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The Big Nowhere (Paperback)

by James Ellroy (Author)
4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
RRP: £8.99
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Frequently Bought Together

The Big Nowhere + White Jazz + L.A. Confidential
Price For All Three: £20.51

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  • This item: The Big Nowhere by James Ellroy

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  • White Jazz by James Ellroy

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  • L.A. Confidential by James Ellroy

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Product details

  • Paperback: 496 pages
  • Publisher: Arrow Books Ltd; New edition edition (3 Jan 1998)
  • Language English
  • ISBN-10: 0099366614
  • ISBN-13: 978-0099366614
  • Product Dimensions: 19.6 x 12.8 x 3.4 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 9,050 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

    Popular in this category:

    #5 in  Books > Crime, Thrillers & Mystery > Authors, A-Z > E > Ellroy, James

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Product Description

New York Times

'Ellroy is the author of some of the most powerful crime novels ever written'


Product Description

This work is set in 1950s, Los Angeles. The City of Angels has become the city of the Angel of Death. Communist witch-hunts and insanely violent killings are terrorising the community. Three men are plunged into a malestrom of violence and deceit when their lives become inextricably linked as each one confronts his own personal darkness.
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What Do Customers Ultimately Buy After Viewing This Item?

The Big Nowhere
67% buy the item featured on this page:
The Big Nowhere 4.8 out of 5 stars (12)
£6.74
American Tabloid
14% buy
American Tabloid 4.7 out of 5 stars (27)
£5.96
The Black Dahlia
9% buy
The Black Dahlia 4.4 out of 5 stars (27)
£5.96
The Cold Six Thousand
6% buy
The Cold Six Thousand 4.0 out of 5 stars (27)
£6.74
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Customer Reviews

12 Reviews
5 star:
 (9)
4 star:
 (3)
3 star:    (0)
2 star:    (0)
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Average Customer Review
4.8 out of 5 stars (12 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Ah, Grand., 18 Oct 2004
By S. Cottrell - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
I started 'The Big Nowhere' about a fortnight after finishing 'The Black Dahlia'. This is fiction at its best. The characterisation is superb, the sense of impending doom inescapable and the tension palpable. I think that this book narrowly beats L.A. Confidential in terms of entertainment and plot, and only narrowly fails to rank alongside the Black Dahlia. The Upshaw character is every bit as vivid as the main characters in the Black Dahlia and Clandestine, and by the end of the book Considine and even the initially dispicable Meeks have set themselves up as tragic heroes. A must read book.
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8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Remarkable. So much moer than just a crime novel., 6 May 2002
By A Customer
I chose this as the first Ellroy to read and could not have been more pleased. I am now looking to buy the whole set based on this experience.

What a great story -- muscular prose, rat-tat-tat dialogue. Amazing.
The depth and breadth of the characters on display here is startling; I found myself with a person's name on my mind -- trying to put a face and a place to the name -- only to realise it was actually a 'person' from this book.

If, like me, the only other crime books you have read were the traditional 'hard boiled' detective novels of Raymond Chandler, Dashiell Hammett et al, be prepared for a shock. This is not as out-there as Paul Auster's 'City of Glass' (from 'The New York Trilogy') but no less compelling.
Everything about this book is more robust, more immediate .. more 'modern', if you like .. but still evokes a similar sense of 30's - 50's USA in general and Hollywood sleaze in particular.

Gripping stuff!

10/10

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6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Expanding Ellroy's horizons, 2 Sep 2001
Forget The Black Dahlia - this is the first of Ellroy's newer, more ambitious books. While Dahlia may have carried him into marrying true crime with crime fiction, with The Big Nowhere he makes the more important move into multiple protagonists, which allows for one of the greatest plot devices of his later works - but I won't tell you what it is in case you haven't read it. The shock when reading the climax of the second section for the first time is a rare and incredible feeling when reading a book, and this was Ellroy's first try.

The Big Nowhere is also tied far more strongly to LA Confidential and White Jazz (the latter half of the LA Quartet) than Dahlia, fully involving the reader in the heroin conspiracy and introducing Dudley Smith properly for the first time since the earlier, far less impressive novel Clandestine.

If you're reading Ellroy's books sequentially, you're in for a treat. This is where the pace really picks up.

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Most Recent Customer Reviews

4.0 out of 5 stars The Big Nowhere
A lengthy thriller with a clever, but somewhat complicated plot. A knowledge of the geography of Los Angeles would be a great help from the start as would an understanding of the... Read more
Published 12 days ago by J. Farrant

5.0 out of 5 stars the big nowhere

The second book in the 'LA quartet' including The Black Dahlia, LA Confidential, and White Jazz. Read more
Published 9 months ago by B Staiton

4.0 out of 5 stars Brilliant yet frustrating!
Ellroy is a master in certain ways. This book transported me back in time. Set in 1950's L.A., the jazz clubs, the Hollywood glory days, the criminal underbelly, the hard drinking... Read more
Published 9 months ago by noggy1810

4.0 out of 5 stars A great read, lad
Not a book for the fainthearted, this. James Ellroy is famous for his bleak worldview, albeit one spiced with black humour, but this is Hollywood Noir by way of pure horror. Read more
Published 17 months ago by A Reviewer

5.0 out of 5 stars Another Ellroy Classic!
Having read The Black Dahlia, American Tabloid and The Cold Six Thousand in that order, and enjoying them all immensely, it seemed logical to continue Ellroy's L.A. Read more
Published on 8 Jun 2003 by Mr. A. L. Fielding

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent - as usual
James Ellroy is a favourite author of mine. It's a shame that more of his books have'nt made it to the big screen
Published on 20 May 2003 by Mr. Richard J. Davies

5.0 out of 5 stars A great read.......
I read The Black Dahlia first and thoroughly enjoyed it, but was not disappointed with this book, far from it. Read more
Published on 31 Jan 2002 by allan_lfc

5.0 out of 5 stars Great stuff!
I think this is one of the greastest crime novel of the 20th century. What makes it stand apart is its superb characterisation. Read more
Published on 7 May 1999

5.0 out of 5 stars Mystery and Corruption, this is LA in the 1950s.
I won't bother doing a synopsis, as this book is just too complex. I will say though, if you are squeamish stay away, this book is so hard, if you bit it, you'd break your teeth... Read more
Published on 12 April 1999

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