Perfidia

A novel

By: James Ellroy

Narrated by: Craig Wasson

NATIONAL BESTSELLER
AN NPR BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR

It is December 6, 1941. America stands at the brink of World War II. Last hopes for peace are shattered when Japanese squadrons bomb Pearl Harbor. Los Angeles has been a haven for loyal Japanese-Americans—but now, war fever and race hate grip the city and the Japanese internment begins.

The hellish murder of a Japanese family summons three men and one woman. William H. Parker is a captain on the Los Angeles Police Department. He’s superbly gifted, corrosively ambitious, liquored-up, and consumed by dubious ideology. He is bitterly at odds with Sergeant Dudley Smith—Irish émigré, ex-IRA killer, fledgling war profiteer. Hideo Ashida is a police chemist and the only Japanese on the L.A. cop payroll. Kay Lake is a twenty-one-year-old dilettante looking for adventure. The investigation throws them together and rips them apart. The crime becomes a political storm center that brilliantly illuminates these four driven souls—comrades, rivals, lovers, history’s pawns.

Perfidia is a novel of astonishments. It is World War II as you have never seen it, and Los Angeles as James Ellroy has never written it before. Here, he gives us the party at the edge of the abyss and the precipice of America’s ascendance. Perfidia is that moment, spellbindingly captured. It beckons us to solve a great crime that, in its turn, explicates the crime of war itself. It is a great American novel.

Classic Ellroy

Listening to Ellroy's books is so enjoyable! Great story and a great reading. Can't wait for the next one!

Stylish and engrossing, but sometimes messy and inauthentic

Sprawling, epic and utterly stylish. Ellroy is a master at time and place. This however does feel a bit sloppier and bit less cohesive and authentic than his other works.

A Masterpiece of Writing and Narration

Many reviewers have loathed this book, especially in its printed version. Admittedly, James Ellroy is an acquired taste, but one I fully embraced years ago. I've read every one of his novels, essays, short stories, and have found them a difficult journey worth taking. Perfidia is not the place to start, but it is more accessible than Ellroy at his most terse, such as White Jazz or The Cold Six Thousand. That being said, this first volume in his new LA Quartet is nothing short of a violent, rabid masterpiece--an over the top prose poem to violence and debauchery.

And while the novel is great by itself, it is made so much more vivid and memorable by the masterful Craig Wasson in what I believe is the single best audio book performance I have ever heard.

I read the book on the Kindle with the Audible book being read by Wasson simultaneously for one of the great reading / listening experiences of my life.

Rough beginning, softer landing

Any additional comments?

Out of the gate, this was a rough listen. The first section of the book was off-putting to the point where I nearly cashed it in. I am very glad I did not. The listen smoothed out shortly after the open and evolves in to a really good listen. In my opinion, there are likable though multi-flawed characters, a very good story line, and good narration. (Note: the narrator is the same on another great listen of 11/22/63 by Stephen King).

I look forward to the follow up books in this four-part series.

Strong performance. Poor ending

Great reading.

Originally - throughout the first 2/3 of the book I was really impressed how Elroy could write a prequel to some of his other books light the Black Dahlia and LA Confidential and actually add to the characters' depth. But the last 1/4 of the book pretty much falls apart and we're left with a preposterous ending.

Too bad. I like Elroy's writing style, but it feels like he paints himself into a plot corner and uses dumb plot ideas to resolve.