Kindle
$10.99
Available instantly
Audible Logo Audiobook
$0.00
with membership trial
Hardcover
$22.80
Paperback
$16.95
Buy new:
$16.95
FREE delivery Tuesday, May 14 on orders shipped by Amazon over $35
Ships from: Amazon.com
Sold by: Amazon.com
$16.95
Get Fast, Free Shipping with Amazon Prime FREE Returns
FREE delivery Tuesday, May 14 on orders shipped by Amazon over $35
Or fastest delivery Friday, May 10. Order within 22 hrs 42 mins
In Stock
$$16.95 () Includes selected options. Includes initial monthly payment and selected options. Details
Price
Subtotal
$$16.95
Subtotal
Initial payment breakdown
Shipping cost, delivery date, and order total (including tax) shown at checkout.
Ships from
Amazon.com
Ships from
Amazon.com
Sold by
Amazon.com
Sold by
Amazon.com
Returns
Eligible for Return, Refund or Replacement within 30 days of receipt
Eligible for Return, Refund or Replacement within 30 days of receipt
This item can be returned in its original condition for a full refund or replacement within 30 days of receipt.
Read full return policy
Returns
Eligible for Return, Refund or Replacement within 30 days of receipt
This item can be returned in its original condition for a full refund or replacement within 30 days of receipt.
Read full return policy
Payment
Secure transaction
Your transaction is secure
We work hard to protect your security and privacy. Our payment security system encrypts your information during transmission. We don’t share your credit card details with third-party sellers, and we don’t sell your information to others. Learn more
Payment
Secure transaction
We work hard to protect your security and privacy. Our payment security system encrypts your information during transmission. We don’t share your credit card details with third-party sellers, and we don’t sell your information to others. Learn more
$8.05
Get Fast, Free Shipping with Amazon Prime FREE Returns
Paperback, 354 numbered pages. Cover shows light corner bumping. Binding good, pages have light fading around edges but no writing / highlighting. Fulfilled by Amazon. Paperback, 354 numbered pages. Cover shows light corner bumping. Binding good, pages have light fading around edges but no writing / highlighting. Fulfilled by Amazon. See less
FREE delivery Wednesday, May 15 on orders shipped by Amazon over $35
Or fastest delivery Friday, May 10. Order within 22 hrs 42 mins
Only 1 left in stock - order soon.
$$16.95 () Includes selected options. Includes initial monthly payment and selected options. Details
Price
Subtotal
$$16.95
Subtotal
Initial payment breakdown
Shipping cost, delivery date, and order total (including tax) shown at checkout.
Access codes and supplements are not guaranteed with used items.
Amazon book clubs early access
Loading your book clubs
There was a problem loading your book clubs. Please try again.
Not in a club? Learn more
Amazon book clubs early access

Join or create book clubs

Choose books together

Track your books
Bring your club to Amazon Book Clubs, start a new book club and invite your friends to join, or find a club that’s right for you for free.
Explore Amazon Book Clubs
Kindle app logo image

Download the free Kindle app and start reading Kindle books instantly on your smartphone, tablet, or computer - no Kindle device required.

Read instantly on your browser with Kindle for Web.

Using your mobile phone camera - scan the code below and download the Kindle app.

QR code to download the Kindle App

Follow the author

James Ellroy
+ Follow
More books from this author
Something went wrong. Please try your request again later.

White Jazz Paperback – April 24, 2001

by James Ellroy (Author)
4.3 4.3 out of 5 stars 709 ratings
See all formats and editions
{"desktop_buybox_group_1":[{"displayPrice":"$16.95","priceAmount":16.95,"currencySymbol":"$","integerValue":"16","decimalSeparator":".","fractionalValue":"95","symbolPosition":"left","hasSpace":false,"showFractionalPartIfEmpty":true,"offerListingId":"qt5%2BKw8OC0RjwtB4uu%2BvBnE7YU99EwTMnVSu7Adg0H0S5UwCV4UJsGgKnIZNZwJAnOjLSXLbFpsxQwRpPHdIajqWldx%2BODSEJWGf%2FR437xwmYo5Bhub03fz61YH7fWHvigPbhizT3hM%3D","locale":"en-US","buyingOptionType":"NEW","aapiBuyingOptionIndex":0}, {"displayPrice":"$8.05","priceAmount":8.05,"currencySymbol":"$","integerValue":"8","decimalSeparator":".","fractionalValue":"05","symbolPosition":"left","hasSpace":false,"showFractionalPartIfEmpty":true,"offerListingId":"qt5%2BKw8OC0RjwtB4uu%2BvBnE7YU99EwTM2YnBPAqN2zUMFTxtanlMpHPovR8E%2BR%2Bzc7cg4g3cCO8uL2qGMdsBxMsu%2BvWMDrEKD4Hm077yI07je3hjHjlbcDz5y6%2Fj%2BA73meLzE1i5L0kZpXCWPvUkt%2BIO%2FzQ8VfK4VWVY%2FkXbyCzWB1R1mbwJfQ%3D%3D","locale":"en-US","buyingOptionType":"USED","aapiBuyingOptionIndex":1}]}

Purchase options and add-ons

The internationally acclaimed author of the L.A. Quartet and The Underworld USA Trilogy, James Ellroy, presents another literary noir masterpiece of historical paranoia.

Los Angeles, 1958. Killings, beatings, bribes, shakedowns--it's standard procedure for Lieutenant Dave Klein, LAPD. He's a slumlord, a bagman, an enforcer--a power in his own small corner of hell. Then the Feds announce a full-out investigation into local police corruption, and everything goes haywire.

Klein's been hung out as bait, "a bad cop to draw the heat," and the heat's coming from all sides: from local politicians, from LAPD brass, from racketeers and drug kingpins--all of them hell-bent on keeping their own secrets hidden. For Klein, "forty-two and going on dead," it's dues time.

Klein tells his own story--his voice clipped, sharp, often as brutal as the events he's describing--taking us with him on a journey through a world shaped by monstrous ambition, avarice, and perversion. It's a world he created, but now he'll do anything to get out of it alive.

Fierce, riveting, and honed to a razor edge, White Jazz is crime fiction at its most shattering.
Read more Read less
Previous page
  1. Book 4 of 4
    L.A. Quartet
  2. Print length
    354 pages
  3. Language
    English
  4. Publisher
    Vintage
  5. Publication date
    April 24, 2001
  6. Dimensions
    5.19 x 0.76 x 7.99 inches
  7. ISBN-10
    0375727361
  8. ISBN-13
    978-0375727368
  9. See all details
Next page
Amazon First Reads | Editors' picks at exclusive prices

Frequently bought together

White Jazz
$16.95
Get it as soon as Tuesday, May 14
In Stock
Ships from and sold by Amazon.com.
+
The Big Nowhere
$12.59
Get it as soon as Tuesday, May 14
In Stock
Ships from and sold by Amazon.com.
+
L.A. Confidential
$14.59
Get it as soon as Tuesday, May 14
In Stock
Ships from and sold by Amazon.com.
Total price:
To see our price, add these items to your cart.
Details
Added to Cart
Choose items to buy together.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"One of the great American writers of our time." --Los Angeles Times Book Review

"White Jazz makes previous detective fiction read like Dr. Seuss." --San Francisco Examiner

"Riffling, rolling, reeling. . . . Ellroy's best." --The Denver Post

"Riveting. . . . Impossible to put down. . . . An author who breaks all the rules. He's a kamikaze pilot on a collision course with hell. The pen moves madly across the page. . . . A book that is one long scream of rage and emptiness and longing." --The News and Observer

From the Inside Flap

Los Angeles, 1958. Killings, beatings, bribes, shakedowns--it's standard procedure for Lieutenant Dave Klein, LAPD. He's a slumlord, a bagman, an enforcer--a power in his own small corner of hell. Then the Feds announce a full-out investigation into local police corruption, and everything goes haywire.
Klein's been hung out as bait, "a bad cop to draw the heat," and the heat's coming from all sides: from local politicians, from LAPD brass, from racketeers and drug kingpins--all of them hell-bent on keeping their own secrets hidden. For Klein, "forty-two and going on dead," it's dues time.
Klein tells his own story--his voice clipped, sharp, often as brutal as the events he's describing--taking us with him on a journey through a world shaped by monstrous ambition, avarice, and perversion. It's a world he created, but now he'll do anything to get out of it alive.
Fierce, riveting, and honed to a razor edge, White Jazz is crime fiction at its most shattering.

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Vintage; First Vintage. edition (April 24, 2001)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 354 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0375727361
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0375727368
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 11.2 ounces
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.19 x 0.76 x 7.99 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.3 4.3 out of 5 stars 709 ratings

About the author

Follow authors to get new release updates, plus improved recommendations.
James Ellroy

James Ellroy

Brief content visible, double tap to read full content.
Full content visible, double tap to read brief content.

James Ellroy was born in Los Angeles in 1948. He is the author of the acclaimed L.A. Qurtet - The Black Dahlia, The Big Nowhere, LA Confidential and White Jazz, as well as the Underworld USA trilogy: American Tabloid, The Cold Six Thousand and Blood's a Rover. He is the author of one work of non-fiction, The Hilliker Curse: My Pursuit of Women. Ellroy lives in Los Angeles.

Customer reviews

4.3 out of 5 stars
4.3 out of 5
709 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

Richard Hine
5.0 out of 5 stars "Go with the music--spin, fall with it"
Reviewed in the United States on June 5, 2009
Verified Purchase
WHITE JAZZ stared at me from the shelf for two years before I cracked it open. I read a few pages and put it down, annoyed. It was confusing. I couldn't adapt to its beat. But I picked it up again and plunged in deeper. The rhythm of the staccato prose kicked in. The urgency of the plot swept me up. This stench of corruption overwhelmed me. It was intricate, complex, assured -- brilliantly freeform but always tightly structured. Late night reading led to swirling nighttime visions -- jazz that kept playing long after the pages had been slammed shut. Dangerous. Addictive. Feverish stuff.
2 people found this helpful
Helpful
 Report
John Taylor
4.0 out of 5 stars Back to First Person, Logical Conclusion to the Series
Reviewed in the United States on October 8, 2013
Verified Purchase
The good news--this time Elroy managed to pull off a first person crime novel that remains suspenseful. Too often in books like these, the important clues are waved right in front of the hero, who ignores them even as the reader is screaming at him "You idiot! The author just told you the answer!" First person holds a novel together, so this one seems unified, like "The Black Dalhia". The main problem is that the anti-hero cop is too much anti and not enough hero. He is also a bit of a cold fish, even though he has several love interests. If I were writing it, I would have considered third person, with Ed and Dudley as the other two. Ed and Dudley are much more interesting than the narrator who seems to have been created mainly as a vehicle through which to tell their story. This book wins the "Best description of the sights, sounds and smells of LA c. 1958."

I gave this one four stars instead of five, because of the weakness of the characterizations. On the other hand, Ellroy has gotten better at weaving the threads of "Big" novel. If the stories are true and this one really was much longer in its first draft, I think they ought to do a "director's cut" re-release. I would be willing to bet cold hard cash that the cut scenes (if they exist) filled in some of that missing character development, the way that the director's cut of "Stranger in a Strange Land" included more character development. Why do publishers hate character development so much? It is what readers want.
4 people found this helpful
Helpful
 Report
L. Ford Ballard, Jr.
5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent end to a great series.
Reviewed in the United States on April 21, 2017
Verified Purchase
Started to walk in retirement at a prep school field house - an audio book single CD is wonderful to listen to and time a 60-75 minute bout of early morning walking - getting in those 10K step a day. Wanted to do the LA series by Jame Ellroy and this used copy of WHITE JAZZ was an excellent end to a month of walking and following the various characters in the series. Very well written and loved learning about the word "hinky". All four books had excellent narrators and certainly held my attention while starting up this exercise program. Nice to stimulate the body and the mind at the same time - after all you can only look at those four walls so many times before the brain gives out. A wonderful selection of audio books keeps me going back six days a week.
One person found this helpful
Helpful
 Report
Pedro
5.0 out of 5 stars Ellroy at its best
Reviewed in the United States on December 12, 2012
Verified Purchase
The final part of the L.A. Quartet, White Jazz shares the common traits of its predecessors: huge story, struggling characters, frantic pace and a vivid descripition of L.A. in the 50's. As English is not my primary language, I have to confess that I had some trouble with the writing style of the book, and the first 30 pages or so took some time to read, but afterwards you grow accostumed with the style. It is also important to note that, wheter it was intentional or not, the writing style fits the way that the main character would describe such facts, so it helps to set the mood right. Even if the plot is not as powerful as The Big Nowhere and L.A. Confidential, it brings the story arc of a number of characters to a very fitting close, and that surely gives the book more weight
One person found this helpful
Helpful
 Report
J. Ellis
4.0 out of 5 stars like the other three novels in Ellroy's "L
Reviewed in the United States on May 8, 2014
Verified Purchase
White Jazz is, like the other three novels in Ellroy's "L.A. Quartet" quite an excellent read. The only snag for some readers will be that White Jazz was either written in a very different, stripped-down style than the three novels that precede it, or at least represents the most extreme form of a style that began to emerge in L.A. Confidential.

From what I read, Mr. Ellroy was asked by his publisher to severely shorten L.A. Confidential and, rather than cut out any of the existing plots or subplots, Mr. Ellroy chose instead to eliminate any words that were not absolutely necessary. While the prose in L.A. Confidential did not actually strike me as minimalist, it was immediately evident that the prose in White Jazz was flayed right down to the bone. As an example, instead of seeing dialogue such as "'Police! Stop or we'll shoot!' yelled Stemmons." or prose describing what is going on in any great detail, you get things like "Stemmons: 'Police! Stop or we'll shoot!", "Rap sheet checks: nine outstanding warrants between them," and even "Chaos: blood spray, bet slip/cash confetti."

At first it was a bit hard to get the hang of this style, and with character descriptions kept to a minimum (or sometimes not included at all) I found it harder to keep straight who was who in the story. However, it is a testament to Mr. Ellroy's skill in storytelling that once you get used to the style you become so engrossed in the storyline that you no longer notice the missing prose. Needless to say, the style itself also keeps the novel moving at a breakneck pace.

This book's style has made me very curious to move into Ellroy's later works if even just to see how it develops as he practices it more.
3 people found this helpful
Helpful
 Report
Quinn Jones-hylton
5.0 out of 5 stars simply brilliant
Reviewed in the United States on March 10, 2010
Verified Purchase
After finally reading through La conifidential, i had to read the next one to see what happens to the characters next. I wasnt disapointed. Ellroy, is simply put brilliant. He creates wonderful new character Pete b, Chick, and Dave klien, who is a smart bud white. I also , liked how justice finally shined on Dudley Smith, who maybe crime fiction's best villian. I mean, this guy sells drugs to only negroes, has other negroes beat like slaves jsut to kill them off, he ordered the killing of six people just to take over a porno enterprise, and he killed a district attorney who was probably going to squeel on him. If he isnt evil, i just dont know what it is.
One person found this helpful
Helpful
 Report
C L M
3.0 out of 5 stars Just OK
Reviewed in the United States on December 16, 2017
Verified Purchase
It was a bit hard to read at first but once I got into the book it was easier to follow. I don't usually go for books written with one person narrating the whole story. This one was not as good as L.A. Confidential or the other books in the series.
Helpful
 Report

Top reviews from other countries

Translate all reviews to English
Amazon Customer
2.0 out of 5 stars Grosse déception!
Reviewed in France on March 19, 2021
Verified Purchase
Je me régale à chaque fois que je lis (dévoire) un Livre d'Ellroy. Mais celui-là est d'une telle confusion au niveau du style, des mots, des phrases sans verbe, n'est pas Céline qui veut, et cet effet de style, absent des autres romans du J.E., rend l'histoire totalement imbitable. Ce n'est que mon avis: c'est le volume raté du Quatuor de L.A., bien en deça du Dahlia Noir, L.A. Confidential et Le Grand Nulle Part.
2 people found this helpful
 Report
mike cramer
5.0 out of 5 stars First-rate!
Reviewed in Canada on June 12, 2015
Verified Purchase
Straight-up Ellroy! Excellent!
Report
Arta Buneta
5.0 out of 5 stars Ein Buch wie ein Schlag in den Magen!
Reviewed in Germany on August 19, 2014
Verified Purchase
Die Sprache Ellroys ist gewöhnungsbedürftig. BILD-Zeitungs-Niveau ist freundlich formuliert. Die haarsträubenden Benennungen und Beschreibungen reflektieren die Sichtn der 50er Jahre des 20. Jahrhunderts und treiben die Story voran. Spannend, nervenzehrend, von der ersten bis zur letzten Seite. Die Komplexität des Plots, das enorme Verbrechen, sind schwindelerregend. Kurz: sehr gut!
Report
reader 451
5.0 out of 5 stars Noir legacy
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on July 22, 2011
Verified Purchase
White Jazz is a fitting end to the quartet of novels that begins with The Black Dahlia entitled the L.A. Quartet. The narrator, Dave Klein, is new, but the novel sees Ed Exley finally square up to Dudley Smith, the quartet's long-standing villain. This finale completes the set stylistically as well as chronologically, moreover, bridging the orthodox noir that The Black Dahlia remains and the machine-gun paced, rock-era trio that American Tabloid inaugurates. Indeed, this novel provides a foretaste of American Tabloid with the appearance of one of its characters, Pete Bondurant, in a minor role. Enough said, in the interest of avoiding spoilers. White Jazz is a must if you have read the first three books of the set. If not, please begin with The Black Dahlia!
2 people found this helpful
 Report
don22754
3.0 out of 5 stars Read LA Confidential instead.
Reviewed in Australia on December 5, 2014
Verified Purchase
Almost throwaway end to a previously superb duo of stories in trilogy. Do mot miss LA Confidential, both the novel and movie. Even more confusing than some Ellroy books, boring characters, little plot.
Report