Phil's Reviews > The Black Dahlia

The Black Dahlia seems more of an experience than a story, but Ellroy gives us gritty, post WWII L.A. noir nonetheless. Talk about a story with no real heroes but lots of villains! Our main protagonist here, Bucky Bleichert, enters the novel as a young cop from a troubled family, with his mom passed and his father, at least before his stroke, a Nazi sympathizer; all things German, including Bleichert, not being held in very high favor at the moment.

After (at least for me) a rather tedious start, made more difficult due to the 40s slang, the story kicks into gear with the finding of a the Black Dahlia. On January 15th, 1947, a torture-ravished body of a beautiful young woman turns up in a vacant lot in L.A. and kicks off one of the biggest manhunt in California history. Bucky and his new partner Lee Blanchard are assigned (with many others) to the case and quickly become obsessed with it.

Obsession plays a major role in this, as does Ellroy's expose of the grift, corruption and seedy side of Post war L.A. The politics and nepotism in the LAPD also plays a role here, especially given a very young police force and the L.A. economic boom. In any case, the police soon come up with a name for the female victim, but tracking down her killer is no easy task for sure. While the case obviously plays an anchoring role in the tale, most of the 'gut punch' comes from the interactions among the characters and Ellroy takes no prisoners here. While not exactly an antihero, Bleichert's obsession with the case stands out as one of his only redeeming features, and obsession is not very redeeming. As the novel unfolds, few 'idols' are left standing, from the corrupt police, politicians, even the love of both Bucky and Lee, who Lee supposedly met and basically rescued from a bank robber/drug dealer.

Ellroy's prose really defines the novel-- abrupt, stark and edgy-- which highlights the stinking underbelly of the city and of course the Black Dahlia case itself. While the novel was based on a true story-- The Black Dahlia did exist-- Ellroy elaborates greatly on the case, so do not expect a 'true-crime' tale here. Perhaps the most striking thing I found was how Ellroy just kept giving the reader one gut punch after another; he just never let up! Compelling and unsettling to be sure. I would go all the stars, except for the rough start. 4.5!