuff but is very, very good as a 1st novel.

Clandestine is a fictionalised account of his mother's death which is pretty weak.

The Lloyd Hopkins stuff is readable but fairly pulpy.

Killer on the Road/Silent Terror (same book) is interesting and entertaining but not his best work. I enjoyed it but have known people not to.

American Tabloid is the best thing he's ever written and one of my favourite books of all time. Should leave it til later if you do intend to read a good chunk of his stuff. A fictionalised account of Kennedy's rise to the presidency etc. Absolutely brilliant. Well plotted, good characters, etc, etc, etc...

The Cold Six Thousand is the 2nd in a trilogy continuing on from American Tabloid. He does some surprising things with the characters which I wouldn't have thought would work until I read it. Kill anybody who spoils this book for you before you read it. Very similar in style to White Jazz as regards the language so I reckon the 3rd in this series will be even more so. (it has a name I just can't remember it as it's not out yet).

His other stuff, Dick Contino's Blues, Crimewave and My Dark Places are all very good. Short stories in the 1st one, Magazine articles and short stories in the second. An exploration of his mother's death and similar things in the last one which is excellent. I would leave all 3 of these until you had read a good chunk of the novels as he does some further exploration of peripheral characters you will already know well in the 1st two; My Dark Places is tough to get your head around until you have gotten to know something about him through his books.

Kai

Well youve convinced me, think i might start off by getting one from the La Quartet.

Thanks Henbane.

plastic membrane

The Big Nowhere is probably my favorite book of all time. Its the only book ive ever read where a) I've stayed up all night to finish it and b) physically dropped a book at when a twist rolls around.

LA Confidential is almost as good. Its frikin epic in scale. The Black Dahlia is also brilliant. White Jazz is exactly like Henbane said. Not the best one. American Tabloid is a sleazy, grotty masterpiece. The Lloyd Hopkins trilogy is OK, but it covers themes done much better in the LA Quartet.

And i think the book after The Cold Six Thousand is called Police Gazette, but im not sure.

Bibliofemme

'The Black Dahlia' was one of our bookclub choices. The reaction was very mixed to it but personally I loved it.
http://www.bibliofemme.com/reviews/black.shtml

He's amazing with dialogue and the plots are so dense (if a little gory at times). The characters are really credible, I couldn't put it down.

Has anyone read the book he wrote about his own mother's murder?