But over the course of this trilogy, Ellroy got tougher. American Tabloid might be Ellroy’s masterpiece. Then the waters start to get choppy: welcome friends, to the Underworld USA Trilogy: American Tabloid, The Cold Six Thousand and Blood’s A Rover. From there, nonfiction: My Dark Places, Ellroy’s attempts to find the murderer of his own mother (but maybe not The Hilliker Curse, just yet). Four standalone books with recurring characters that pack a powerful cumulative punch. If you want to start with Ellroy, start with the LA Quartet: The Black Dahlia, The Big Nowhere, LA Confidential and White Jazz. Of the 19 or so books that grace his biblio page, a full half dozen are now classed as ‘Early novels’. Sheesh, you might be wondering: where is one supposed to start with James Ellroy? Knowledge of the respective lay of the land helps. This Storm is the second book in a proposed quartet, the first book being Perfidia, which our reviewer at the time did not get along with – which we share to advise that Perfidia might not be the best place to start either. If you’ve heard some noise about this James Ellroy fellow and you’re thinking, hmmm, maybe I should dip my toe in the water – do not dip your toe in the water here. First of all, before everything else: do not start here.
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