Jon Taylor’s Reviews > The Black Dahlia > Status Update

All this gritty guy stuff - I can’t work out how Ellroy feels about it. Is he living out a fantasy of his own. Can’t feel like the sort of man he writes about as an author can he? I wonder how much of the interrogation of Red was his own insecurity? Or is he judgement-free, a presenter of the facts, for better or worse?

We are drawn into the world of the girl, Elizabeth Short. We meet the father, a small, sleazy man with short-man syndrome. Lee is unravelling. Bucky and Kay are circling. Bobby de Witt is out there. And Loew is politicising.

This is unnervingly real - I remember seeing a documentary about Ellroy where he talked about this book in connection with the disappearance of his mother, I think, and I have to keep reminding myself that, although informed by that event, this is fiction. Christ, it’s grim. The 2 lead characters are working men of the 40s and not easy to like.

The boxing match was excitingly told. The level of detail in the police routines is impressive but I hope we get the plot moving soon.

Tough guy vernacular, boxing, cops, brawls… what did I expect?