BOOK REVIEW: The Hilliker Curse: My Pursuit of Women

Onanist. Pervert. Peeping tom. Glue huffer. Panty sniffer. Homeless drifter. John. By his own admission, James Ellroy has been each of these things; he wears it like a badge of honor. In his mind, as a child, he was a murderer. As an adult- a dedicated son and a devoted husband. But what a lot of people don't realize, is that above all else, he always has, and always will be, a man whose life is ruled by women.

In fact, past allegations of misogyny are almost laughable in light of his obsession with woman and their approval. It is a pursuit that consumes him. The Hilliker Curse is a document of this relentless need, painting him as a man whose existence revolves around the women in his life, as well as the women who might be in his future. 

It is all unabashedly Freudian. In the wake of his parent's divorce, young Ellroy, brimming with equal parts hatred and lust, "summons" his mother dead in an imaginary act of vengeance. Little does he know that in three months time, his wish will be fulfilled. In a crime that parallels the famed murder of Elizabeth Short, his mother's lifeless body is found by the police.

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