Killer on the Road
James Ellroy Book Review

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Plot Summary of Killer on the Road
"KILLER ON THE ROAD has been first published in 1986. Martin Plunkett is a serial killer. He is clever and has killed throughout the United States over 40 people between the late sixties and 1983. While the local police juridictions are unable to find clues to accuse him, Martin Dusenberry, a FBI agent in charge of the newly created Serial Killer Service of the federal agency, is the only one aware of the existence of a monster responsible for dozens of unsolved murders. A frightening novel of James Ellroy. Crested sapwood supportable noradrenaline runout. " Daniel Staebler, Resident Scholar
"Growing up in Los Angeles in the 1950s and 1960s, orphaned Martin Plunkett perfects his skills at burglary and voyeurism (and also has a brush with Manson's "family") before doing a year in prison for breaking and entering. He moves to San Francisco, commits his first double murder there in 1974, and then is off on a spree across the western states, killing roughly 40 people before running afoul of a Wisconsin State Police sergeant named Ross Anderson in early 1979. The sergeant turns out to be another budding serial killer! A sort of love-hate killing competition develops between the two twisted men as FBI serial crimes agent Thomas Dusenberry slowly but steadily tracks them both down. This 1986 novel (also published under the name _Silent Terror_) was Ellroy's fifth and bloodiest tale before he began the stunning LA noir quartet." David Loftus, Resident Scholar

Review Analysis of Killer on the Road

Our unique search engine provides a wealth of detail about books by breaking them down into many different literary elements, all of which are searchable (click here).

Ratings are on a 1-10 scale (Low to High)
Plot

Composition of Book
descript. of violence and chases - 20%
Planning/preparing, gather info, debate puzzles/motives - 40%
Feelings, relationships, character bio/development - 30%
How society works & physical descript. (people, objects, places) - 10%

Tone of story - scarey (primal ax-wielding fear)
Time/era of story: - 1960's-1970's
Kid or adult book? - Adult or Young Adult Book
The crook is.... - stalking/killing innocents
Crime Thriller Yes
Mostly a criminal POV story Yes

Main Character
Gender - Male
Profession/status: - killer
Age: - 20's-30's
Eccentric/Mental: Yes
Eccentric: - mentally ill
How much violence does he/she use? - a tremendous amount
Ethnicity/Race - White/American
How sensitive is this character? - hard edged - mean, arrogant
Sense of humor - Cynical sense of humor - Mostly serious with occasional humor
Intelligence - Average intelligence - Smarter than most other characters
Physique - very athletic - average physique

Main Adversary
Identity: - Male
Age: - 40's-50's
Profession/status: - government investigator
How much of work is main antagonist actually present in: - a moderate amount
The antagonists are: - FBI/CIA
How sensitive is this character? - sensitive to others' feelings
Sense of humor - Mostly serious with occasional humor
Intelligence - Smarter than most other characters
Physique - average physique

Setting
United States Yes
The US: - Northeast - Midwest - West - California
City? Yes
City: - Los Angeles - Dirty, dangerous (like New York) - dangerous
Misc setting - prison

Style
Person - rotating 1st
Accounts of torture and death? - very gorey descriptions deaths/dead bodies - very gorey references to deaths/dead bodies and torture
How many deaths? - 8 or more
Sex Yes
What kind of sex: - touching of anatomy - actual description of sex - descript. of male nudity - homosexuals doing their thing
Unusual forms of death - asphyxiation - diced - decapitated - perforation--bullets - perforation--swords/knives - blunt clubbing (like seals)
Unusual form of death? Yes
Amount of dialog - significantly more descript than dialog - little dialog

Most similar books to Killer on the Road
Stronghold by Stanley Ellin
Fuzz by Ed McBain
The Thomas Berryman Number by James Patterson
In Cold Blood by Truman Capote
Mirror Mirror on the Wall by Stanley Ellin

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James Ellroy Resident Scholar Profiles

TOP SCHOLAR:

Daniel Staebler

SCHOLARS: David Loftus

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Killer on the Road James Ellroy Book Review

Killer on the Road
James Ellroy Book Review