by James Ellroy
First published 2014
Pearl Harbor has been attacked. America stands on the brink of war. In Los Angeles, authorities prepare to round up Japanese Americans as suspected traitors. Against this backdrop, a Japanese family turns up dead in their home. The deaths could be murder or ritual suicide. The case pulls together four investigators whose fates will become entangled. Hideo Ashida works as a forensic chemist, brilliant but trapped by his Japanese heritage in a city turning hostile. Kay Lake seeks adventure beyond what her conventional life offers. Police sergeant Dudley Smith pursues his own dark agenda. William Parker, known as Whiskey Bill, will one day lead the LAPD but now finds himself caught in wartime paranoia. As these four dig deeper into the case, their personal lives collide with the investigation. The mystery unfolds against the brutal reality of Japanese internment camps and a city consumed by fear and suspicion.
Genres: american-fiction, historical-fiction, 20th-century, mystery, crime, thriller
Vibes: dark, emotional, suspenseful, thought-provoking
Tropes: enemies-to-lovers, found-family, unreliable-narrator
Setting: Los Angeles
Period: World War II
720 pages · Hardcover · Knopf
Content warnings: racism, violence