Rating: 
Summary: Gore and violence signifying nothing
Review: I'm a James Ellroy fan, and all of his other books I've read have been wonderfully written, mesmerizing, and fascinating in their characterizations and plotting. The Big Nowhere, L.A. Confidential, White Jazz, The Black Dahlia, American Tabloid, The Cold Six Thousand....they're all remarkable in one way or another. This book was all the more disappointing as a result, with its drab writing, shocking violence that seemingly exists to shock, and the rather dull and humorless tone of the whole exercise and the lead character. An obvious comparison is Bret Easton Ellis' American Psycho, but that book was a satire (that angle fleshed out more explicitly in the film version). This book is just a cold, clinical study with none of the wonderfully inventive writing style Ellroy would utilize in later novels. Clearly this is an early work where Ellroy is trying to work out his demons, maybe manifesting them in a completely reprehensible and fairly one-note character as a way of keeping the distance from them. This doesn't work. I think when he begins exploring the same themes via more complex characters such as Danny in The Big Nowhere or Lt. Dave Klein in White Jazz it works much better. Killer On the Road is simply an early, much lesser work by an American master, and an unlikable, one-note work at that.
Rating: 
Summary: Inside the Mind of a Killer
Review: Killer on the Road is the reprinted version of Ellroy's 1986 classic pyschological profile of a serial killer, Silent Terror. By turns humorous and chilling, Ellroy covers some familiar geographical territory by placing his genius-level killer in the Los Angeles covered so well in his Black Dahlia novels.Killer on the Road is less concerned with the ambience and noir of this Los Angeles, however, and sees the comic-worshipping anti-hero take to the road in a perverse Kerouackian odyssey of discovery. Some well-used tools, including police procedural notes and headlines from newspapers flesh out the character, Martin Plunkett, but it is Plunkett's own internal reverie which fascinates the most. Plunkett's anti-hero contrasts well with his personal Abel, in the shape of a amoral Mid-Western cop, and the troubled soul of his pursuer, the FBI criminal profiler is also finally drawn. This stand-alone glimpse inside a psychotic's mind may disappoint those readers used to Ellroy's ensemble cast and noirish surroundings. Yet the portrayal of Plunkett is as powerful as anything by other serial killer profilers, and is undoubtedly the reason for the reprint.
Rating:
Summary: Inside the Mind of a Killer
Review: Killer on the Road is the reprinted version of Ellroy's 1986 classic pyschological profile of a serial killer, Silent Terror. By turns humorous and chilling, Ellroy covers some familiar geographical territory by placing his genius-level killer in the Los Angeles covered so well in his Black Dahlia novels. Killer on the Road is less concerned with the ambience and noir of this Los Angeles, however, and sees the comic-worshipping anti-hero take to the road in a perverse Kerouackian odyssey of discovery. Some well-used tools, including police procedural notes and headlines from newspapers flesh out the character, Martin Plunkett, but it is Plunkett's own internal reverie which fascinates the most. Plunkett's anti-hero contrasts well with his personal Abel, in the shape of a amoral Mid-Western cop, and the troubled soul of his pursuer, the FBI criminal profiler is also finally drawn. This stand-alone glimpse inside a psychotic's mind may disappoint those readers used to Ellroy's ensemble cast and noirish surroundings. Yet the portrayal of Plunkett is as powerful as anything by other serial killer profilers, and is undoubtedly the reason for the reprint.
Rating: 
Summary: Never did I find myself 'rooting for the killer'
Review: Makes one wonder what kind of buttons Ellroy was trying to push. I don't think he meant for his psychopathic lead character ever to be made sympathetic. It's clear that Plunkett is a sick, sick human being--and I believe I'm going beyond the pale in calling someone who kills people and animals for sport a 'human being'. The passages that describe the murders of the retarded man and the gay man are two of the most revolting I've ever read. I'm reading my way through Ellroy's works and admire him greatly, especially "My Dark Places" (which makes me believe he understood a lot of what motivated Plunkett) and "The Big Nowhere". This one reeks of despair and misanthropy. I wouldn't condemn it on that basis. In fact, I don't know exactly what I think about it yet (I just finished it last night), but it will certainly haunt my sleep for a while.
Rating:
Summary: Very Very Dark
Review: Okay, so it starts really well, then slows up a bit with all of the early exposition, apart from the fact that you cannot (hopefuly ever) relate to his reasons for killing or where they stem from, the book really picks up about halfway through, and like all Ellroy novels, it's worth reading just for the ending. Oh, the ending is damn chilling
Rating:
Summary: Average book but poor by Ellroy standards
Review: Out of the 4 Ellroy books I have read, this one was by far the worst out of the group. It profiles a serial killer and is writeen as his autobiography. While it sounds like it could be an interesting story, it in fact is rather dull in many parts of the story. Supposedly the killer is very smart, but he doesn't come across as that way; instead he seems of average intelligence. Basically what seperates him from the common criminal is he isn't a complete idiot. Furthermore, he was a boring person. Sure, there was the occasional murder but other than that he just drives around the country. I strongly recommend saving your time and reading a different book by Ellroy; I'm pretty sure whichever one you choose instead will be more entertaining than this one.
Rating:
Summary: Average book but poor by Ellroy standards
Review: Out of the 4 Ellroy books I have read, this one was by far the worst out of the group. It profiles a serial killer and is writeen as his autobiography. While it sounds like it could be an interesting story, it in fact is rather dull in many parts of the story. Supposedly the killer is very smart, but he doesn't come across as that way; instead he seems of average intelligence. Basically what seperates him from the common criminal is he isn't a complete idiot. Furthermore, he was a boring person. Sure, there was the occasional murder but other than that he just drives around the country. I strongly recommend saving your time and reading a different book by Ellroy; I'm pretty sure whichever one you choose instead will be more entertaining than this one.
Rating:
Summary: Silent Terror
Review: Pornographic but artistic, with due respect to Ellroy. Beware before you read about fantasy-based serial killing.
Rating: 
Summary: Not good - but possibly worth it for perspective on Ellroy
Review: Probably only worthwhile to offer readers perspective on one of America's greatest living writers, currently at the height of his powers (can he possibly get better?).
Too long, repetitious, with unnecessary slaughter/clutter, silly at times and without surprise. If you're just getting into Ellroy, maybe - but only so you can later discern the massive heights this guy scales in AT and TC6000. But if you're looking around for the rest of the catalogue and found this re-badged re-issue, don't bother, IMO.
Rating:
Summary: Not do different from Ellroy's other work.
Review: Reading the other reviews here I've noticed two trends: 1) People say serial killers are really like the character in this book. 2) This book's plot os not as intricate as those found in other Ellroy books. I can agree with 2 but I've never been inside the mind of a serial killer so I can't vouch for 1. However, I have to say that I found Pluncket a believable serial killer, and to me, that's all that matters. I don't really believe that all serial killers must fit into a certian profile; there are many unsolved murders in the world that are probably the world of serial killers who do not. I found this book to be as interesting as other Ellroy books because of the intense focus on a single character as compared to looks at a number of characters that are not as detailed. I personally enjoy the characterizations in Ellroy's books more than the plots, although I do appreciate both. So this book was a treat for me. I have to agree with some other reviewers, though, that the end of the book was less satisfying than the beginning. Using the "end at the beginning" format did not impress me, nor did some of the final moments of the book. Despite a few small complaints and some dissimilarity to Ellroy's other work, I would reccomend this book to any Ellroy fan or to those interested in intense characterizations.
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