Blood on the Moon (novel)

Last updated
Blood on the Moon
James Ellroy Blood On The Moon Cover.jpg
First edition cover
Author James Ellroy
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Series Lloyd Hopkins Trilogy
Genre crime fiction
Publisher The Mysterious Press
Publication date
March 1984
Media typePrint (hardcover & paperback), audio cassette and audio CD
Pages263 pp (first edition, hardcover)
ISBN 0-89296-069-8 (first edition, hardcover)
OCLC 10685673
813/.54 19
LC Class PS3555.L6274 B55 1984
Preceded by Clandestine (1982) 
Followed by Because the Night (1984) 

Blood on the Moon (1984) is a crime novel by James Ellroy, [1] initially published in the US by The Mysterious Press, with the first UK edition being published by Allison and Busby. [2] Blood on the Moon is the first installment of Ellroy's 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. Ellroy has stated that Blood on the Moon is his only novel that he is embarrassed by. [3]

Contents

Plot summary

The story begins in 1965 during the Watts Riots in Los Angeles, California. 23-year-old Lloyd Hopkins is still with the National Guard and is deployed to help handle the situation. It is during this riot that Hopkins kills his first man, a deranged armory sergeant who was hunting down and killing African Americans.

Eighteen years later, Hopkins is now a sergeant with the LAPD and has the highest number of arrests of any officer in the department's history. He is considered a genius by many of his associates for his uncanny ability to make intuitive leaps of logic when tracking down criminals. Soon his abilities are put to the test when he investigates the brutal murder of a woman who was disemboweled in her apartment. Hopkins quickly deduces that the person responsible for this murder has in fact been killing women since the late 1960s, but has never been caught because he always changes his modus operandi.

A subplot of the novel involves Hopkins' relationship with his family. He adores his three daughters and deeply loves his wife, though he is chronically unfaithful to her. His wife loves Lloyd, but begins to realize that his habits are not healthy for their children, particularly his propensity for telling them about the cases that he has worked on.

Film adaptation

Related Research Articles

<i>American Tabloid</i> 1995 novel by James Ellroy

American Tabloid is a 1995 novel by James Ellroy that chronicles the events surrounding three rogue American law enforcement officers from November 22, 1958, through November 22, 1963. Each becomes entangled in a web of interconnecting associations between the FBI, the CIA, and the Mafia, which eventually leads to their collective involvement in the John F. Kennedy assassination.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">James Ellroy</span> American writer (born 1948)

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) and L.A. Confidential (1990).

<i>The Black Dahlia</i> (novel) 1987 novel by James Ellroy

The Black Dahlia (1987) is a crime fiction novel by American author James Ellroy. Its subject is the 1947 murder of Elizabeth Short in Los Angeles, California, which received wide attention because her corpse was horrifically mutilated and discarded in an empty residential lot. The investigation ultimately led to a broad police corruption scandal. While rooted in the facts of the Short murder and featuring many real-life people, places and events, Ellroy's novel blends facts and fiction, most notably in providing a solution to the crime when in reality it has never been solved. James Ellroy dedicated The Black Dahlia, "To Geneva Hilliker Ellroy 1915-1958 Mother: Twenty-nine Years Later, This Valediction in Blood." The epigraph for The Black Dahlia is "Now I fold you down, my drunkard, my navigator, My first lost keeper, to love and look at later. -Anne Sexton."

<i>My Dark Places</i> (book) Book by James Ellroy

My Dark Places: An L.A. Crime Memoir is a 1996 book, part investigative journalism and part memoir, by American crime-fiction writer James Ellroy. Ellroy's mother Geneva was murdered in 1958, when he was 10 years old, and the killer was never identified. The book is Ellroy's account of his attempt to solve the mystery by hiring a retired Los Angeles County homicide detective to investigate the crime. Ellroy also explores how being directly affected by a crime shaped his life - often for the worse - and led him to write crime novels. The book is dedicated to his mother.

<i>Dark Blue</i> (film) 2002 film by Ron Shelton

Dark Blue is a 2002 American neo-noir crime thriller film directed by Ron Shelton and written by David Ayer, based on a story written for film by crime novelist James Ellroy and takes place during the days leading up to the Rodney King trial verdict. The film stars Kurt Russell, with Ving Rhames and Brendan Gleeson in supporting roles.

<i>The Big Nowhere</i> Novel by James Ellroy

The Big Nowhere is a 1988 crime fiction novel by American author James Ellroy, the second of the L.A. Quartet, a series of novels set in 1940s and 1950s Los Angeles.

<i>White Jazz</i> Novel by James Ellroy

White Jazz is a 1992 crime fiction novel by James Ellroy. It is the fourth in his L.A. Quartet, preceded by The Black Dahlia, The Big Nowhere, and L.A. Confidential. James Ellroy dedicated White Jazz "TO Helen Knode." The epigraph for White Jazz is "'In the end I possess my birthplace and I am possessed by its language.' -Ross MacDonald."

<i>Because the Night</i> (novel)

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

<i>Browns Requiem</i> (film) 1998 neo-noir film directed by Jason Freeland

Brown's Requiem is a 1998 American crime film written and directed by Jason Freeland. Brown's Requiem was the 1981 debut novel by noted crime author James Ellroy, and his third to be adapted to film following L.A. Confidential in 1997, and Blood on the Moon in 1987.

<i>Cop</i> (film) 1988 film by James B. Harris

Cop is a 1988 American neo-noir crime suspense film written and directed by James B. Harris, starring James Woods, Lesley Ann Warren and Charles Durning. It is based on the 1984 book Blood on the Moon, by James Ellroy. Harris and Woods co-produced the film, a first for their careers.

The L.A. Quartet is a sequence of four crime fiction novels by James Ellroy set in the late 1940s through the late 1950s in Los Angeles. They are:

<i>Killer on the Road</i>

Killer on the Road is a crime novel by American author James Ellroy. First published in 1986, it is a non-series book between the Lloyd Hopkins Trilogy and the L.A. Quartet. It was first released by Avon as a mass-market paperback original under the title Silent Terror, and has since been republished in the U.S. under Ellroy's original title Killer on the Road, first as a mass-market paperback in 1990 and later as a trade paperback in 1999.

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

<i>L.A. Confidential</i> Novel by James Ellroy

L.A. Confidential (1990) is a neo-noir novel by American writer James Ellroy, the third of his L.A. Quartet series. It is dedicated to Mary Doherty Ellroy. The epigraph is "A glory that costs everything and means nothing"—Steve Erickson.

<i>Bloods a Rover</i>

Blood's a Rover is a 2009 crime fiction novel by American author James Ellroy. It follows American Tabloid and The Cold Six Thousand as the final volume of Ellroy's Underworld USA Trilogy. A 10,000-word excerpt was published in the December 2008 issue of Playboy. The book was released on September 22, 2009. James Ellroy dedicated Blood's a Rover "To J.M. Comrade: For Everything You Gave Me."

<i>Suicide Hill</i>

Suicide Hill is a crime fiction novel written by James Ellroy. Released in 1986, it is the third and final installment of the Lloyd Hopkins Trilogy.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Michael Gargiulo</span> American serial killer

Michael Thomas Gargiulo is a convicted American serial killer. He moved to Southern California in the 1990s and gained the nickname The Hollywood Ripper. He was convicted of two counts of first-degree murder and sentenced to death on July 16, 2021. He is currently incarcerated in California Health Care Facility.

<i>Perfidia</i> (Ellroy novel) 2014 novel by James Ellroy

Perfidia is a historical romance and crime fiction novel by American author James Ellroy. Published in 2014, it is the first novel in the second L.A. Quartet, referring to his four prior novels from the first L.A. Quartet. Perfidia was released September 9, 2014. A Waterstones exclusive limited edition of Perfidia was released September 11, 2014, and includes an essay by Ellroy himself titled "Ellroy's History – Then and Now." The title, Perfidia, is Italian for the word perfidy, and is also the name of the big band song, Perfidia.

The Black Dahlia: A Crime Graphic Novel is a graphic novel adaptation of James Ellroy's novel The Black Dahlia, by Alexis Nolent and David Fincher, and illustrated by Miles Hyman. Originally published in 2013 in French as Le Dahlia Noir, it was published in English in June 2016, by Archaia Entertainment, a division of Boom! Studios.

<i>This Storm</i> (novel) 2019 historical and crime fiction novel

This Storm: A Novel is a 2019 historical fiction and crime fiction by American author James Ellroy. It is the second novel in Ellroy's "Second L.A. Quartet", in reference to the first "L.A. Quartet", and following the novel Perfidia. Ellroy dedicated the novel "To HELEN KNODE." The epigraph is "Blood alone moves the wheels of history. -Benito "Il Duce" Mussolini". It was released May 30, 2019, in the United Kingdom, and June 4, 2019 in the United States.

References

  1. Shapiro, Jonathan (26 January 2015). "January 26, 2015 - A Healthy Serving of Ellroy". Los Angeles Review of Books . Retrieved 5 June 2019.
  2. "Ellroy, James". Encyclopedia.com . Retrieved May 6, 2024.
  3. James Ellroy, Part 1 Demon Dog Of American Crime Fiction . Retrieved 2024-04-14 via www.youtube.com.
  4. Brown, Mark (2 June 2019). "James Ellroy says film adaptation of LA Confidential was 'as deep as a tortilla'". The Guardian . Retrieved 5 June 2019.
  5. "Tom Hanks: By the Book". The New York Times . October 13, 2017. Retrieved 5 June 2019.