Ever since a friend of mine handed me The Black Dahlia, I knew I would have to get James Ellroy’s other books. The Big Nowhere is the second book in the L.A. Quartet after the Dahlia, and it is quite a long, convoluted, but enjoyable read.
The Big Nowhere is set in Los Angeles in 1950, where the heads of the city are chomping at the bit to fend off the Commies and Howard Hughes just wants to get the latest little starlet into bed. Someone is killing gay men, mutilating them, and leaving them out in public places for all to see. Danny Upshaw is a Sheriff’s deputy that becomes obsessed with the murders. His investigative techniques are up and coming, but the case has him all twisted up because he is struggling with his sexuality himself. In his desperate attempt to solve the murders, he gets involved with a task force charged with infiltrating the Communist labor groups in the movie industry. Dudley Smith (a regular character in this quartet of novels) is leading the task force against the Commies. Smith is a rough guy who knows how to grease the right people to move up in the police system, and you see him do so as the book goes on. Mal Considine is working in the task force for the D.A., just so he can advance his career and gain custody of his adopted son. Buzz Meeks is working for the money, so he can take the ex-stripper he’s in love with, who also happens to be a mob boss’s gal, away from L.A and off to safety. Of course, the task force and the murders end up being connected, and lots of blood is spilled before the end.
Danny Upshaw infiltrates the labor group and struggles with his new responsibilities. He is torn between who he is and what others expect him to be. Upshaw is the most well rounded character of the book, but in truth, all three main characters are well sketched out. It does get somewhat difficult to keep track of all the various side characters, especially when I wanted to try and tie them backwards to The Black Dahlia and forwards into L.A. Confidential (the movie anyway, since I haven’t read the book).
As for the plot, Ellroy pulls all of the ugly in 1950’s L.A. out into the open. No one is really clean, and everyone wants something from someone else. Once the cases are solved and you come to the conclusion, you are satisfied. Some things are resolved; others are left open for the upcoming novels.
Overall, The Big Nowhere left me satisfied and ready to read L.A. Confidential, the next in the quartet. If you like hard-boiled detective novels mixed up with noir, you’d like James Ellroy and his L.A. Quartet.
Rating: 4 Purrs
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