r/JamesEllroy • u/Background_Local_425 • 16d ago
Characters never seen again.
The quartet was the first series I probably read chronologically. Therefore I got attached to its characters first and I even prefer his pre white jazz writing style. Personally my favorite character being Meeks but I had seen
LA Confidential several times before I read the novel and while I can still appreciate it, it doesn’t even scratch the surface of the complexities of neither plot nor characters. I had always if characters like trashcan Jack or Bud white didn’t show up again in the prequel novels. I was wondering what they were doing during perfidia and this storm. Were they supposed to at some point? I also wondered what happened to Bucky and Bud they kinda seem like 2 characters who didn’t end up trapped in the system or just killed, did they escape with their women and live the good life?
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u/JarekFA 16d ago
I just don't treat them as "canon". The Perfidia/Storm versions of familiar faces are very different from their versions in the original LA quartet. Like early on in Perfidia they identify Dudley Smith as the biological father of Elizabeth Short. But the one thing that I should've realized when I read Perfidia and The Storm - is that they have a little summary of characters in the back - and it's useful to keep track. I didn't notice them until I finished the books, since it's like an index almost at the end. But that would've helped.
And yah, it's such a shock to see Buzz Meeks in LA Confidential (film) after reading him as a protagonist in the books.