L.A. Confidential

De: James Ellroy

Narrado por: Craig Wasson

Christmas 1951, Los Angeles: a city where the police are as corrupt as the criminals.

Six prisoners are beaten senseless in their cells by cops crazed on alcohol. For the three LAPD detectives involved, it will expose the guilty secrets on which they have built their corrupt and violent careers.

©1990 James Ellroy (P)2015 Random House Audio

twistier than movie!

Plot is more intricate and twistier than movie. Wasson gives a top notch performance as usual!

LA Confidential

A thrilling and gripping story. Violent, intense and intriguing. The story stalls out slightly in and around part 3 but accelerates towards an exciting and shocking ending. Craig Wasson is brilliant as the reader.

Wow! Author, author! Amazing!

This just blew me away! From the text to the reading. A 1 performance! Bravo!

great book live the story well read

I know that it's clichéd but the book is way better than the movie well performed well read definitely worth your time

A modern pulp crime classic

For newcomers and anyone already familiar with Ellroy's classic sprawling crime novel, this audio version of L.A. Confidential is worth a listen. Wasson tackles author's curt, biting style expertly in narration and highlights the three main characters' complexities in a way the movie doesn't come close to touching. Some of his characters come across as stereotypical voices - Inez Soto - for instance, while others lapse into unintentional comedy: see Yorkin and Jack Vincennes as Jack Nicholson's The Joker, Sid Hudgins as Snaglepuss smoking a pack a minute and the Lucky Charms leprechaun appearing as Dudley Smith. Still, Wasson does a good job of helping Ellroy's sometimes too-fast moving riffs come across as plot development. Audible should consider changing the thumbnail for this title - I can only imagine how much better the original version narration by film actor David Strathairn, who originally played Pierce Patchett, is comparatively.

Book is as good as the movie, just more complex!

This was a great book for my 6 days a week walk with each disc being a great way to both timing the walk and making the time pass so quickly.

Excellent

Very fast paced story. The narration was fantastic. It is darker and grittier than the movie.

Great Audio of a Complicated Book

L.A Confidential is my favorite book of all time. I read it for the first time at 16 and it's the book that really got me interested in reading. I finished it at 4:00am while on vacation and reread it immediately. Every mystery or crime novel I've read since has been chasing the dragon of L.A Confidential. Some have come close, but it's never been surpassed.

I've read this book countless times, but I decided to listen to it this time around. Overall the audio book is great. Wesson is a gifted narrator and he handles Ellroy's unique staccato style very well. Um, the less said about his voices for female, Hispanic, Black and Asian characters the better. I have to admit, I usually read the last section of the book fairly quickly because there's so much going on. Listening to the book was great because it slowed me down and forced me to really pay attention to the story. I picked up on things I had missed in the past.

WAY better than the movie!

James Elroy constructs a dark world. where the characters are cynical, deviant and endlessly engaging. I loved the book!

Long ass book

But worth the read if you like crime thrillers. Wasson has done another excellent narration