The Big Nowhere

The Big Nowhere is a 1988 crime fiction novel by James Ellroy, the second of the L.A. Quartet, a series of novels set in 1940s and 1950s Los Angeles. What begins in this novel as two separate tales eventually twists together into one, centered around the efforts of a LA Sheriff's Deputy to capture a brutal sex murderer while serving, somewhat reluctantly, as a decoy for a set-up to catch Communists in Hollywood. This young deputy, Danny Upshaw, f... more

The Big Nowhere is a 1988 crime fiction novel by James Ellroy, the second of the L.A. Quartet, a series of novels set in 1940s and 1950s Los Angeles. What begins in this novel as two separate tales eventually twists together into one, centered around the efforts of a LA Sheriff's Deputy to capture a brutal sex murderer while serving, somewhat reluctantly, as a decoy for a set-up to catch Communists in Hollywood. This young deputy, Danny Upshaw, finds himself on a ride that will force him to confront secrets he has kept his whole life, even from himself. Two other major characters, a disgraced former cop now working for both Howard Hughes and Mickey Cohen, and an ambitious LAPD lieutenant involved in a child custody case, try with varying success to do the right things in an environment of deception, paranoia and brutality. The story begins on New Year's Eve, as 1949 turns to 1950, and creates a vivid portrait of Los Angeles during that era, from the bebop emanating from the jazz clubs... less