- Paperback: 406 pages
- Publisher: Warner Books; Warner Books Ed edition (May 1998)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0446674370
- ISBN-13: 978-0446674379
- Product Dimensions: 14.6 x 3.2 x 20.3 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars See all reviews (16 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 3,046,694 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
The Big Nowhere
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More About the Author
Product Description
New York Times
'Ellroy is the author of some of the most powerful crime novels ever written'
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Book Description
James Ellroy's legendary LA Quartet republished with a brand new look
--This text refers to an alternate
Paperback
edition.
Inside This Book
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First Sentence
Thundershowers hit just before midnight, drowning out the horn honks and noisemaker blare that usually signalled New Year's on the Strip, bringing 1950 to the West Hollywood Substation in a wave of hot squeals with meat wagon backup. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Excerpt | Back Cover
Thundershowers hit just before midnight, drowning out the horn honks and noisemaker blare that usually signalled New Year's on the Strip, bringing 1950 to the West Hollywood Substation in a wave of hot squeals with meat wagon backup. Read the first page
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
9 of 9 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
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.
12 of 13 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
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
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
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.quartet with The Big Nowhere. I wasn't disappointed - the characterisation is superb, you actually find yourself mourning them when/if they get killed - the plot is complex, but ultimately rewarding. As with all great books I found myself slowing up towards the end, not wanting to finish it. I began L.A.Confidential the same day I finished TBN so as to avoid Ellroy withdrawal symptoms.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
this was a gift but....
....item arrived quickly (3 days on standard carriage), well packaged and ready for handing over to my appeciative and well-read mum :)
Published 5 months ago by wrighty
Noir resurgence
The Big Nowhere would be as good if not better than The Black Dahlia were it not perhaps for the ending, which I found in some respects frustrating. Read more
Published 14 months ago by reader 451
New Ellory reader
Only just started reading this but it is sufficiently different from most current crime thrillers to stick with.
Will probably try others of his.
Will probably try others of his.
Published 19 months ago by average reader
More dark brilliance
With 'The Big Nowhere', the second in the La Quartet, James Ellroy packs as just as brutal a punch as in 'The Black Dahlia', - and that is a hard act to follow. Read more
Published 20 months ago by THE Music Enthusiast
Gripping and complex detective thriller based in 50s LA
This was my first James Ellroy novel and I chose it because I am a fan of Raymond Chandler and other hard-boiled detective fiction. Read more
Published 23 months ago by WoodyF
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 on 10 Nov 2009 by J. Farrant
the big nowhere
The second book in the 'LA quartet' including The Black Dahlia, LA Confidential, and White Jazz. They dont have to be read in order, but you might as well because once you've read... Read more
Published on 8 Feb 2009 by B Staiton
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 on 3 Jun 2008 by A Reviewer
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
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"
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