From Amazon
Ellroy himself was traumatized as a boy by his party-animal mother's murder. (See his memoir My Dark Places for the whole sordid story.) So it is clear that Bud is partly autobiographical. But Exley, whose shiny reputation conceals a dark secret, and Vincennes, who goes showbiz with a vengeance, reflect parts of Ellroy, too.
L.A. Confidential holds enough plots for two or three books: the cops chase stolen gangland heroin through a landscape littered with not-always-innocent corpses while succumbing to sexy sirens who have been surgically resculpted to resemble movie stars; a vile developer--based (unfairly) on Walt Disney-- schemes to make big bucks off Moochie Mouse; and the cops compete with the crooks to see who can be more corrupt and violent. Ellroy's hardboiled prose is so compressed that some of his rat-a-tat paragraphs are hard to follow. You have to read with attention as intense as his—and that is very intense indeed. But he richly rewards the effort. He may not be as deep and literary as Chandler, but he belongs on the same top-level shelf.
From Publishers Weekly
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Review
From the Publisher
"Nobody in this generation matches the breadth and depth of Ellroy's way with noir."
-- Detroit News
"Ellroy is a unique voice in American fiction and L.A. Confidential, his premier creation, is destined to be a classic."
-- Jonathan Kellerman
"A blood poet who writes as chain saws crank, Ellroy has vigorously redefined the well-shadowed turf of contemporary crime fiction."
-- Atlanta Journal-Constitution
"Ellroy spares no sensibilities."
-- Los Angeles Times
"L.A. Confidential is almost seamless, and demands attention for its monstrously original style and evocation of Hollywood in the '50s." --San Diego Union --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
