But Exley, whose shiny reputation conceals a dark secret,and Vincennes, who goes showbiz with a vengeance, reflect parts of Ellroy, too. So it is clear that Bud is partly autobiographical. See his memoir My Dark Places for the whole sordid story. Ellroy himself was traumatized as a boy by his party animal mother’s murder. It’s about threetortured souls in the 1950s L.A.P.D.: Ed Exley, the clean cut cop who lives shivering in the shadow of hisdad, a legendary cop in the same department Jack Vincennes, a cop who advises a Police Squad like TV show and busts movie stars for payoffs from sleazy Hush Hush magazine and Bud White,a detective haunted by the sight of his dad murdering his mom. Confidential is film noir crime fiction akin to Chinatown,Hollywood Babylon, Raymond Chandler, Dashiell Hammett, and Jim Thompson.
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