L.A. Confidential [Anglais] [Broché]

James Ellroy's L.A. Confidential is film-noir crime fiction akin to Chinatown, Hollywood Babylon, Raymond Chandler, Dashiell Hammett, and Jim Thompson. It's about three tortured souls in the 1950s L.A.P.D.: Ed Exley, the clean-cut cop who lives shivering in the shadow of his dad, a legendary cop in the same department; Jack Vincennes, a cop who advises a Police Squad- like TV show and busts movie stars for payoffs from sleazy Hush-Hush magazine; and Bud White, a detective haunted by the sight of his dad murdering his mom.

Ellroy himself was traumatized as a boy by his party-animal mother's murder. (See his memoir My Dark Places for the whole sordid story.) So it is clear that Bud is partly autobiographical. But Exley, whose shiny reputation conceals a dark secret, and Vincennes, who goes showbiz with a vengeance, reflect parts of Ellroy, too.

L.A. Confidential holds enough plots for two or three books: the cops chase stolen gangland heroin through a landscape littered with not-always-innocent corpses while succumbing to sexy sirens who have been surgically resculpted to resemble movie stars; a vile developer--based (unfairly) on Walt Disney-- schemes to make big bucks off Moochie Mouse; and the cops compete with the crooks to see who can be more corrupt and violent. Ellroy's hardboiled prose is so compressed that some of his rat-a-tat paragraphs are hard to follow. You have to read with attention as intense as his—and that is very intense indeed. But he richly rewards the effort. He may not be as deep and literary as Chandler, but he belongs on the same top-level shelf.

Ellroy's ninth novel, set in 1950s Los Angeles, kicks off with a shoot-out between a rogue ex-cop and a band of gangsters fronted by a crooked police lieutenant. Close on the heels of this scene comes a jarring Christmas Day precinct house riot, in which drunk and rampaging cops viciously beat up a group of jailed Mexican hoodlums. But, as readers will quickly learn, these sudden sprees of violence, laced with evidence of police corruption, are only teasers for the grisly events and pathos that follow this intricate police procedural. Picking up where The Black Dahlia and The Big Nowhere left off, the book tracks the intertwining paths of the three flawed and ambitious cops who emerge from the "Bloody Christmas" affair. Dope peddling, prostitution, and other risky business are revealed as the tightly wound plot untangles. Ellroy's disdain for Hollywood tinsel is evident at every turn; even the most noble of the characters here are relentlessly sleazy. But their grueling, sometimes maniacal schemes make a compelling read for the stout of heart.
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc. --Ce texte fait référence à l'édition Relié .

(From the Catalog-Movie)

Los Angeles, 1953: six innocent people gunned down at an all-night diner. Three policemen arrive to investigate: Ed Exley, goaded by his father's success on the force, burning to eclipse him; Bud White, witness to his mother's murder, a time bomb with a badge; and Jack Vincennes, former addict, a shake-down artist who works celebrities. Worse yet, these three see themselves as rivals. Their own rage mirrors that of the killers they seek, all players in a game without rules or survivors.

"James Ellroy is a fictional sculptor who carves a universe without beauty, laughter or remorse. L.A. CONFIDENTIAL is his finest work yet." (People)

An epic crime novel that stands as a steel-edged time capsule--Los Angeles in the 1950s, a remarkable era defined in dark shadings. This is the story of three cops in a spiral, a nightmare that tests loyalty and courage, a nightmare that offers no mercy, allows for no survivors. Here is James Ellroy's masterpiece--now a major motion picture from Warner Bros. starring Kevin Spacey, Kim Basinger, David Strathairn and Danny DeVito. August publication date. 2 cassettes. --Ce texte fait référence à une édition épuisée ou non disponible de ce titre.

PRAISE FOR THE BOOK, BY JAMES ELLROY

"Nobody in this generation matches the breadth and depth of Ellroy's way with noir."
-- Detroit News

"Ellroy is a unique voice in American fiction and L.A. Confidential, his premier creation, is destined to be a classic."
-- Jonathan Kellerman

"A blood poet who writes as chain saws crank, Ellroy has vigorously redefined the well-shadowed turf of contemporary crime fiction."
-- Atlanta Journal-Constitution

"Ellroy spares no sensibilities."
-- Los Angeles Times

"L.A. Confidential is almost seamless, and demands attention for its monstrously original style and evocation of Hollywood in the '50s." --San Diego Union --Ce texte fait référence à une édition épuisée ou non disponible de ce titre.

James Ellroy's most recent novel, American Tabloid, was Time magazine's Novel of the Year in 1995, and his memoir, My Dark Places, was a New York Times Notable Book for 1996.

David Strathairn has appeared in the films L.A. Confidential, The River Wild, The Firm, and City of Hope. His theater work includes Three Sisters, Hapgood, and A Lie of the Mind. --Ce texte fait référence à une édition épuisée ou non disponible de ce titre.