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Review Date: 10/4/2015
Ellroy's earliest novel, and worth reading for that alone. Not as polished as his later work (naturally), but his character Fritz Brown is quite interesting and a little different from his later flawed lead characters (Fritz is flawed differently).
You won't be disappointed unless you're expecting a masterwork.
You won't be disappointed unless you're expecting a masterwork.
Review Date: 11/3/2015
Ellroy's second published novel sets the stage for the long-running L.A. "bad cop" Dudley Smith who appears in many of his novels as a foil for several of his principal characters.
His real life mother's murder and Ellroy's childhood receive fictionalized treatment and form the core of the story which does not become apparent until the final third of the novel.
If you don't plan to read all of Ellroy's works you're better off starting with his well-known ones like The Black Dahlia and L.A. Confidential. If you become an Ellroy fan you'll definitely want to read this one.
His real life mother's murder and Ellroy's childhood receive fictionalized treatment and form the core of the story which does not become apparent until the final third of the novel.
If you don't plan to read all of Ellroy's works you're better off starting with his well-known ones like The Black Dahlia and L.A. Confidential. If you become an Ellroy fan you'll definitely want to read this one.
Review Date: 3/7/2012
I am in the process of reading all of Ludlum's novels chronologically. So I cannot say this is the best of his life's work since I am not there yet. But I can say this is the best of his early novels up through 1976 that I have read so far.
It is a gripping tale spanning three generations of one family covering events from 1920 through the Viet Nam war. Full of intrigue, the secret at its center has worldwide implications for the Christian religion. It is not a religious story however. It is one of Ludlum's masterpieces of the suspense novel. Unlike his "Road to Gandolfo," the premise and plot of which I found to be preposterous and thus rather difficult to get through, this tale is fully believable and holds the reader's attention throughout.
It is a gripping tale spanning three generations of one family covering events from 1920 through the Viet Nam war. Full of intrigue, the secret at its center has worldwide implications for the Christian religion. It is not a religious story however. It is one of Ludlum's masterpieces of the suspense novel. Unlike his "Road to Gandolfo," the premise and plot of which I found to be preposterous and thus rather difficult to get through, this tale is fully believable and holds the reader's attention throughout.
Review Date: 10/31/2019
One of the grittiest and most violent of the Reacher series. Nobody does it better than Lee Child. What else can be said?
Review Date: 8/25/2015
Ellroy at his most basic. All three novels of his Lloyd Hopkins trilogy in this anthology. Silverlake, Hollywood, the Valley, Malibu -- there is no area of L.A. that Hopkins will not be found in rooting out the most cunning and violent criminals. He succeeds because he is smarter than his criminal targets and has more persistence and determination than they do. And, oh yes -- there's almost no law he isn't willing to break in his quest.
Review Date: 3/4/2016
I have read most of Lehane's novels. His treatment of the second book of the Coughlin family series is a departure from most of his Boston-set novels. It starts in Boston but winds up in FL and Cuba. It is one of his best writings -- full of surprises, wonderful turns of phrase, and penetrating insights. You won't regret reading it.
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