Los Angeles, 1950 Red crosscurrents: the Commie Scare and a string of brutal mutilation killings. Gangland intrigue and Hollywood sleaze. Three cops caught in a hellish web of ambition, perversion, and deceit. Danny Upshaw is a Sheriff's deputy stuck with a bunch of snuffs nobody cares about; they're his chance to make his name as a cop...and to sate his darkest curiosities. Mal Considine is D.A.'s Bureau brass. He's climbing on the Red Scare bandwagon to advance his career and to gain custody of his adopted son, a child he saved from the horror of postwar Europe. Buzz Meeks-bagman, ex-Narco goon, and pimp for Howard Hughes-is fighting communism for the money. All three men have purchased tickets to a nightmare.
The Big Nowhere: L. A. Quartet, Book 2
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From Publishers Weekly
Returning to Los Angeles a few years after World War II (the setting of his last novel, The Black Dahlia ), Ellroy has come up with an ambitious, enthralling melodrama painted on a broad, dark canvas. The novel's first half interweaves two stories of lonely, driven lawmen investigating the crimes of social outcasts. In the county sheriff's office, Deputy Danny Upshaw finds that his probe of a series of homosexual murders is unleashing some frightening personal demons. Meanwhile, DA's investigator Mal Considine is assigned to infiltrate a cadre of Hollywood leftists, knowing that in the red-scare atmosphere, any hint of Communist conspiracy he uncovers will advance his career. Impressed by Upshaw's intensity, Considine decides to use him as a decoy to seduce a powerful woman nicknamed the "Red Queen," and the two cases and their implications of corruption, deceit and past violence converge explosively. At once taut and densely detailed, this is a mystery with the grim, inexorable pull of a film noir, shot through with a strictly modern dose of extreme (though not gratuitous) brutality and a very sure sense of history and characterization.
Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
About the Author
James Ellroy was born in Los Angeles in 1948. He is the author of the acclaimed 'LA Quartet': The Black Dahlia, The Big Nowhere, LA Confidential and White Jazz. His most recent novel, Blood's a Rover, completes the magisterial 'Underworld USA Trilogy' - the first two volumes of which (American Tabloid and The Cold Six Thousand) were both Sunday Times bestsellers.
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Most helpful customer reviews
By J. Rodd
Format:Paperback
This has been the most enjoyable JE story I've read so far (of The Black Dahlia, The Cold Six and American Tabloid.) In terms of structure and narrative this is a tighter novel than The Black Dahlia. The clipped, adjectiveless style of later works is in its developmental stages here. JE writes best in third person, in my opinion.
As well as being a top notch murder mystery, TBN is also a meditation on the less savoury aspects of America's law enforcement agencies and post-war political preoccupations. As with other JE novels I've read, the major characters are deeply flawed, have appalling traits and are blind to their own failings, yet you cant help liking them. There is also enough humour to temper the darkness, and this is a dark novel! If you have to rise early for work, make sure you start it on a weekend, as its hard to put down.
As well as being a top notch murder mystery, TBN is also a meditation on the less savoury aspects of America's law enforcement agencies and post-war political preoccupations. As with other JE novels I've read, the major characters are deeply flawed, have appalling traits and are blind to their own failings, yet you cant help liking them. There is also enough humour to temper the darkness, and this is a dark novel! If you have to rise early for work, make sure you start it on a weekend, as its hard to put down.
Format:Paperback
Black Dahlia, LA Confidential, White Jazz: Excellent.
The Bg Nowhere: Execptional!
Danny, Mal, Buzz: most compelling characters.
The Red Scare/Homosexual mutilation killings/Drugs/LAPD Corruption/ Obsession on-top-of obsession: Woven together without flaw. The darkest, most depressing of Ellroy's LA Quartet with an ending that sizzles. 6 out of 5 stars.
The Bg Nowhere: Execptional!
Danny, Mal, Buzz: most compelling characters.
The Red Scare/Homosexual mutilation killings/Drugs/LAPD Corruption/ Obsession on-top-of obsession: Woven together without flaw. The darkest, most depressing of Ellroy's LA Quartet with an ending that sizzles. 6 out of 5 stars.
By M. Packham
Format:Paperback
Wow. Five hundred pages of this stuff leaves you reeling. As somebody who's never read James Ellroy before, I picked up The Big Nowhere and was immediately captivated by it. The language Ellroy uses is sharp and fast, with sentences punched out so quickly and concisely that each paragraph is dense with info. The characters are extremely well drawn and are especially interesting because they have personal motivations for entering into and becoming involved in certain cases. The chapters involving Danny Upshaw stand out as the best.
The plot is labyrinthe. Suffice to say, it's about three cops who become immersed in police corruption, serial murder, Communist witch-hunts and the underworld of homosexual prostitution. The violence is brutal and Ellroy pulls no punches in his descriptions - the entire novel hits you like a freight train. It winds its way to an excellent conclusion and never seems forced or contrived. All the pieces of the puzzle finally fit together nicely.
After reading this I immediately moved on to the next one in the Dudley Smith series, 'LA Confidential'.
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4.5 out of 5 stars
Most recent customer reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
Ellroy is Tops
THE BIG NOWHERE is, in my opinion, the best of the LA quartet.
LA CONFIDENTIAL is 2nd, followed by THE BLACK DAHLIA. Read more
LA CONFIDENTIAL is 2nd, followed by THE BLACK DAHLIA. Read more
Published on Dec 9 2002 by David Richwine
5.0 out of 5 stars
Left me breathless
What a roller coaster ride!
Getting into the rhythm is a bit like watching a production of Shakespeare - you have to get your ear attuned to the language, but once you achieve... Read more
Published on Sep 12 2002 by saliero
5.0 out of 5 stars
One of the high points of American crime fiction
James Ellroy's so-called "L.A. Quartet" (The Black Dahlia, The Big Nowhere, L.A. Confidential, and White Jazz) is one of the seminal bodies of work in American crime... Read more
Published on July 18 2002 by floydslip
5.0 out of 5 stars
A horror story
This is the second in Ellroy's "L.A. Quartet" that began with "The Black Dahlia." This one has three cops (among them, Buzz Meeks, who appears in the following... Read more
Published on Jun 19 2002 by Sasha Pixlee
4.0 out of 5 stars
Welcome to the Big Nowhere
Welcome to Los Angeles, CA, New Year's Day, 1950. The century's half-way point is marked by a grim discovery in West Hollywood: a male corpse, eyes torn out, body riddled with... Read more
Published on April 20 2002 by William Errickson Jr.
5.0 out of 5 stars
The Big deal about THE BIG NOWHERE
I was hooked on JE after I read WHITE JAZZ and BLACK DAHLIA--and because I am such a huge fan of the movie L.A. Read more
Published on Feb 24 2002 by Andrew M
5.0 out of 5 stars
Excellent Crime Story
"The Big Nowhere" is a gripping novel about crime and human frailty. The characterizations are very well done. Read more
Published on Feb 18 2002 by "p_trabaris"
5.0 out of 5 stars
The Big Nowhere
I read "The Black Dahlia" six months before this one, and I was suprised. All of the great stuff is here - magnificent atmosphere, brilliant characthers and good mystery. Read more
Published on Dec 29 2001
5.0 out of 5 stars
A better book than A Cold Six Thousand
This book was my second Ellroy book after being disappointed with "A Cold Six Thousand". This book is a murder mystery set in LA 1950. Read more
Published on Aug 27 2001 by Ed Hawkins
5.0 out of 5 stars
Diogenes: don't bother with LA
There are no heroes. Men may do good, but they aren't "good-guys".
Riveting in its style, The Big Nowhere will leave you breathless, running at full steam until the... Read more
Published on Aug 23 2001 by E. Tobias
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