Raymond Chandler, Dashiell Hammett, Mickey Spillane, Ross MacDonald. A great tradition of the hard-bitten, disillusioned, hard drinking private eye/cop who keeps on going no matter what. Driven by the need to solve the case no matter what. Tough guys no matter what. Characters that live in a world where no sunshine ever penetrates – dialogue that drips grim reality and tough luck. A gray world that even an optimist would consider depressing. To the weavers of such lives and complications, that illustrious club consisting of the inventors of the dogged flatfoots played in the movies by Bogart, Cagney, Robinson, and Mitchum, we must now add James Ellroy and The Black Dahlia.
This is a pistol of a book. Ellroy paints a 1947 Los Angeles that out-noirs the originals. Two ex-boxer cops on the LA PD on the hunt for the torturer and murderer of an a once beautiful young woman. After having to box each other for LAPD publicity (and so Patrolman Bucky Bleichert can get a promotion), they end up on the same case, become friends, and fall in love with the same woman. A woman with a past so confused and horrible that she deserves as much sympathy as the title victim - The Black Dahlia. A mystery murder that involves crooked cops, crooked politicians, crooked businessmen, crooked Mexican cops, the drug trade, brothels, and -- a given in LA – the movies. A mystery that seems to resolve at least 4 times – but is not. Good guys that turn bad and bad guys who get worse. This book has got all the bad actors and all the action and right from the beginning.
And I do mean right from the beginning – how many other books are dedicated to the author’s murdered mother with a dedication like this one: “Mother: Twenty-nine Years Later, This Valediction in Blood”. This is really tough. Even the pages are tough (watch out for paper cuts!).
But more than anything, Ellroy captures the seamy side of post-war Los Angeles that existed for Philp Marlowe. The language and dialogue is simply superb. The action rockets along. The spirit of despair permeates everything and every one yet all the while this one young cop keeps putting himself on the line, risking everything, stretching himself to the limit – because he is driven, he just has to get the answer. Because its right and honorable.
Ellroy seems to know his detail too. The descriptions of real police procedure and the investigative techniques of the time are vivid and ring true. He traces the development of Hollywoodland into the Hollywood we all know. Latin Los Angeles comes alive as does a late 40’s trip south of the border to Tijuana.
Did you see LA Confidential? This guy wrote the book. In fact, he wrote six books before this one. I can’t
wait to order them.
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