Listen free for 30 days

Listen with offer

Preview
  • L.A. Confidential

  • By: James Ellroy
  • Narrated by: Jeff Harding
  • Length: 15 hrs and 59 mins
  • 4.4 out of 5 stars (265 ratings)

£0.00 for first 30 days

Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection - including bestsellers and new releases.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, celeb exclusives, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
£7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

L.A. Confidential

By: James Ellroy
Narrated by: Jeff Harding
Try for £0.00

£7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

Buy Now for £19.99

Buy Now for £19.99

Pay using card ending in
By completing your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and authorise Audible to charge your designated card or any other card on file. Please see our Privacy Notice, Cookies Notice and Interest-based Ads Notice.

Summary

Christmas 1951, Los Angeles: a city where the police are as corrupt as the criminals.

Six prisoners are beaten senseless in their cells by cops crazed on alcohol. For the three LAPD detectives involved, it will expose the guilty secrets on which they have built their corrupt and violent careers. The novel takes these cops on a sprawling epic of brutal violence and the murderous seedy side of Hollywood.

©1990 James Ellroy (P)2016 Isis Publishing Ltd
activate_Holiday_promo_in_buybox_DT_T2

Listeners also enjoyed...

Motion to Kill cover art
To Speak for the Dead cover art
Zodiac cover art
Raymond Chandler: The Long Goodbye (Dramatised) cover art
Sarge!: Cases of a Chicago Police Detective Sergeant in the 1960s, ’70s, and ’80s cover art
Burned Alive cover art
Hyperion cover art
The Black Echo: Special Edition cover art
Whiskey Sour cover art
The Serpent and the Pearl cover art
The Count of Monte Cristo [Classic Tales Edition] cover art
Relic cover art
Cast in Shadow cover art

What listeners say about L.A. Confidential

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    169
  • 4 Stars
    59
  • 3 Stars
    23
  • 2 Stars
    8
  • 1 Stars
    6
Performance
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    172
  • 4 Stars
    48
  • 3 Stars
    12
  • 2 Stars
    6
  • 1 Stars
    3
Story
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    159
  • 4 Stars
    53
  • 3 Stars
    20
  • 2 Stars
    2
  • 1 Stars
    6

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

Sort by:
Filter by:
  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Seen the movie?

Well don't let that stop you from reading the book. Full of extensive detail and true to history events. LA Confidential is a page turning thrill ride.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

compelling

others said it was hard to follow, I didn't think so at all, I was gripped start to finish

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Stops and starts.

Great story, decent narrator, but the audio is off, so a lot of chapters start mid sentence.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Very good book and fantastic performance

Really enjoyable book and brilliantly performed by Jeff Harding. I was debating purchasing the book beforehand because of the negative reviews with people complaining about struggling to keep up with the plot because of the amount of characters, and that it didn't work well as an audiobook etc etc, but I loved it. There is a lot going on and a lot of twists and turns but I enjoyed it. I watched the movie years ago and I saw James Ellroy complaining in an interview that he didn't think the performances in the movie were great, or true to his characters, but I have to disagree. It may be because I watched the movie first, but the performances in the movie were spot on, and really close to the characters in this book. Great book though. And I reckon that Jeff Harding could read through a dictionary and make it sound action packed and interesting. Definately worth a listen

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Brilliant

Best crime novel I’ve listened to since Raymond Chandler. Played whole thing twice now to be sure of getting entire plot. Whatever the opposite is of “short-changed”, is how it leaves you feeling.
(for best experience do the books in order)

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

Brilliantly read, but confusing

Like a few other reviewers have said, this can be a very confusing book. I lost the story a couple of times with so many characters. It's very long also. The middle bit dragged for me a little. The narration is brilliant though. Really well done with lots of good accents and voices.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

Confusing at best

This is confused story which is difficult to follow and I only managed about the first 4 hours before giving up - the only redeeming feature was the performance of Jeff Harding.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

A classic

I am not a fan of the short hand description writing, but it's still a classic story.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

awesome

wonderful, ellroy a great writer and Mr Harding a v fine narrator ... brought me great pleasure

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

17 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Forget the fil,

I enjoyed the film but the book is in a different league. Long and complex written in a terse economical style. I found it difficult to follow at times as it requires a degree of concentration I sometimes lack but worth the effort. Two things I very rarely do: 1. Re-listen to a book; 2. Award five stars. I will be doing both.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

4 people found this helpful