Sure enough, The Big
Nowhere, the second novel in James Ellroy’s L. A. Quartet (I have not read the
first book in the series, The Black Dahlia, so I’m breaking a cardinal rule
here) is very different than the three books that make up the Underworld U. S.
A. trilogy, not only in scope and subject matter, but in time and place as
well. Do I think it is better than said trilogy? I’d have to read at least two
other books in the Quartet to give you a better answer. In ways it is very
similar to the Underworld U. S. A. Trilogy despite some glaring differences.
The characters are hard-bitten; speak as if they came into this world viewing
it as a nightmare, and the reader has very little clue as to where to look for
moral comfort or familiarity. It makes for a hard read, as actions and
characters seem thin and needlessly complex, but Ellroy is so good at crafting
this almost carnival-esque society of brutal murder and the psychopaths who are
assigned to deal with it, that I can forgive him these trespasses. The story
sees three men from different levels of lawlessness investigate a brutal serial
killer and the Red Scare in Hollywood at the dawn of the 1950’s. All three are
desperate for something else, such as family, acceptance and freedom, and in
that desperation, they sell their souls to the city, not all of them will make
it out intact. The serial killings are the best part, as Upshaw, the young
upstart, finds himself questioning the weird and the scary, from a former alcoholic
who chugs mouthwash, to a wolverine breeder who names his animals things like
Rape-O. As these two stories intersect, the true horror of it all really comes
out, in a twist that is sure to make you gag. Ellroy is a master at picking the
scabs on the underbelly of the American underbelly, and he does so with glee, viciousness,
and, if you look closely, a desire that it will all turn out okay. This book is
no exception.
Rating: 4/5
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