Jonathan Arnold reviewed The black dahlia by James Ellroy
Review of 'The black dahlia' on 'Goodreads'
4 stars
Solid, grisly historical mystery.
Paperback, 337 pages
English language
Published Sept. 10, 2006 by Mysterious Press.
The black dahlia
by James Ellroy
4 stars
(28 reviews)
OrangutansLibrary reviewed The black dahlia by James Ellroy
Review of 'The black dahlia' on 'Goodreads'
3 stars
Intricate plot with some well imagined characters with an interesting and engaging writing style. However the plot is just too unreal and fantastical and that is ultimately what let's this book down. A shame.
mothlight reviewed The black dahlia by James Ellroy
Review of 'The black dahlia' on 'Goodreads'
3 stars
The first 1/3 of this takes some work to get through. Really slow going slog through lots of detail about police work and boxing. A really long way to get to the actual point of the novel. As noted numerous places elsewhere, this book is based on a notorious unsolved LA murder from 1947, which Ellroy can fictionalize and make into whatever he wants.
The pace picks up slightly after the actual murder but still until the last 70 pages is lots of police procedural investigation. The last 70 pages then is filled with about 800 plot twists, a bit too many for me. I'm not hugely into noir, but I've read a lot of the classics. Some people classify this one in with the classics, but for me, I didn't enjoy reading it as much a lot of those.
Subjects
- Police -- California -- Los Angeles -- Fiction.
- Young women -- Fiction.
- Los Angeles (Calif.) -- Fiction.