James Ellroy - Perfidia out September 2014

[Boozy The Clown]

It's 1968. Bobby Kennedy and Martin Luther King are dead. The Mob, Howard Hughes and J Edgar Hoover are in a struggle for America's soul, drawing into their murderous conspiracies the dammed and the soon-to-be damned. Wayne Tedrow Jr.: parricide, assassin, dope cooker, mouthpiece for all sides, loyal to none. His journey will take him away from the darkness and into an even greater darkness. Dwight Holly: Hoover's enforcer and hellish conspirator in terrible crimes. As Hoover's power wanes his destiny lurches towards Richard Nixon and self-annihilation. Don Crutchfield: is a kid, a nobody, a wheelman and a private detective who stumbles upon an ungodly conspiracy from which he and the country may never recover. All three men are drawn to women on the opposite side of the political and moral spectrum; all are compromised and ripe for destruction. Only one of them will survive. The final part of James Ellroy's "Underworld USA" trilogy is set during the social and political upheaval of 1968-72. "Blood's a Rover" is an incandescent fusion of fact and fiction and is James Ellroy's greatest masterpiece.

Published

05/11/2009

Publisher

Century

ISBN

9780712648158

I've been waiting roughly 7 and a half years for this book. He says it's his masterpiece. Event of the year. Forget MW2, Forget Halo Reach, Forget Batman 3. This is bigger than all of them combined.

[ChristopherBloodAxe]

It's pretty good. I read it earlier this month (it's already out in North America). To my mind it's better than the cold six thousand but not quite as good as American Tabloid. It has been getting rave reviews though, so others might regard it as the best of the trilogy.

[hungry joe]

colour me excited

[Silent Runner]

I've been waiting roughly 7 and a half years for this book. He says it's his masterpiece. Event of the year. Forget MW2, Forget Halo Reach, Forget Batman 3. This is bigger than all of them combined.

No question. This is the cultural event of the year for me. Hard to believe it's nearly 8 years since 6000. Can't wait.

[stefmcd]

Loved Black Dahlia, LA Confidential, White Jazz and Brown's requiem. Couldn't get into Cold 6000 but didn't try too hard. This likely to be similar to Cold 6000?

[Boozy The Clown]

You need to read American Tabloid before 6000. I found 6000 much better on my second read and had a better understaniding of the non fiction events included. The cold 6000 is worth sticking with just for Big Pete.

[Albert Fish]

I'm half way through this and I have no fucking idea how it's going to end, except that many people are going to die!

[Yasawas]

I got caught up in hype today and went to a talk/signing he was doing to promote this in Glasgow this evening. He was also introducing a screening of LA Confidential afterwards which would've been great to see again, but sadly I couldn't stay long enough. He's doing something similar in Belfast on Saturday if anyone is interested, it's quite the experience to hear him read his own work.

Starting American Tabloid again tonight then, I read this years ago but remember so little of it I need to go in fresh and I've never touched The Cold Six Thousand. That's a lot of motherfucking reading.

[Sabreman]

American Tabloid is one of the best things I've ever read, but I stalled on 6000 for a number of reasons - mainly because for a long time other stuff just... got in the way of reading books. I picked up another copy of that along with Blood's A Rover, so yeah, I've got a bit of reading to do myself.

[Boozy The Clown]

Finally picked it up today. I got a signed copy from Borders at The Fort, although the signature could be anybodys. Can't decide whether to re do the first two or dive straight in. Any excuse to read American Tabloid again is a good one though.

[Lucas]

I've just read AT again and am now on to 6000 in anticipation of getting Rover.

You should definitely read AT again. It's immense.

[therealjohnpeat]

Nice interview with him in Empire this month - if you're a fan you'll enjoy it.

Spoiler:

He hates Johnny Depp

[hungry joe]

he was on desert island discs this week too

[ZOK]

He was really interesting on DID I thought.

It piqued my interest to read some of his stuff. Now I never read crime fiction, with the exception of having read everything by Raymond Chandler, am I likely to like this Ellroy cat?

[Froettmaning]

Yes. Ellroy is hands down the best crime writer I have come across. Start with Black Dahlia.

[Silent Runner]

Yep, he’s incredible. I’d also suggest Black Dahlia as the best place to start (hopefully you won’t have seen the dreadful film). I found the first 100 pages a bit hard to get into but once I got a handle on his style I blitzed through it in 2 or 3 sessions. Then hoovered up the rest of the LA Quartet in about a fortnight.

[Lucas]

Being too tight to shell out for the HB, I've made the wife get it from the library for me. Hoping to spend a good few hours with it at the weekend.

How have you found the book so far Boozy?

[Boozy The Clown]

Being too tight to shell out for the HB, I've made the wife get it from the library for me. Hoping to spend a good few hours with it at the weekend.

How have you found the book so far Boozy?

Well I decided to re read the first 2 before diving in and that took me the best part of two months over December/January. I've started the new one but haven't been as grabbed by it as the other two, probably due to the lack of Big Pete. It's certainly delivered so far in terms or random violence and J Edgar's vitriol.

[Lucas]

Have you finished this yet?

[Boozy The Clown]

Nah got a couple of hundred pages in and decided to restart it as I wasn't giving it a fair crack. I hope to batter through it in the next week or so.

[Lucas]

Right so - I want to quiz you about one bit, I'm not sure I "got". Let me know when you're done.

I really liked this. It's a lot tighter than the Cold Six Thousand and, I think tells a better story, round the robbery from the start. It loses the epic sweep of American History the first two had along the way and it definitely suffers for not having Big Pete, but I liked Scotty Bennett almost as much.

[hungry joe]

TBH I felt like I was reading a book about Ellroy more than the characters. Too much voodoo!

[Jimbo]

I finished L.A. Confidential a couple of weeks ago. Any recommendations for my second Elroy book?

[Silent Runner]

Go back to the start of the LA Quartet and read The Black Dahlia.

[Lucas]

American Tabloid.

[Albert Fish]

White Jazz.

It follows on from LA Confidential and is fucking INSANE!

[Jimbo]

My local bookshop only had American Tabloid in stock so I'll try that next before going back to the Black Dahlia I reckon.

[Silent Runner]

White Jazz.

It follows on from LA Confidential and is fucking INSANE!

White Jazz is my favourite but it will spoiler a lot of The Big Nowhere and (I think) bits of The Black Dahlia.

[And]

Right.

I just finished a read through of American Tabloid , Cold 6000 and Blood is a Rover. (so that's my 3rd read of AT and second of cold 6000).

Short review - the law of diminishing returns is in effect. Blood meanders, it's too long, and the Cuba/Tiger squad stuff is pretty much irrelevant. 6000 was much better on a second read through though.

Dwight & Scotty are not a patch on Le Grande Pierre and the holly/wayne dynamic has nothing on the Kemper/Ward relationship.

It's still pretty good, but I can't help feeling a bit disappointed, the ending is a bit flat, muted and unsatisfying.

So that's the past month or so of reading, what next?

[Scribblor]

I'm just starting The Cold Six Thousand. For some reason I couldn't get through it the first time I tried, which was a few years ago now.

Also got the Dudley Smith trilogy on my bookshelf, looking suggestively at me. The only one of those I've read is LA Confidential.