Because the Night (novel)

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Because the Night
Avon Ellroy BecausetheNight.jpg
Author James Ellroy
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Series Lloyd Hopkins Trilogy
GenreNovel, crime fiction
PublisherThe Mysterious Press
Publication date
October 1986
Media typePrint (hardback & paperback), audio cassette and audio CD
Pages280 pp (first edition, hardcover)
ISBN 978-0-89296-071-2 (first edition, hardcover)
OCLC 11696202
813/.54 20
LC Class PS3555.L6274 B4 1984
Preceded by Blood on the Moon (1984) 
Followed by Suicide Hill (1985) 

Because the Night is a crime fiction novel written by James Ellroy.

James Ellroy American novelist, short story writer, essayist, memoirist

Lee Earle "James" Ellroy is an American crime fiction writer and essayist. Ellroy has become known for a telegrammatic prose style in his most recent work, wherein he frequently omits connecting words and uses only short, staccato sentences, and in particular for the novels The Black Dahlia (1987), The Big Nowhere (1988), L.A. Confidential (1990), White Jazz (1992), American Tabloid (1995), The Cold Six Thousand (2001), and Blood's a Rover (2009).

Released in 1984, it is the second installment of a trilogy that is either titled "Lloyd Hopkins Trilogy" after its main character, or "L.A Noir", after the hardcover omnibus that was released in 2006 containing all three books in the trilogy. Like Blood on the Moon (first book) and Suicide Hill (third and final book), it follows Lloyd Hopkins an LAPD robbery-homicide detective in the 1980s.

The Lloyd Hopkins Trilogy consists of the three crime fiction novels written by James Ellroy: Blood on the Moon (1984),Because the Night (1984) andSuicide Hill (1985).

<i>Blood on the Moon</i> (novel) novel by James Ellroy

Blood on the Moon (1984) is a crime novel by James Ellroy. It is the first installment of the Lloyd Hopkins Trilogy. It was followed by Because the Night (1984) and Suicide Hill (1985). Although the novels are written in multiple perspectives and narrated omnisciently, the main character in all three is Lloyd Hopkins.

Plot summary

Because the Night features Hopkins investigating a triple murder at a liquor store. Nothing was stolen, leading Hopkins to suspect that the crime was a thrill killing. His investigation crosses paths with psychiatrist John Havilland, who uses drugs and professional expertise to manipulate a small group of followers into crime and debauchery. [1]

Liquor store shop that sells prepackaged alcoholic beverages

A liquor store is a retail shop that predominantly sells prepackaged alcoholic beverages — typically in bottles — intended to be consumed off the store's premises. Depending on region and local idiom, they may also be called bottle store,off licence,bottle shop,bottle-o,package store,party store, ABC store,state store, or other similar terms. Many jurisdictions have an alcohol monopoly. Prices are usually substantially lower than in bars or pubs.

A thrill killing is premeditated or random murder that is motivated by the sheer excitement of the act. While there have been attempts to categorize multiple murders, such as identifying "thrill killing" as a type of "hedonistic mass killing", actual details of events frequently overlap category definitions making attempts at such distinctions problematic.

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