Biography The Hilliker Curse: My Pursuit of Women by James Ellroy

Today in January Magazine’s biography section, editor Linda L. Richards reviews The Hilliker Curse: My Pursuit of Women by James Ellroy. Says Richards:

The North American reviews I’ve seen of The Hilliker Curse have mostly been astonishingly lukewarm, at best. This has been a head-scratcher because if you actually read the book you see that the writing here is sterling. Prose-wise, the Demon Dog of American Literature has never been in better shape. Mind you, it’s memoir and, as many people know through Ellroy’s earlier work of autobiographical non-fiction, My Dark Places, this author’s own story rivals that of any of his fictions. But the nail on the coffin for North American reviewers is probably the subtitle: My Pursuit of Women. Before you even get warmed up, a lot of reviewers are going to be compelled to either comment negatively on the book or ignore it. These are the soft and squishy times to which we’ve come.

The full review is here.

Meanwhile, Ellroy fans should take note: the Demon Dog is getting his own television show. According to L.A. Observed, “James Ellroy’s LA: City of Demons debuts Jan. 19 on the Investigation Discovery channel. It will look at notorious L.A. crimes, of course.”