Cathy67

1) Yes, this was excellent.
2) Yes, this was hard-boiled.
3) Yes, this had confusing storylines.
4) Yes, this book needed a list of characters (unless you have an incredible memory.) 
5) Yes, I wanted to give this book a solid five stars. 

I have been wanting to read this great book for years, then when I saw I had 10 friends who read it, it became a must read now. Of those 10 friends, five gave it four stars and five five stars, so I knew it was great. 

Ellroy wrote The Black Dahalia which I loved, giving it five stars and I fully expected this book to live up to my five star expectation. However, I found the characters very confusing. I wondered, how does Ellroy expect the reader to remember John Doe who was mentioned on page 25, then repeated again on page 158? So who is John Doe? Then begin flipping back the pages to see when he was mentioned. 

Although the storyline was about the Night Owl massacre of six people in an all night coffee shop, there were multiple storylines revolving around that event. 

There are three main characters and they weave back and forth...good, yes, he's a good guy then hell no, he's a bad guy. So, in my mind there are no clear cut good guy/bad guys in the entire book. And that is not a complaint but if you need a clear delineation of good/bad guys, it's not here. 

Needless to say, this is no pansy ass book with warm and fuzzies. It's dark, pitch black dark and that's why it's called noir. A great word for this book.

I still wish that Goodreads would allow us readers to give half stars but no. Changes in GR, as we all know, but not there. With that said, I would give this one three and a half, but I do round up so I'm tipping the scale of my circle of friends with six now giving it four stars and five reviewers, five stars. 

No, it didn't amaze me. Hopefully, the next Ellroy will. I'm expecting it but will begin my list of characters on page one like I should have done here. hint, hint(less)