Book review – “The Big Nowhere” by James Ellroy

The first appearance by Dudley Smith, who later appeared in LA Confidential and White Jazz. The three heroes here are a young tough cop who turns out to be gay, a wife beating political cop type, and Buzz Meeks, the most corrupt cop on the force. Not the most likeable bunch and it centers around two sordid investigations – one into Communist infiltration into Hollywood, the other into a string of savage murders of gay people. So reading the book is a bit yucky despite that patented compulsive Ellroy style – but then at the end it focuses on Meeks and his suicidal affair with a lover of Mickey Cohen, his determination to avenge his friend - and it leaps into greatness.