BLOOD'S A ROVER by James Ellroy: Looks like it'll be worth the wait
Friday, September 26, 2008, 8:19 PM
A blurb has appeared over at the Sobel Weber Associates website about the long-awaited conclusion to James Ellroy's American Underworld trilogy, BLOOD'S A ROVER. I, and I know many others, can't wait to get my hands on this book. It's looking like it'll appear in Autumn 2009, so only another year to go.
Details on the novel's protagonists are sketchy (two rogue cops and a kid private eye are mentioned), but there are a few tidbits about plot and settings. We've got the FBI infiltrating black power militants, the Mob having a crack at the Dominican Republic, and "voodoo vibe in Haiti", which apparently "be bad gre-gre". Howard Hughes and J. Edgar Hoover will also reprise their roles as pervasive tumours in American society.
Nat Sobel was telling me a little about the book the other day (one of many perks of having such an excellent agent). Now, in my experience, Nat is never prone to excessive enthusiasm or hyperbole, but he is very excited about BLOOD'S A ROVER. He reckons it's Ellroy's best work to date. The word "masterpiece" was used, in fact. Make of that what you will. Personally, I can't wait.
PS: If you check the Sobel Weber home page, you'll see my ugly mug a couple down from the great man himself. I can't tell you how surreal that feels. Check out the other two featured books, too. THE FALCON'S TALE looks intriguing, and the massive movie deal is hardly surprising given the premise. And SNOW ANGELS looks like another breakthrough for Scandinavian crime fiction, which has seen such success with the likes of Jo Nesbo and Henning Mankell.
Details on the novel's protagonists are sketchy (two rogue cops and a kid private eye are mentioned), but there are a few tidbits about plot and settings. We've got the FBI infiltrating black power militants, the Mob having a crack at the Dominican Republic, and "voodoo vibe in Haiti", which apparently "be bad gre-gre". Howard Hughes and J. Edgar Hoover will also reprise their roles as pervasive tumours in American society.
Nat Sobel was telling me a little about the book the other day (one of many perks of having such an excellent agent). Now, in my experience, Nat is never prone to excessive enthusiasm or hyperbole, but he is very excited about BLOOD'S A ROVER. He reckons it's Ellroy's best work to date. The word "masterpiece" was used, in fact. Make of that what you will. Personally, I can't wait.
PS: If you check the Sobel Weber home page, you'll see my ugly mug a couple down from the great man himself. I can't tell you how surreal that feels. Check out the other two featured books, too. THE FALCON'S TALE looks intriguing, and the massive movie deal is hardly surprising given the premise. And SNOW ANGELS looks like another breakthrough for Scandinavian crime fiction, which has seen such success with the likes of Jo Nesbo and Henning Mankell.
Labels: blood's a rover, james ellroy, Nat Sobel, reading
posted by Stuart Neville at 8:19 PM
4 Comments:
Stuart
I am so f**king excited. James Ellroy is up there with Saul Bellow, Don DeLillo and Thomas Pynchon. The Cold 6000 is for me THE best novel about the 60's. A genuine classic.
Stuart, I know you have something of an inside track, so if you ever get some galleys to give away I'd plug Mr Ellroy every day until he gets the recognition he deserves as America's most important living novelist.
Oh and of course I'll plug you too mate when I read GOB
slainte
a...
Hey don't be so shy! Maybe one day you'll be appearing above the great man.
Love your novel plan below, by the way!
Adrian: Given the anticipation for this book, I think I'll be too far back in the queue to get my mitts on anything early, but I'll let you know if I do.
McKoala: I can't see it, somehow!
Recommended: Peter Wolfe's great critical study of Ellory, "Like Hot Knives to the Brain".
Post a Comment
<< Home