Los Angeles, 1958: a city on the make. A boom town at the edge of a new era ripe for plunder. Lieutenant Dave Klein is in turn a lawyer, bagman, slum landlord and mob killer. Klein stands at the centre of a complex web of plots where violence and death will intersect. Told with his trademark blistering and relentless prose-poetry, White Jazz is a bleak and powerful nightmare of a crime thriller, and a fitting conclusion to the LA Quartet. It is one of the greatest crime writers of all time, writing at his best. (19991103)
White Jazz
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Review
"'A vivid, enthralling read...James Ellroy is the outstanding American crime writer of his generation'" (Independent )
"'Ellroy has completed a climb to the very pinnacle of crime writing.White Jazz is without doubt his best yet'" (City Limits )
"'Recent novels by the likes of Carl Hiassen, Andrew Vachss and George V Higgins have at best been treading water.James Ellroy may be the exception.he seems in less danger of burnout than of going supernova'" (New Statesman and Society )
"'James Ellroy writes like a man possessed about men possessed...the labyrinthine plotting is superb...a bleak, loveless masterpiece'" (Modern Review )
"'Ellroy has completed a climb to the very pinnacle of crime writing.White Jazz is without doubt his best yet'" (City Limits )
"'Recent novels by the likes of Carl Hiassen, Andrew Vachss and George V Higgins have at best been treading water.James Ellroy may be the exception.he seems in less danger of burnout than of going supernova'" (New Statesman and Society )
"'James Ellroy writes like a man possessed about men possessed...the labyrinthine plotting is superb...a bleak, loveless masterpiece'" (Modern Review )
Book Description
The explosive conclusion to his crime fiction masterpiece, The LA Quartet, by the bestselling author of LA Confidential. (20050324)
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
13 of 13 people found the following review helpful
By Huck Flynn
VINE™ VOICE
Format:Paperback
Ellroy deserves so many superlatives for this work. His language is pared down to small bullet like phrases - like beat poetry or a stream of semi consciousness as we follow the case through the blood shot eyes of Dave Klein, the most corrupt, cold blooded, and twisted hero imaginable. The pace is relentless, leaving you breathless; the thoughts, actions and dialogue distilled to their most potent and concentrated form, leaving your brain bruised, at times baffled, but ultimately buzzing. There is little cheer in Ellroy's nightmare vision, even the love interest offers little relief and his plot reveals how dirty LA political fighting got in the 1950s. Howard Hughes, Hollywood, LAPD, FBI, the world of Boxing & Football, slum landlords, drug dealers and pimps battle, no holds barred, for supremacy and life is cheap. Only the tough survive and Dave Klein flourishes. White Jazz captures this hell better than any other crime book i've ever read.
8 of 8 people found the following review helpful
By A Customer
Format:Paperback
I've only recently discovered James Ellroy, LA Confidential was my first of his novels, next White Jazz and Clandestine. I noticed that LA Confidential was given a 5 star rating so it will be difficult for me to describe White Jazz as even better!! White Jazz has all the mystery, intrigue and suspense of LA Confidential and then takes the reader further - deeper into the seedy underground world of 1950's Los Angeles. Ellroy has a knack of keeping you guessing, on all of the many and varied sub-plots. White Jazz is gentle, but at times shockingly brutal. It is this mix that makes it one of my all-time favouite reads.
11 of 12 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Dave Klein is your typical James Ellroy hero. He's corrupt, violent, amoral, driven, and in love with his own sister. And he's a cop.
This novel pits Klein against almost the entire LA establishment, including the awe-inspiring Dudley Smith. The actual crimes that spark the story are almost irrelevant and the twists and turns of the plot almost too labyrinthine to enumerate - this book is about what Ellroy does best; disturbed interior monologue, brutal description and dialogue that reads like a mixture of lyrical poetry and aggravated assault.
An incredibly dense and challenging book, with very little in the way of hope or redemption on offer to the characters - a fine and fitting conclusion to the LA Quartet.
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3.9 out of 5 stars
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
Literary Experimentalism
White Jazz by James Ellroy is one of the most original pieces of writing ever written.
His stylistic approach is only comparable to James Joyce's Ulisses.
His stylistic approach is only comparable to James Joyce's Ulisses.
Published 6 months ago by Seph Nuel
5.0 out of 5 stars
Amazing prose style with a gripping storyline
The prose is amazing - written in a first person form with what feels like no verbs at all and with a style that is visually vivid, a train of thought wrought of the objects and... Read more
Published 9 months ago by S. Zacharias
4.0 out of 5 stars
it 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 16 months ago by wrighty
5.0 out of 5 stars
Noir legacy
White Jazz is a fitting end to the quartet of novels that begins with The Black Dahlia entitled the L.A. Quartet. Read more
Published 22 months ago by reader 451
5.0 out of 5 stars
Perfect... almost....
Once you have read the "Black Dahlia" you are hooked. This series of books are the pinnacle of crime fiction in my opinion. Read more
Published on 15 Mar 2011 by Johan RF
3.0 out of 5 stars
LA Quartet Conclusion - Confusion and Contusions
I quite liked the stripped down style that a lot of people seem to have a problem with. After reading The Big Nowhere and LA Confidential in the past month, this was like reading... Read more
Published on 19 Feb 2011 by Will
4.0 out of 5 stars
Dark sleaze and narco-vice
This is not an easy book to read - written as it is in demotic cop-speak and gangster-slang. Set in the fifties (1955 to 1962 I would guess, given the younger character's... Read more
Published on 18 Sep 2009 by Eileen Shaw
2.0 out of 5 stars
Disappointing
I read this after The Black Dahlia and thought that it was nowhere near as good as that book. The style is only dense in terms of detective fiction, and gets annoying gimmicky... Read more
Published on 11 July 2006 by Master Shake
5.0 out of 5 stars
The most stunning novel you'll ever read.
I've read a hell of a lot of novels in my time. White jazz is easily the most stunning of then all. If you only ever read one novel in your life, then trust me, this is the one you... Read more
Published on 1 Aug 2003 by Grev
4.0 out of 5 stars
LA-speak cop thriller worth persevering
This is the final book of the LA quartet, and although it could probably be read alone, I recommend reading the others first. Read more
Published on 12 Jun 2000
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