Description
L.A. Confidential (1990) is a Neo-noir novel by James Ellroy, the third of his L.A. Quartet series which is set in 1950s Los Angeles. James Ellroy dedicated L.A. Confidential 'Mary Doherty Ellroy'.
The story revolves around several Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) officers in the early 1950s who become embroiled in a mix of sex, corruption, and murder following a massacre at the Nite Owl coffee shop. It hurtles with a shoot-out between a rogue ex-cop and a band of gangsters fronted by a crooked police lieutenant. The story circumscribes organized crime, heroin trafficking, political corruption, pornography, prostitution, and Hollywood. The title refers to the scandal magazine Confidential, which is fictionalized as Hush-Hush. It also deals with the real-life 'Bloody Christmas' scandal.
The three protagonists are LAPD officers: Edmund Exley, the son of legendary detective Preston Exley, is a "straight arrow" who informs on other officers in a police brutality scandal. He is first and foremost a politician and a ladder climber. This earns the enmity of Wendell "Bud" White, an intimidating enforcer with a personal fixation and haunted by the sight of his dad murdering his mom. And, the third one, Jack Vincennes who acts more like a celebrity than a cop. He advises a Police Squad - like a TV show and busts movie stars for payoffs, and provides tips to a scandal magazine. He is also a technical advisor on a police television show called Badge of Honor (similar to the real-life show Dragnet). The three of them must keep their differences aside to disentangle the conspiracy linking the novel's events.
James Ellroy himself was traumatized as a boy by his party-animal mother's murder that he penned down the whole sordid story in his memoir 'My Dark Places'. So, it makes obvious that the character '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.
Review
L.A. Confidential is one of the best writings of James Ellroy. It is an epic "noir", a crime novel of astonishing details and scope. It has been acclaimed as the author's most accomplished, and it is not surprising. 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 changed the look to resemble movie stars; a vile developer--based on Walt Disney and the cops compete with the crooks to see who can be more corrupt and violent.
It hurtles with a horrific mass murder that invades the lives of victims and victimizers on both sides of the law, and three lawmen. Those three lawmen are caught in a deadly spiral, a nightmare that tests loyalty and courage, and offers no mercy, grants no survivors. There are modern thrillers in the vein of the novel, mixing politics and violence, electoral machination, and conventional material such as serial killers.
This is a piece of incredible adeptness in which heroes start as villains and then, they take a U-turn to fight against inhumanity and corruption. A constant of this novel is that one villain remains on the same said of the character: Dudley Smith, on that account the whole story remains united by one villain. The novel is full of slang and jargon which sometimes reaches incomprehensibility.
The novel bridges both genres, that it begins as noir and ends up as modern Ellroy. It is very well written with different prose styles for each scenario and character, thus, the story remains coherent. Few times readers encounter invincible humor too. However, Ellroy's hardboiled prose is so wedged that some of his rat-a-tat paragraphs are hard to follow. The reader needs to read it with attention as it gets intense as it could be. Its a bit lengthy to track down all the facts about the story but in the end, all loose strings come together to bead all the facts in the line profusely. His writing style gives new prose to the literature called Ellroy. Nevertheless, He belongs to the top-shelf writers and his writing rewards him as he deserves.
L.A. Confidential is one of the best writings of James Ellroy. It is an epic "noir", a crime novel of astonishing details and scope. It has been acclaimed as the author's most accomplished, and it is not surprising. 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 changed the look to resemble movie stars; a vile developer--based on Walt Disney and the cops compete with the crooks to see who can be more corrupt and violent.
It hurtles with a horrific mass murder that invades the lives of victims and victimizers on both sides of the law, and three lawmen. Those three lawmen are caught in a deadly spiral, a nightmare that tests loyalty and courage, and offers no mercy, grants no survivors. There are modern thrillers in the vein of the novel, mixing politics and violence, electoral machination, and conventional material such as serial killers.
This is a piece of incredible adeptness in which heroes start as villains and then, they take a U-turn to fight against inhumanity and corruption. A constant of this novel is that one villain remains on the same said of the character: Dudley Smith, on that account the whole story remains united by one villain. The novel is full of slang and jargon which sometimes reaches incomprehensibility.
The novel bridges both genres, that it begins as noir and ends up as modern Ellroy. It is very well written with different prose styles for each scenario and character, thus, the story remains coherent. Few times readers encounter invincible humor too. However, Ellroy's hardboiled prose is so wedged that some of his rat-a-tat paragraphs are hard to follow. The reader needs to read it with attention as it gets intense as it could be. Its a bit lengthy to track down all the facts about the story but in the end, all loose strings come together to bead all the facts in the line profusely. His writing style gives new prose to the literature called Ellroy. Nevertheless, He belongs to the top-shelf writers and his writing rewards him as he deserves.
Adaptation
Film
The book was adapted for a 1997 film of the same title directed and co-written by Curtis Hanson and starring Kevin Spacey, Russell Crowe, Guy Pearce, James Cromwell, Kim Basinger. the film was universally acclaimed. It was nominated for nine Academy awards; Kim Basinger won both a Golden Glove and an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress, while Curtis Hanson and Brian Helgeland won the Oscar for Best Adapted Screenplay.
Television
In 2003, a television pilot of L.A. Confidential was aired. However, the pilot was not picked up as a running series. The show's main actors would have been Kiefer Sutherland, Joh Hopkins, David Conrad, Pruitt Taylor Vince, Melissa George, Eric Robert, and Tom Nowicki. The pilot is a special feature on the two-disc DVD and the Blu-ray releases of the film.
In 2018, CBS ordered a new pilot based on the novel. The pilot will star Walton Goggins as Vincennes, Mark Webber as White, Brian J. Smith as Exley, Sarah Jones as Lynn, Alana Arenas as June, and Shea Whigham as Dick Stensland. In May 2018, It was announced that the pilot would not be moving forward.
About the Author
Film
The book was adapted for a 1997 film of the same title directed and co-written by Curtis Hanson and starring Kevin Spacey, Russell Crowe, Guy Pearce, James Cromwell, Kim Basinger. the film was universally acclaimed. It was nominated for nine Academy awards; Kim Basinger won both a Golden Glove and an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress, while Curtis Hanson and Brian Helgeland won the Oscar for Best Adapted Screenplay.
Television
In 2003, a television pilot of L.A. Confidential was aired. However, the pilot was not picked up as a running series. The show's main actors would have been Kiefer Sutherland, Joh Hopkins, David Conrad, Pruitt Taylor Vince, Melissa George, Eric Robert, and Tom Nowicki. The pilot is a special feature on the two-disc DVD and the Blu-ray releases of the film.
In 2018, CBS ordered a new pilot based on the novel. The pilot will star Walton Goggins as Vincennes, Mark Webber as White, Brian J. Smith as Exley, Sarah Jones as Lynn, Alana Arenas as June, and Shea Whigham as Dick Stensland. In May 2018, It was announced that the pilot would not be moving forward.
About the Author
Lee Earle "James" Ellroy, born on March 4, 1948, in Los Angeles, is an American crime, mystery, historic, and noir fiction writer and essayist. His initial notable writings were called the Lloyd Hopkins Trilogy that consists of the three crime fiction novels i.e. Blood on the Moon (1984), Because of the Night (1984), and Suicide Hill (1985).
Ellroy is mainly known for his collection of four crime novels L. A. Quartet - The Black Dahlia (1987), The Big Nowhere (1988), L.A. Confidential (1990), White Jazz (1992) - were international bestsellers.
Ellroy is mainly known for his collection of four crime novels L. A. Quartet - The Black Dahlia (1987), The Big Nowhere (1988), L.A. Confidential (1990), White Jazz (1992) - were international bestsellers.
The Underworld USA Trilogy is a collective name given to his three novels, those were -
American Tabloid (1995), it was Times magazine's best book of the year in the fiction genre.
The Cold Six Thousand (2001), it was the Los Angeles Times Best Book of the Year and New York Times Notable Book for the year.
American Tabloid (1995), it was Times magazine's best book of the year in the fiction genre.
The Cold Six Thousand (2001), it was the Los Angeles Times Best Book of the Year and New York Times Notable Book for the year.
The third novel Blood's Rover was a bestseller for 2009.
His memoir, My Dark Places (1996) was Los Angeles Times Best Book of the Year and New York Times Notable Book for the year.
Ellroy has become popular for a telegrammatic prose style in his most recent work, wherein he frequently omits connecting words, uses only short and staccato sentences like fragmented into sentences. His books are noted for their dark humor and depiction of American authoritarianism. Another hallmark of his work based on dense plotting and a relentlessly pessimistic worldview. James Ellroy has been called the 'Demon Dog of America'. He currently lives in Los Angeles.
His memoir, My Dark Places (1996) was Los Angeles Times Best Book of the Year and New York Times Notable Book for the year.
Ellroy has become popular for a telegrammatic prose style in his most recent work, wherein he frequently omits connecting words, uses only short and staccato sentences like fragmented into sentences. His books are noted for their dark humor and depiction of American authoritarianism. Another hallmark of his work based on dense plotting and a relentlessly pessimistic worldview. James Ellroy has been called the 'Demon Dog of America'. He currently lives in Los Angeles.
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Rating: 4.0/5
Author: James Ellroy
Publisher: Hachette Book Group USA
Publishing Date: 1 June 1990
Language: English
Genre: Historical Fiction, Crime, Thriller, Mystery
ISBN-10: 0892962933
ISBN-13: 978-0892962938
Pages: 508 (Hardcover)
Cost: $19 (Hardcover)
Cost: $19 (Hardcover)
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