L.A. confidential

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. (June) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved

Energetic, sprawling--and often stylistically irritating--police procedural that follows three LAPD members over a ten-year period, beginning in 1950. Initially, Sgt. Ed Exley, a patrician who venerates his hero-cop father, presumably holds high ideals and unassailable standards. Officer Bud White, on the other hand, is brutal, violent, vengeful--and Jack "Trashcan" Vincennes, formerly of the Narco Squad now busted to Vice, is willing to leak dirt to a scandal rag, Hush-Hush, for cash on the line. Over the years, their cases, political alliances, and personalities collide, collude, and corrupt as they come to grips with the aftereffects--on their own lives--of a mass murder that comes to be known as the "Nite Owl Massacre." Meanwhile, real-life lowlifes cross their paths; love--or certainly sex--struts by; and the mighty fall at their feet, where, given the opportunity, they grind them into the dirt (although Exley tries to make exceptions on account of his dad). A wealth of subplots--about a Disney World precursor; black musicians who get rousted for drug possession; hookers who go straight (sort of); the demise of sleaze mags; prison-yard hits; and purple convertibles--eventually leads into a full understanding of the Nite Owl situation, as well as to the death, crippling, and dishonor of Vincennes, White, and Exley. The rat-a-tat style can be headache-inducing, as can the intertwining cases and ever-shifting focus; still, underneath all the verbiage and bombast, there's force and a bravura that demands attention--along with editing. Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.