Rating: 
Summary: Trust me....different from anything else you'll read.
Review: This is the third Ellroy book I've read. Same blood, sex, and corruption, but a little more difficult read because he uses fewer complete sentences and the pace of the narrative is faster than anything else in literature. I think people will be reading Ellroy 100 years from now for style and language. There are no other writers like him
Rating: 
Summary: Great read
Review: One of the best novels I've ever read. White Jazz reads like a beat poem with language that is refreshingly honest and brutal. His story paints a dark, believable picture. A truly enjoyable read
Rating:
Summary: Superb! But not for the faint hearted.
Review: This 'noir' novel is remarkable for its style as well as its content. Its plot revolves around the activities of an
utterly corrupt member of the Los Angeles Police Department
in 1958. All of the book's characters are totally without
conscience and have virtually no redeeming features, there
are no Chandleresque 'white knights' walking these mean
steets. Ellroy portrays an anarchic world in which the pur-
suit of money and power (political and sexual) have driven
out every shred of human decency. Even that bastion of the
American way of life, the family, is shown to be invaded by
the darkest of perversions.
LA in 1958 was a get-rich-quick boom town; in fiction this
type of environment is often portrayed as bringing out the
best of the American can-do spirit. But here Ellroy shows
that it can also attract the moral dregs of humanity. The story is told in a relentlessly concise and frenetic style which hard to get used to at first but which is entirely
appropriate to the frantic, grasping almost demonic people
he portrays. James Ellroy has shown us the darkest side of
the American dream - set in the city of dreams itself, but
unlike so many of Hollywood's attempts to show the bleaker
side of life, there is no redemption here, no ultimate
triumph of the good guys and the 'American way'. This book
is a challenging read, both because of its style and its sometimes shocking portrayal of evil, but it is a thought
provoking one.
Rating: 
Summary: Unreadable
Review: Totally unreadabl
Rating:
Summary: All I can say is....wow.
Review: A big fan of Ellroy and crime fiction in general, White Jazz is the best out there. Lieutenant Dave Klein is the epitome of "anthero" and the thought of cops like him both saddens and terrifies me. The love interest is believeable, which is not easy to do in this bleak a story, and the prose style does resemble jazz, and is extremely rewarding after one gets used to it. White Jazz is Ellroy's most experimental and stylish novel to date, and highly recommended for someone looking for something beyond the Leonard/Lehane mold.
Rating: 
Summary: out of tune
Review: Ellroy here asks us to join him in a riff of incest and pornography, accompanied by sociopaths and tedious plot riddles, all written in a bizarre bare style that starts to wear thin after about ten pages. No jazz, just incessant noise.
Rating:
Summary: All I can say is....wow.
Review: A big fan of Ellroy and crime fiction in general, White Jazz is the best out there. Lieutenant Dave Klein is the epitome of "anthero" and the thought of cops like him both saddens and terrifies me. The love interest is believeable, which is not easy to do in this bleak a story, and the prose style does resemble jazz, and is extremely rewarding after one gets used to it. White Jazz is Ellroy's most experimental and stylish novel to date, and highly recommended for someone looking for something beyond the Leonard/Lehane mold.
Rating:
Summary: Not Ellroy's best...
Review: I am a big Ellroy fan. I have read almost all of his works. L.A. Confidential and the Black Dahlia are probably his two best. So far, I think this is his worst book. Unlike some of the other reviewers, I wasn't bothered by the violence or the plot, or the fact that Dave Klein is not much of a hero for a central character. He's even more flawed than Bud White. What made this book such a disappointment was the writing style. Even for Ellroy, it was too clipped, too abrupt. It was not only hard to read, but it sounded forced; like someone trying to write like the voice-overs in B-movie film-noir detective stories. It just didn't ring true.
Rating:
Summary: A climactic finale
Review: The final showdown that LA Confidential promised us comes together in this novel. Ed Exley and Dudley Smith finally go at it through a most unusual go between who doesn't know what hes getting into between these two, Dave Klein. Klein is a corrupt Vice cop in every way. He's out for himself. But when he gets drawn into the big chess match played by Exley and SMith he starts to question what hes been doing and who he is. A great finish to the authors LA crime novels. Don't be afraid of the style and prose. You'll get used to it quick.
Rating:
Summary: Stream of consciousness at its finest
Review: The story takes place in 1958 Los Angeles with all of the historical elements in place: The Dodgers moving from Brooklyn to Los Angeles, gangster Mickey Cohen sliding into oblivion, cheesy independent horror movies, and of course the notorious police corruption/racism within the L.A.P.D.. (Be warned: No racial epithet is spared.) For those who don't know, 1958 was the pinnacle of corruption in Los Angeles and James Ellroy just tears into it with historical accuracy.Our hero or anti-hero, David Klein, is a crooked yet very intelligent, Lieutenant in the L.A.P.D.. He is also a bought and paid for, yet a reluctant strong-arm, for the mob. He has a law degree, some psychological problems too mainly centering on his beautiful sister who he is attracted to but as the story evolves, things change and you begin to root for him. The story is tense and violent, Our hero has been thrown out as "bait" between the Feds, the L.A.P.D., corrupt politicians, and of course the mob with all of the above trying to keep their secrets safe. Subsequently the tension just builds and builds and you wonder how the hero is going to pull it off. The ending is believable and very 1950's. The narrative alone is worth the read. In most detective fiction the narrative is written in first person but White jazz takes this a step further. It is written as if everything is happening instantaneously. At times during the actions scenes the narrative is stream of consciousness and as chaotic as the scenes themselves. During intense dialog sequences the lead character, David Klien, deconstructs the meanings and significances of the dialog as they are happening so you hear his thoughts and words almost concurrently. Though the narrative maybe hard for some, I feel this book is a real contribution to the detective genre and literature itself.
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