Love Me Fierce in Danger

The Life of James Ellroy

Formats and Prices

Format

Trade Paperback

Format:

Trade Paperback

This item is a preorder. Your payment method will be charged immediately, and the product is expected to ship on or around February 9, 2023. This date is subject to change due to shipping delays beyond our control.

WINNER OF 2024 EDGAR ALLAN POE AWARD (BEST CRITICAL/BIOGRAPHICAL BOOK)
THE TELEGRAPH’S BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR
SHORTLISTED FOR THE H.R.F KEATING AWARD FOR BEST BIOGRAPHICAL/CRITICAL BOOK

“As gripping and twisted as a James Ellroy novel.” – Ian Rankin


“A masterpiece of literary biography.” – David Peace

The first critical biography of a titan of American crime fiction.


Love Me Fierce In Danger is the story of James Ellroy, one of the most provocative and singular figures in American literature. The so-called “Demon Dog of Crime Fiction,” Ellroy enjoys a celebrity status and notoriety that few authors can match. However, traumas from the past have shadowed his literary success.

When Ellroy was ten years old, his mother was brutally murdered. The crime went unsolved, and her death marked the start of a long and turbulent road for Ellroy that has included struggles with alcoholism, drug addiction, homelessness, and jail time. In tracing his life and career, Steven Powell reveals how Ellroy’s upbringing in LA, always on the periphery of Hollywood, had a profound and dark influence on his work as a novelist. Using new sources, Powell also uncovers Ellroy’s family secrets, including the mysterious first marriage of his mother Jean Ellroy, eighteen years before her murder. At its heart, Love Me Fierce in Danger is the story of how Ellroy overcame his demons to become the bestselling and celebrated author of such classics as The Black Dahlia and LA Confidential.

Informed by interviews with friends, family, peers, and literary and Hollywood collaborators, as well as extensive conversations with Ellroy himself, Love Me Fierce In Danger pulls back the curtain on an enigmatic figure who has courted acclaim and controversy with equal zealotry.

On Sale
Feb 9, 2023
Page Count
352 pages
Publisher
Bloomsbury Academic
ISBN-13
9781501367311