The Hilliker Curse

In his second memoir, Ellroy (L.A. Confidential) attempts to dispel a curse that began with the murder of his mother, Jean Hilliker, when he was ten years old, which is more thoroughly explored in his previous memoir, My Dark Places. His mother's murder came three months after he had wished her dead. That he should have behavioral challenges and issues with guilt is understandable. Ellroy's own curse, readers learn, is his inability to develop stable, long-term, and meaningful relationships with women; he writes here of seeking to dispel that curse. In short, punchy sentences, with lurid detail, Ellroy describes his many—ultimately doomed—relationships and marriages in his search for her, the woman with whom he is destined to be. In the course of his search, he leaves a path of destruction, which, along with his self-realization, is what this book is about.