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Title: Too hardboiled for its own damn good
Review: This novel is fun for a couple of hundred pages, but Ellroy gets lost somewhere along the way. The plot took so many twists and turns that I decided to just go along rather than make myself seasick trying to keep the big picture in mind. One of the book's best points, the fact that it puts a human face on the mythology of the Kennedy era, is also a weakness: who cares what happens to these scumbags? Ellroy's perspective is interesting and his (near-)complete lack of moral judgment is impressive. It's too bad his self-indulgent badass style gets in the way; some sections are so clunky, they come off as self-parody. Still, if you don't let these things bother you, it's not a bad ride.
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