I agree that the Lloyd Hopkins stuff was overwrought, and
almost veered into parody at times. Ditto for Killer on the
Road. I think he hit his peak with Nowhere and LA
Confidential (whose plots mirror each other.), and then sort
of went off the rails with White Jazz, which I haven't looked
at in a long time, but I remember as almost unreadable.
On Mon, May 5, 2008 at 8:48 AM, Juri Nummelin <
juri.nummelin@pp.inet.fi> wrote:
>
>
>
>
> Kevin:
>
> > I remember Otto Penzler once discussing at a
conference how much
> > editing his first (and arguably best) books
needed.
>
> I've just been reading his early books and am really
wondering about your
> statement. I remember thinking that books like BLOOD
ON THE MOON and BECAUSE
> THE NIGHT were overthought, overwritten, implausible
and stretched. Plus the
> narrative drive I find so admirable in, say, THE BIG
NOWHERE, is nowhere in
> sight. Especially BLOOD ON THE MOON seemed almost
ridiculous at times.
>
> Okay, those are not his first books. CLANDESTINE is
pretty much okay, but it
> lacks pacing. The scene with Dudley Smith in the
middle of the book is way
> too long, and there's almost a parody of American
gothic near the end of the
> book. BROWN'S REQUIEM is a pretty standard PI book,
even though it has its
> dark edges, too.
>
> I should say that Ellroy's peak is the LA Quartet. I
liked AMERICAN TABLOID,
> but haven't read THE COLD SIX THOUSAND as
yet.
>
> And yes, he seems an irritating public person. He
was guest-blogging at the
> otherwise very fine Rap Sheet site some months back.
He didn't say anything
> interesting, just went on about how he's great. But
that shouldn't diminish
> his real efforts. Don't judge the artist by his
mistakes, but by his
> victories. (Or something to that effect. I think it
was Octavio Paz who said
> it.)
>
> Juri
>
>
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