Algernon (Darth Anyan)'s Reviews > The Black Dahlia

What this book is : an excellent thriller, a true page turner that keeps you rushing for the finish line, a character driven police procedural, a harsh, gritty, uncompromising expose of the darker side of police work in Los Angeles around 1946.

What this book isn't : a true crime story, the solution to the unsolved murder of Elizabeth Short, anchored in facts and carefully considered evidence. It's highly speculative, concerned more with packing as many surprises and twists as possible in a high octane finale. It's a very cleverly constructed argument, but, by this very cleverness, it feels to me just a tad contrived, unrealistic. I believe there is a much simpler answer to the puzzle of the Black Dahlia than the one offered here.

Having said that, my first James Ellroy experience was intensely captivating. The novel opens with a boxing match between two cops, soon to become partners, and from this explosive introduction, the story continues to step-dance, duck and punch hard at the facts, sending the reader reeling more than once, emotionally exhausted after the long rounds, but high on adrenaline and thirsty for a K.O.

I have noticed with another book set in the 1940's ("From Here to Eternity") how popular boxing was in the Us, especially with the armed forces and the police. Los Angeles in 1946 is no exception, and a good showing in interdepartmental competitions can give an ambitious young officer a good opportunity for promotion. Our first person narrator, Bucky Bleichert, is just about to test the theory:

Lee Blanchard, 43-4-2 as a heavyweight, formerly a regular attraction at the Hollywood Legion Stadium, and me: Bucky Bleichert, light-heavy, 36-0-0, once ranked tenth by 'Ring' magazine, probably because Nat Fleisher was amused by the way I taunted opponents with my big buck teeth. [...] Physically, we looked as antithetical as two big men could: Blanchard was blond and ruddy, six feet tall and huge in the chest and shoulders, with stunted bowlegs and the beginning of a hard, distended gut; I was pale and dark-haired, all lanky muscularity at 6 foot 3. Who would win?

There are of course nuances to the motivations of the cops, with a good deal of machismo thrown in, like little boys trying to see who can piss the fartest. But the match was an early example for me of how good Ellroy can be at combining action with subtle characterization. The author will later prove that he is also very good at hiding red herrings and important clues in the early stages of the plot, time bombs that would explode in a very satisfactory manner latter on.

I have read hundreds of crime novels in the past. What makes Ellroy special here? For me, it's the insider view of police work, showing the detectives acting most of the time little better than the criminals they are chasing : intimidating witnesses, falsifying evidence, lying under oath, brutal, arrogant, clannish, racist. Despite all the bad apples, some are honestly working for law and order, and are ready to 'buck' the system. The wordplay is intentional, since the true hero of the story may not be a knight in shiny armor (view spoiler)[ Bucky throws the boxing match in order to make some dirty money and withholds critical evidence about a suspect (hide spoiler)], but he has a conscience, determination and enough integrity to go against his brothers in blue, even when such actions will label him a snitch and a pariah.

What I didn't like so much has little to do with the story itself, but with a little research I did afterwards into the true case of Elizabeth Short. No matter how often I tell myself that the Ellroy book is fiction, I keep thinking the author could have done a better job in his portrayal of the victim (view spoiler)[ there is no evidence that the Black Dahlia slept around with anybody in a uniform (hide spoiler)]. I guess what I'm trying to say here is that I was moved more by the restrained, straightforward and even slightly boring style of Sjowall and Wahloo in their early Martin Beck novels than by the flashy, clever constructions of Ellroy.

... but I still plan to continue with the L.A. Quartet, as these books are almost a historical chronicle of the period and the city in their richness of detail and in their intriguing characters.