Read for CBR10Bingo: Book was better. The movie is one of my all-time favorites. This is my first time reading the novel. I’ve read five James Ellroy books in the last few months so if you want my thoughts on my personal evolution towards his works, check past reviews. Having read the tail end of his work and the beginning of what made him popular, I can say with confidence this is the best book he’s written. It’s the perfect merger of his style and […]
The Queen is in the Building. Tell me how you feeling?
If you’ve followed me on GoodReads, you are well aware of my affinity for Tana French. A former parishioner of mine turned me onto her books three years ago. I liked In The Woods well enough but at the time, I felt there was something lacking. I didn’t know that…a. I was unfamiliar with French’s style (subsequent readings would help me appreciate it more) and b. it was a first novel and I’ve since learned to be more graceful with first novels. I then read The Likeness and […]
James Ellroy But Condensed And More Entertaining
While I enjoy her recent work, which is usually set in the present day, I wish Megan Abbott had written more books with settings in 40s and 50s LA and Vegas. She was really onto something. I suppose comparisons to James Ellroy’s The Black Dahlia are inevitable with this one. Like Ellroy’s work, it’s a murder mystery based on a true murder of a woman working the fringes of Hollywood. But unlike Ellroy, who likes to muse about social affairs and masculinity, this is a straight-up whodunnit. […]
Offed At The Races
This was not a conventional mystery read but it was a fun book and unique compared to much of what I consume. I’m always down for books where folks get dragged unwittingly into being private eyes. But this one is different. Rather than focus solely on the perspective of the protagonist, each chapter has a different perspective from a different character. Some are more relevant to the plot than others, which can be frustrating but over time, I got used to it and even came […]