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  • L.A. Confidential

  • By: James Ellroy
  • Narrated by: Jeff Harding
  • Length: 15 hrs and 59 mins
  • 4.4 out of 5 stars (261 ratings)
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L.A. Confidential cover art

L.A. Confidential

By: James Ellroy
Narrated by: Jeff Harding
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Summary

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. The novel takes these cops on a sprawling epic of brutal violence and the murderous seedy side of Hollywood.

©1990 James Ellroy (P)2016 Isis Publishing Ltd

What listeners say about L.A. Confidential

Average customer ratings
Overall
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  • Overall
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compelling

others said it was hard to follow, I didn't think so at all, I was gripped start to finish

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Seen the movie?

Well don't let that stop you from reading the book. Full of extensive detail and true to history events. LA Confidential is a page turning thrill ride.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Stops and starts.

Great story, decent narrator, but the audio is off, so a lot of chapters start mid sentence.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Very good book and fantastic performance

Really enjoyable book and brilliantly performed by Jeff Harding. I was debating purchasing the book beforehand because of the negative reviews with people complaining about struggling to keep up with the plot because of the amount of characters, and that it didn't work well as an audiobook etc etc, but I loved it. There is a lot going on and a lot of twists and turns but I enjoyed it. I watched the movie years ago and I saw James Ellroy complaining in an interview that he didn't think the performances in the movie were great, or true to his characters, but I have to disagree. It may be because I watched the movie first, but the performances in the movie were spot on, and really close to the characters in this book. Great book though. And I reckon that Jeff Harding could read through a dictionary and make it sound action packed and interesting. Definately worth a listen

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

Confusing at best

This is confused story which is difficult to follow and I only managed about the first 4 hours before giving up - the only redeeming feature was the performance of Jeff Harding.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Brilliant

Best crime novel I’ve listened to since Raymond Chandler. Played whole thing twice now to be sure of getting entire plot. Whatever the opposite is of “short-changed”, is how it leaves you feeling.
(for best experience do the books in order)

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

Brilliantly read, but confusing

Like a few other reviewers have said, this can be a very confusing book. I lost the story a couple of times with so many characters. It's very long also. The middle bit dragged for me a little. The narration is brilliant though. Really well done with lots of good accents and voices.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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awesome

wonderful, ellroy a great writer and Mr Harding a v fine narrator ... brought me great pleasure

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17 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Forget the fil,

I enjoyed the film but the book is in a different league. Long and complex written in a terse economical style. I found it difficult to follow at times as it requires a degree of concentration I sometimes lack but worth the effort. Two things I very rarely do: 1. Re-listen to a book; 2. Award five stars. I will be doing both.

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4 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

A Superb Novel

One of the finest pieces of crime fiction. The narration is outstanding and immerses the listener in that bleak ‘50’s LA atmosphere.

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