Authors: James Ellroy
The Big Nowhere (48 page)
MY DARK PLACES
AMERICAN TABLOID
HOLLYWOOD NOCTURNES
WHITE JAZZ
L.A. CONFIDENTIAL
THE BLACK DAHLIA
SUICIDE HILL
KILLER ON THE ROAD
BECAUSE THE NIGHT
BLOOD ON THE MOON
CLANDESTINE
BROWN’S REQUIEM
“James Ellroy is the first original to appear in American detective fiction since the late Ross Macdonald.”
—
California
“THE BIG NOWHERE is a stunner…It’s a huge, sprawling canvas of postwar Los Angeles as a black hole. It’s Hieronymous Bosch between hard covers, taking up where film noir left off as it introduces a trio of warped, cynical cops hopping aboard the Red Scare bandwagon.”
—
Detroit News
“For something in the classic vein written by a man alive and in full noir-lit vigor, the strong of heart will want to read James Ellroy’s THE BIG NOWHERE…He makes you feel as if you really are in the Hollywood of 1950.”
—
Wall Street Journal
“His characters are drawn with a firm brush, he has an excellent line in flinty, sardonic dialogue, and you terribly want to know how the whole thing is going to work out in the end.”
—
New York Times
“THE BIG NOWHERE is an engrossing, compelling novel of power and perversion in America. The Red Scare, crime, love, politics, cops, gangsters…This book has it all. You don’t read THE BIG NOWHERE; you fall into it, and its gravity pulls you in ways you’ve never been touched.”
—James Grady, author of
Six Days of the Condor
“Ellroy is not imitation noir, but
neo
-noir, proving that the golden age of hard-boiled detective fiction can be a laboratory for a new kind of mystery.”
—
Chicago Tribune
“James Ellroy’s
The Black Dahlia
rocked the literary world last year. Now he’s back with an even more powerful and compelling novel of greed, dark passion, and murder…James Ellroy has gone from one of the most impressive crime writers of the 1980s to a major literary voice of the twentieth century. THE BIG NOWHERE is a masterpiece–a powerful and disturbing novel no one should miss.”
—
Rave Reviews
“THE BIG NOWHERE is a startling panorama of Los Angeles in the fifties. Through the eyes of some unforgettable, two-fisted cops we are taken from the Katydid Club to the Sunset Strip where the legendary crimelord Mickey Cohen buys the drinks…and the D.A. This is a compelling piece.”
—Gerald Petievich, author of
To Live and Die in L.A.
“THE BIG NOWHERE is a monumental achievement in storytelling. Ellroy has hit his stride, and I can’t imagine a crime novel any better than this one…THE BIG NOWHERE is the stuff legends are made of.”
—
Jackson Daily News
“All good fiction is good social history. Ellroy’s L.A. is not only convincing; he has made it his L.A.”
—Matthew J. Bruccoli, publisher, biographer, critic
“Five stars!”
—
South Boston Tribune
“Ellroy brings alive the prejudices, fear, corruption, and political ambitions that fed the Red Scare.”
—
Chicago Sun-Times
“My favorite entertainment of the year is James Ellroy’s THE BIG NOWHERE…what is most impressive is its total unpredictability.”
—
Worcester Evening Gazette
“An ambitious, enthralling melodrama painted on a broad, dark canvas…at once taut and densely detailed, this is a mystery with the grim, inexorable pull of a film noir.”
—
Publishers Weekly
To receive special offers, bonus content, and news about our latest e-books and apps, sign up for our newsletter.
Or visit us at
hachettebookgroup.com/newsletters
The Big Nowhere
Welcome page
Dedication
Epigraph
Part One: Red Crosscurrents
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Part Two: Upshaw, Considine, Meeks
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-One
Chapter Twenty-Two
Chapter Twenty-Three
Chapter Twenty-Four
Chapter Twenty-Five
Chapter Twenty-Six
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Chapter Thirty
Chapter Thirty-One
Part Three: Wolverine
Chapter Thirty-Two
Chapter Thirty-Three
Chapter Thirty-Four
Chapter Thirty-Five
Chapter Thirty-Six
Chapter Thirty-Seven
Chapter Thirty-Eight
Chapter Thirty-Nine
Chapter Forty
Part Four: The Red Chaser Blues
Chapter Forty-One
Chapter Forty-Two
Also by James Ellroy
Raves for The Big Nowhere
Newsletter
Copyright
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is coincidental.
Copyright © 1988 by James Ellroy
Cover copyright © 2013 by Hachette Book Group, Inc.
All rights reserved. In accordance with the U.S. Copyright Act of 1976, the scanning, uploading, and electronic sharing of any part of this book without the permission of the publisher is unlawful piracy and theft of the author’s intellectual property. If you would like to use material from the book (other than for review purposes), prior written permission must be obtained by contacting the publisher at [email protected]. Thank you for your support of the author’s rights.
Grand Central Publishing
Hachette Book Group
237 Park Avenue
New York, NY 10017
Printed in the United States of America
Originally published in hardcover by Hachette Book Group.
First eBook Edition: January 2013
Grand Central Publishing is a division of Hachette Book Group, Inc.
The Grand Central Publishing name and logo is a trademark of Hachette Book Group, Inc.
The publisher is not responsible for websites (or their content) that are not owned by the publisher.
The Hachette Speakers Bureau provides a wide range of authors for speaking events. To find out more, go to www.hachettespeakersbureau.com or call (866) 376-6591.
ISBN 978-1-4555-2875-2