War, Murder, and Intrigue: James Ellroy’s Perfidia

James Ellroy’s newest novel, Perfidia, is a rollicking ride through the depths of L.A.’s seedy wartime underbelly. The story picks up as we meet Hideo Ashida, a young Japanese chemist on the L.A.P.D. payroll. Dr. Ashida is called to the scene to investigate the grisly, mysterious slaying of a Japanese family. Just as the investigation seems to be losing steam, the Japanese fleet bombs Pearl Harbor, rocking America’s sense of impenetrability to its core. Hideo soon finds himself caught in a storm of violence, corruption, and xenophobia. Along the way, we’re introduced to a cast of complex characters, including Captain William “Whiskey Bill” Parker, a ravenously ambitious cop plagued by alcoholism and a host of other demons; Sergeant Dudley Smith, a corrupt ex-IRA conniver; and Kay Lake, a bright young woman who uses her cunning and charm to survive in an unforgiving land.

These characters are truly the best kind: impossible to categorize. Ellroy presents each in a dispassionate, matter-of-fact tone that is as likely to display their vice as their virtue. As a result, the reader is torn between disgust and empathy, enchantment and revulsion. As soon as we think we’ve got a read on a character, the author yanks the proverbial rug from under us, and we’re left spinning in an intoxicating haze of uncertainty. We hate Dudley Smith’s murderous nature, yet we admire his unapologetic grit. Kay Lake is as intelligent and capable as she is manipulative, and Bill Parker would be a great guy if would lay off the sauce and calm down a bit. Hideo Ashida is simultaneously the most sympathetic and the most worrisome of the bunch. We want him to succeed, but fear the compromises he must make to do so.

Fans of Ellroy will instantly recognize his Los Angeles. It moves at a breakneck pace and never sleeps. Its gorgeous art deco facade is pockmarked with lust, greed, and bloodshed. Ellroy is not one of those authors prone to long, flowery aesthetic descriptions, yet somehow he makes the reader feel the hot California sun baking the shimmering pavement, the cool Pacific breeze on a winding drive along the coast, and the undercurrent of absolute panic in post–Pearl Harbor L.A. To the modern reader, the less recognizable part of Ellroy’s 1940s L.A. is the racism that pervades every aspect of life and is gravely worsened by the foreign attack on American soil. Dr. Ashida is a perfect vessel to show us the deeply scarring effects of America’s wartime misdeeds at the expense of Japanese citizens.

Fans of Ellroy, murder mystery lovers, historical fiction addicts, and WWII aficionados alike will love Perfidia. Though it’s a long and complex novel, it never drags, keeping the reader compelled to the very end. Ellroy writes with an ease that contrasts nicely with the novel’s frenetic, harrowed pace. Like one of Ellroy’s jazz club dope peddlers, this book will leave you entranced and jonesing for more.

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