Kadomi reviewed The big nowhere by James Ellroy
Review of 'The big nowhere' on 'Goodreads'
5 stars
When I started this book, it took me quite a while to get into it. The L.A. of Ellroy's L.A. Quartet is a deeply gray world and none of the three protagonists of this novel jumps out to be a beloved protagonist. There's mysogyny, sexual violence, racism, homophobia. It's harsh.
But wow, when it grabs you, it runs away with you and never lets go.
The story starts on New Year's Eve, it's now 1950, and a gruesomely mutilated body is found in Griffith Park. Danny Upshaw is a young and highly motivated cop who investigates the murder, and just like the cop in Black Dahlia, gets obsessed with the case. Soon there are more mutilated bodies found, and it's obvious quite early on that the victims are homosexual men. As he investigates, Danny gets swept up with the other two protagonists. There's Mal Considine, a Lieutenant fighting for custody …
When I started this book, it took me quite a while to get into it. The L.A. of Ellroy's L.A. Quartet is a deeply gray world and none of the three protagonists of this novel jumps out to be a beloved protagonist. There's mysogyny, sexual violence, racism, homophobia. It's harsh.
But wow, when it grabs you, it runs away with you and never lets go.
The story starts on New Year's Eve, it's now 1950, and a gruesomely mutilated body is found in Griffith Park. Danny Upshaw is a young and highly motivated cop who investigates the murder, and just like the cop in Black Dahlia, gets obsessed with the case. Soon there are more mutilated bodies found, and it's obvious quite early on that the victims are homosexual men. As he investigates, Danny gets swept up with the other two protagonists. There's Mal Considine, a Lieutenant fighting for custody of his step-son, and Turner Meeks, the most corrupt cop, who works as a pimp and bodyguard for Micky Cohen and Howard Hughes. All three protagonists get to work on a possible grand jury to search out Communists in Hollywood. As it turns out, the communists are somehow involved in the murder case in unexpected ways.
By the end of it, I was devouring this book, even taking it along to work to read in my breaks. The sympathetic character turns out to be an unusual one in the end, and there is definitely no happy end in sight. At times it's a bitter pill to swallow, and I definitely need a lighter read next, but it did not disappoint me
4.5 stars
