The Black Dahlia
By James Ellroy
- Release Date: 2008-08-01
- Genre: Fiction & Literature
Description
The highly acclaimed novel based on America's most infamous unsolved murder case. Dive into 1940s Los Angeles as two cops spiral out of control in their hunt for The Black Dahlia's killer in this powerful thriller that is "brutal and at the same time believable" (New York Times).
On January 15, 1947, the torture-ravished body of a beautiful young woman is found in a Los Angeles vacant lot. The victim makes headlines as the Black Dahlia -- and so begins the greatest manhunt in California history. Caught up in the investigation are Bucky Bleichert and Lee Blanchard: Warrants Squad cops, friends, and rivals in love with the same woman. But both are obsessed with the Dahlia -- driven by dark needs to know everything about her past, to capture her killer, to possess the woman even in death. Their quest will take them on a hellish journey through the underbelly of postwar Hollywood, to the core of the dead girl's twisted life, past the extremes of their own psyches -- into a region of total madness.
Reviews
Excellent
5By jb001984You can feel Ellroy bleeding onto the pages, outstanding read.Great book; deserves a lot of credit
5By DunlapwThe book is a great noir novel, chronicling a series of misadventures where the protagonists are just as filthy as the criminals they seek. The action is well done, the mystery solving is excellent, and even as a seasoned mystery reader, the twist was almost completely unknown to me—though in hindsight I feel I probably should have. The most important point to the novel isn't that it's a great mystery novel, nor is it that it has all the appropriate twists and turns. The most important point is that no matter how gritty and filthy the main character gets you'll still love him dearly. You'll root for him in his darkest days and that makes this novel worth reading.Channeling Well
4By mrflickL.A. very noir. Channels Raymond Chandler almost perfectly, but lacks a moral compass. Maybe it's that L.A. doesn't have one. Or maybe the author just didn't know how to look for it.Obsession through Ellroy's Looking Glass
5By Applejedi1"The Black Dahlia" is an intersection where obsessions collide in passion-fugued madness. Every exquisitely drawn character is neatly chronicled by author James Ellroy with their own, often dark passions that drive them through life in postwar Los Angeles circa 1947. Ellroy tears into the dark side of Hollywood, weaving the story of Elizabeth Short, nicknamed "The Black Dahlia" when the sensationalist story of her killing hit LA tabloids with the anguish over Ellroy's own mother being murdered in LA years later. The fictional story of cop and local boxing hero Bucky Bleichert's rise on the fast track in the LAPD until the body of a badly mutilated girl is discovered. Bleichert and his partner become obsessed with the Dahlia, as do many of the elite detectives of the LAPD. To narrate more of the story is to give away one of the best-told stories in detective fiction, rife with amazing nuances and subtle well constructed details that will keep you turning pages. An amazing read, Ellroy at his best.
