If you pick up Perfidia you had best be in for the long haul, it was all consuming and it just keeps going and going....and going. I was swept away by a world rife with corruption, obsession, desire and deeply affected by events contemporary to the time in which it is set. The title fits the tone and direction of the novel perfectly. Not only does the author present the reader with a smart, noir thriller, he also reveals L.A. at a time when the threat of war plunged the city into spirals of aggression, racism and uncertainty, a time when patriotism took on a multitude of different meanings and sympathies could well end up settling with the most devilish of causes. Ellroy doesn't just set a dramatic and evocative backdrop for his novel, his skill also lies in his ability to create fascinating, conflicted characters to fill his landscape. The novel itself is told through the experiences of four main protagonists, but features many, many more, all just as alluring and interesting as one another. He writes of corrupt, shotgun toting cops hunting for their next kill and their next patsy, a reformed prostitute battling with obsession and identity, cops facing explosive power struggles and gang leaders with savage, creative approaches to managing their patch. Relationships between characters are frequently exploitative and always fascinating, with perpetually shifting allegiances and a great deal of power plays being made, you could be forgiven for forgetting that at the heart of the novel lies the atrocious and graphic murder of an entire family. Ellroy's brash and abrupt narrative style took some getting used to, but once it clicked and the pace hastened I just couldn't get enough of it. The writing itself compliments the novels host of explosive characters effortlessly. The femme fatale archetype, required of any noir novel, is a unique and dark creation in Perfidia, Kay Lake was easily my favourite character. Her narrative conclusion was so far from what I expected in its violent and unsettling blood frenzy, as a tragic goddess enslaved in a world of corruption she achieves a delicious and liberating metamorphosis. I wont pretend that I understood the entire book, there were numerous colloquialisms I didn't recognise and both the time and place in which the tortuous narrative is set were unfamiliar to me prior to picking Perfidia up. This didn't prevent my immense enjoyment in reading the novel, if anything it made it all the more intriguing and encouraged me to look deeper (outside of the novel's fictionalised setting) into the events that take place within its pages. This is not a novel of beauty and finesse in any conventional sense, its charm for me originated from the violence and lawlessness that burns throughout its pages. War torn L.A. is terrifying and deeply unsettling through Ellroy's deft and relentless eyes. Its scope is massive and is quite the writing achievement, worthy of great praise Perfidia was a spectacular read that has made me rethink my previous disinterest in his writing. I want more!

Set in the 40s in LA, this book is catching perfectly the atmosphere of LA Confidential and Black Dahlia and gives the reader an opportunity to learn more about the before all the other Ellroy books. Many of the same characters get more depth in their discription through the including of their backstory. I especially enjoyed the change of point of view and the immense number of characters. At the beginning this can be quite tiresome and confusing, especially if you don't remember every aspect of the story. For all fans of film noire and everyone who likes to read a dark mystery story. In the whole it is a nice and entertaining read.

I was excited to receive a review copy of Perfidia as I have read many positive reviews about James Ellroy’s LA Quartet series and the plot looked interesting. This is the first James Ellroy novel I have read and unfortunately it has put me off reading any others. I loved the cinema versions of LA Confidential and Black Dahlia and expected this to be a dark and thoroughly interesting crime novel but unfortunately I found it slow, dull and half way through the book I stopped caring about the characters or the plot. I didn’t like the language used in the novel which at times seemed like a different type of English. It is full of Americanisms, slang and terms I am not familiar with so I did not understand what it was being referred to. A glossary of terms at the end of the book would have been nice for those of use who are not experts in crime terms and gang English. There were sections in the book where I felt like skipping a whole chapter or even giving up but I persevered just to find out who killed the Japanese family. This is a very long and slow-action book which I think could have done with a shorter edit to make it more exciting. The synopsis at the back makes the book sound more exciting than it actually is. I learned later that some of the characters are from previous Ellroy novels so fans of his LA Quartet series might like revisiting them and it might mean a bit more to them. Apparently this is the start of a new quartet but unfortunately I will not be purchasing the next in the series.

This is the first book by this author which I have attempted to read. I found the style of writing stilted and the progression of the plot jerky, to the point where I struggled to read more than a few pages at a time.

This is the first novel which I have read by James Ellroy and I have to confess that I found it exceedingly difficult to read. I had a hard time engaging with the book. His writing is erratic: abbreviated, in short, sharp bursts, and full of American slang and terms which I did not understand. I had to revert to looking up definitions of certain of these terms, and then gave up on that idea because it was distracting me from reading the book. The slang used may have been correct for the time period in which the book was set, but the reader needs to be fluent in this, and alas, I was not. Maybe a second glossary at the end would have been helpful. The main plot centres upon the internment of Japanese-Americans after the attack on Pearl Harbour. The previous day, a Japanese family of four is found brutally murdered. Who is responsible for their deaths? Detectives William Parker and Dudley Smith lead the investigation, but they are complex characters with their own agendas. Kay Lake, a young socialite, is involved with most men in the book, and is trying to find a way through the mess. Hideo Ashida is a Japanese-American CSI, who is probably the most interesting character in the book. On a more positive note, I feel that the author has done his research. The 1940s era has been described very well. Each scene is well constructed, and attention to detail is perfect. Everything he describes is wonderfully accurate including the bigoted attitudes of the police of the day. I think it will make a marvellous film!