Publisher Description

THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER.This is World War Two as you have never seen it.This is America as only Ellroy can write it.'There has never been a writer like James Ellroy.' TelegraphLos Angeles, December 6, 1941. Last hopes for peace are shattered when Japanese squadrons bomb Pearl Harbor. War fever and race hate grip the city and the internment of Japanese-Americans begins.Following the hellish murder of a Japanese family, three men and one woman are summoned. William H. Parker is a captain on the Los Angeles Police. He's superbly gifted, corrosively ambitious and consumed by dubious ideology. He is bitterly at odds with Sergeant Dudley Smith - Irish emigre, ex-IRA killer and fledgling war profiteer. Kay Lake is a 21-year-old dilettante looking for adventure. Hideo Ashida is a brilliant police chemist and the only Japanese on the payroll.Four driven souls - rivals, lovers, history's pawns - thrown into an investigation which will not only rip them apart but take America to the edge of the abyss at a crucial moment in its history.

Notes

The first volume of Ellroy's Second L.A. Quartet. An epic lengthy novel of crime, war and romance set on the brink of WW2 in 1941 Los Angeles amid blackouts, war fever and escalating racial tension spawned by the Pearl Harbor bombings. Will be populated with characters from Ellroy's L.A. Confidential, alongside new ones. Now in paperback.

Back Cover

'The master of American crime fiction.' Sunday Times Los Angeles, December 6 1941. Last hopes for peace are shattered when Japanese squadrons bomb Pearl Harbor. War fever and race hate grip the city and the internment of Japanese-Americans begins. Following the hellish murder of a Japanese family, three men and one woman are summoned. William H. Parker is a captain on the Los Angeles Police. He's superbly gifted, corrosively ambitious and consumed by dubious ideology. He is bitterly at odds with Sergeant Dudley Smith - Irish migr, ex-IRA killer and fledgling war profiteer. Kay Lake is a 21-year-old dilettante looking for adventure. Hideo Ashida is a brilliant police chemist and the only Japanese on the payroll. Four driven souls - rivals, lovers, history's pawns - thrown into an investigation which will not only rip them apart but take America to the edge of the abyss at a crucial moment in its history. This is World War II as you have never seen it before. 'An extraordinary achievement by any measure.' Guardian 'There has never been a writer like James Ellroy.' Telegraph 'It may be set in the 1940s but its real subject is now.' Herald

Author Biography

JAMES ELLROY was born in Los Angeles in 1948. He is the author of the 'Underworld U.S.A. Trilogy' - American Tabloid, The Cold Six Thousand and Blood's a Rover - and the 'L.A. Quartet' novels, The Black Dahlia, The Big Nowhere, L.A. Confidential and White Jazz. He lives in Los Angeles.

Review

There has never been a writer like James Ellroy. * Telegraph *
An epic and bizarrely transcendental novel that represents an extraordinary achievement by any measure … a genuinely impressive feat of sustained literary energy: 90% of novelists couldn't get anywhere near it…His is an awe-inspiring artistic vision and this is a novel that should surely be read by new readers as well as fans. -- Edward Docx * Guardian *
The master of American crime fiction. * Sunday Times *
A triumphant return to the violent fictional world where he started – 1940s Los Angeles … Fans will not be disappointed ... It is populated by many of Ellroy's most memorable monsters, notably LAPD Sgt Dudley Smith … Reading it made me want to return to the original Quartet. * Evening Standard *
James Ellroy is back doing what he does best, weaving a tangle of tales set in wartime Los Angeles…I look forward, eagerly, to the next three instalments. * The Times *

Promotional

THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER.

This is World War Two as you have never seen it.

This is America as only Ellroy can write it.

Review Text

There has never been a writer like James Ellroy.

Review Quote

There has never been a writer like James Ellroy.

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THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER. This is World War Two as you have never seen it. This is America as only Ellroy can write it.

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