Attempting a more standard cop versus serial killer story, Ellroy hasnt yet hit upon the right mixture of hate, terror and respect in his protagonists. And his protagonist's wife and daughters are pretty much a pile of nothing to reflect his problems onto. There is something here - the horror of the opening scene echoes in a way that "this must be the killers origin story" scenes rarely do. The racism and hatred, the homophobia and violence, above all the masculine self-loathing and mixed hatred of and desire for women as redemptive Madonna/whore are not only there but echoed again and again in many places and ways. That makes the antagonist a rarity for Ellroy - someone we almost feel we understand. He's just someone in the 70s, man. People were like that then.