Book Description
Illuminating all the dark places of Ellroy's life and imagination, this second volume of previously uncollected works includes writings from the beginning of his career as a writer-at-large for GQ, memoir pieces from the '60s and '70s, and three new novellas told from the perspective of carved-in-wood LAPD detective Rick Jenson. The mastery of noir convention, snappy dialogue, and cunning social observation for which Ellroy is admired are in full force throughout this collection.
About the Author
James Ellroy is the author of American Tabloid, The Big Nowhere, The Black Dahlia, The Cold Six Thousand, L.A. Confidential, and White Jazz, as well as the memoir My Dark Places. He lives in Kansas City, Missouri.
Destino: La morgue FROM THE PUBLISHER
Dig. The Demon Dog gets down with a new book of scenes from America's capital of kink: Los Angeles. Fourteen pieces, some fiction, some nonfiction, all true enough to be admissible as state's evidence, and half of them in print for the first time. And every one of them bearing the James Ellroy brand of mayhem, machismo, and hollow-nose prose. Here are Mexican featherweights and unsolved-murder vics, crooked cops and a very clean D.A. Here is a profile of Hollywood's latest celebrity perp-walker. Robert Blake, and three new novellas featuring a demented detective obsessed with a Hollywood actress. And, oh yes, just maybe the last appearance of Hush-Hush sleaze-monger Danny Getchell. Here's Ellroy himself, shining a 500-watt Maglite into all the dark places of his life and imagination. Destination: Morgue! puts the reader's attention in a hammerlock and refuses to let go.
FROM THE CRITICS
Publishers Weekly
The Demon Dog is back with a second volume of previously uncollected works (following 1999's Crime Wave), most published during his stint as a writer-at-large for GQ. The essays "Where I Get My Weird Shit" and "My Life as a Creep" chronicle his childhood: the 1958 murder of his mother; a West Hollywood upbringing by his sex-obsessed father; a '60s and '70s coming-of-age replete with Benzedrex binges, "Nazi antics" and superheroic feats of breaking and entering. Young Ellroy obsesses over the femme fatales of pulp and porn, whose images he projects onto murder victims and probation officers alike. In "Stephanie," a grown-up Ellroy tags along with the LAPD when a 40-year-old homicide case involving a girl from his old neighborhood is reopened. Ellroy's greatest hits go on-Mexican boxers, dirty cops, D-list celebrity murders-and devotees will especially welcome the return of lecherous muckraker Danny Getchell. The newest additions, three novellas spanning 200 pages, are told from the perspective of rhino-skin-sporting LAPD dick Rick Jenson, who's got a sore spot for a tough 'n' tumble Hollywood actress. Ellroy's punchy, lingo-laden prose and caustic edge are as sharp as ever, but readers unaccustomed to his penchant for alliteration may not be able to stomach the newer stuff, where sentences like "Crime crystallized crisp in my cranial cracks," interspersed with Dragnet-like reportage, are the order of the day. Agent, Nat Sobel. (Sept. 14) Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.
Library Journal
Master of Los Angeles noir, Ellroy writes novels (e.g., L.A. Confidential) that reflect the dark, gritty underside of American life. This collection of 12 pieces, nonfiction as well as novellas, is representative of his obsessive vision of good and evil, which intertwine to create a nasty shade of gray. All eight essays, as well as one short fiction piece, originally appeared in GQ magazine, while the three long tales are being published for the first time. The personal memoirs are the best writings in Part 1; "Where I Got My Weird Shit" and "My Life as a Creep" are painfully honest evocations of his horrific adolescence and young manhood. The novellas feature reactionary, dog-loving detective Rick Jenson and his decades-long love affair with TV and film actress Donna Donahue. Much in evidence are Ellroy's familiar stylistic features: alliteration; wordplay; short, telegraphic sentences; and the use of excessive violence and graphically rendered sexual practices. Ellroy's fans will want to read this latest collection, while those new to him (and not turned off by his anti-radical, non-politically correct persona) will want to find his other works. Recommended for all public libraries and for those academic libraries that collect quality American fiction and true-crime stories.-Morris Hounion, New York City Coll. of Technology, CUNY Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.
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