A botched liquor store heist leaves three grisly dead. A hero cop is missing. Nobody could see a pattern in these two stray bits of information–no one except Detective Sergeant Lloyd Hopkins, a brilliant and disturbed L.A. cop with an obsessive desire to protect the innocent. To him they lead to one horrifying conclusion--a killer is on the loose and preying on his city. From the master of L.A. noir comes this beautiful and brutal tale of a cop and a criminal squared off in a life and death struggle.
“One of the great American writers or our time.” — Los Angeles Times“A blood poet who writes as chain saws crank, Ellroy has vigorously redefined the well-shadowed turf of contemporary crime fiction.” —The Atlanta Journal-Constitution "An undeniably artful frenzy of violence, guilt, and unappeased self-loathing. Ellroy's crime fiction represents a high mark in the genre." --Newsday“Ellroy rips into American culture like a chainsaw in an abbatoir.” --Time "He's forged a style uniquely his own. Energetic and abrasive, it comes at us like a speed freak. . . . The power and pull of Ellroy's writing is unmistakable." --Los Angeles Times Book Review"Ellroy is the author of some of the most powerful crime novels ever written." --The New York Times “Garrotte-tight prose. . . . [Ellroy is] a force of nature, stringing together words into barbed-wire lariats which he then uses to choke the bejesus out of you. . . . His novels are all muscle, zero fat.” --Austin Chronicle "Memorable, stunning, incisive. . . . It is possible, I think, to make the argument that in the past couple of decades, Mr. Ellroy has been the most influential writer in America." --Otto Penzler, The New York Sun“Nobody in this generation matches the breadth and depth of James Ellroy’s way with noir.” --Detroit News "Ellroy sprays declarative sentences like machine-gun bullets, blasting to kingdom come all notions of justice, heroism, and simple decency." --Entertainment Weekly"[Ellroy] can make the night world of sleaze and street monsters come alive on the page." --St. Louis Globe-Democrat
A botched liquor store heist leaves three grisly dead. A hero cop is missing. Nobody could see a pattern in these two stray bits of information–no one except Detective Sergeant Lloyd Hopkins, a brilliant and disturbed L.A. cop with an obsessive desire to protect the innocent. To him they lead to one horrifying conclusion--a killer is on the loose and preying on his city. From the master of L.A. noir comes this beautiful and brutal tale of a cop and a criminal squared off in a life and death struggle.
Praise
“One of the great American writers or our time.” — Los Angeles Times“A blood poet who writes as chain saws crank, Ellroy has vigorously redefined the well-shadowed turf of contemporary crime fiction.” —The Atlanta Journal-Constitution "An undeniably artful frenzy of violence, guilt, and unappeased self-loathing. Ellroy's crime fiction represents a high mark in the genre." --Newsday“Ellroy rips into American culture like a chainsaw in an abbatoir.” --Time "He's forged a style uniquely his own. Energetic and abrasive, it comes at us like a speed freak. . . . The power and pull of Ellroy's writing is unmistakable." --Los Angeles Times Book Review"Ellroy is the author of some of the most powerful crime novels ever written." --The New York Times “Garrotte-tight prose. . . . [Ellroy is] a force of nature, stringing together words into barbed-wire lariats which he then uses to choke the bejesus out of you. . . . His novels are all muscle, zero fat.” --Austin Chronicle "Memorable, stunning, incisive. . . . It is possible, I think, to make the argument that in the past couple of decades, Mr. Ellroy has been the most influential writer in America." --Otto Penzler, The New York Sun“Nobody in this generation matches the breadth and depth of James Ellroy’s way with noir.” --Detroit News "Ellroy sprays declarative sentences like machine-gun bullets, blasting to kingdom come all notions of justice, heroism, and simple decency." --Entertainment Weekly"[Ellroy] can make the night world of sleaze and street monsters come alive on the page." --St. Louis Globe-Democrat
