Blood on the Moon

Easier to follow than some of his later stuff, but a plot that won't quit.

Third book of James Ellroy and first novel of the Lloyd Hopkins trilogy, BLOOD ON THE MOON has been published in 1984.Adopting for the first time in his career an omniscient point of view, James Ellroy describes two destinies meant to meet for a deadly encounter. Both men have suffered a traumatic sexual experience in their teen days. Lloyd Hopkins has become the best criminal investigator of the Los Angeles Police Department and spends his life protecting "the Innocence". On the contrary, "The Poet" has developed a serial killer syndrome and murders young women, repeating indefinitely the same vengeance scheme.Unlike Fred Underhill, the main character of CLANDESTINE, Ellroy's precedent book, Lloyd Hopkins doesn't consider his job as redemptive, he simply sees it as the most important thing in his life and will therefore lose his wife. He is a missionary to whom to be the best means to be alone, in his job and in his life.I've liked a lot the way James Ellroy compares the psychology of his protagonists who have to react in front of the same situations. I also remember very well the shock I had when I discovered BLOOD ON THE MOON in 1985 ; it was the first time in my life as a reader that I had the feeling that a thriller could be also literature.A book for your library.

One of the best crime novels I've ever read. Ellroy is in superb control of his word choices, imagery, metaphors and symbolism. At one level the novel is a horribly realistic hunt for a serial killer. Simultaneously, it's the tale of a white knight out to slay the vampire who devours innocent blood. Watch whenever the words "blood" or "moon" are used. Robert B. Parker tries to do this with Spenser (at least he used to, before he found that comedy is his true talent), but Ellroy succeeds. The other two novels in the "LA Noir" trilogy are also great, but Blood on the Moon is the best. I understand that Ellroy's other work is set in 40's and 50's LA, but I wish he would do more contemporary work. This novel is pure gold.

I'm an avid James Ellroy fan, and was disappointed to see that this paperback had gone out of print--thankfully you can get this classic Ellroy as an e-book. The book is a dark and somewhat macabre story about the cross-over between good and evil (a cop who understands a killer perhaps better than he should). If you liked LA Confidential you should check this one out.

Ellroy has called this book a weak comparison to Harris' "Red Dragon", but I disagree. Then again, I wasn't impressed with "Red Dragon" because the main character, Will Graham, was too wrapped up in his own problems to throw himself into the mind of a serial killer. I was impressed with Ellroy's main character, Lloyd Hopkins, being a truly awful person but a great cop who disregards his personal life, feels a kinship for a killer and breaks all the rules to do what he knows he must to hunt down a monster. He really is crazy, whereas Will Graham just worried that he was going crazy. The story has the hard edge you'd expect from Ellroy's characters and crimes. This book was the basis for James Woods' 1987 movie "Cop," which has the story's grittiness down pat. Four stars - not five - because "LA Confidential" and "Black Dahlia" set a very high standard for Ellroy.