Ellroy's third foray into first person narration this time told from the viewpoint of a serial killer who earns the (primary) moniker "Silent Terror." This was Ellroy's last novel to date to feature a contemporary setting. Killer/narrator Martin Michael Plunkett crosses paths with Charles Manson and vows, in the novel's closing sentence, to continue "in some dark form." Ellroy has said his intent was that readers would think that Ellroy was being overtly self-confessional and was indeed the killer of the book. Plunkett's back-story echoes just enough of Ellroy's life story to support this claim. Underrated by many including, perhaps, Ellroy himself the book is arguably the best of his pre-Dahlia novels.
"The Shroud Shifter speaks:
"I clipped my self-sharpening, teflon-coated, brushed-steel axe and swung it at her neck. Her head was sheared cleanly off; blood burst from the cavity; her arms and legs twitched spastically, then her whole body crumpled to the floor. the force of my swing spun me around, and for one second my vision eclipsed the entire scene blood spattered walls, the body shooting an arterial geyser out the neck, the heart still pumping in reflex...
Martin Plunkett has struck again."
© Blood and Guts Press
The novel was first published in paperback by Avon (ISBN: 0-380-89934-5) in 1986. Blood & Guts Press, an imprint of Vagabond Bookstore in L.A. (a key dealer in rare Ellroy books), published this limited edition hardback in two states in October 1986. The first is a signed, numbered edition of 350 copies (ISBN: 0-940941-00-7); the second a signed and lettered edition of 26 copies. The lettered edition is also signed by mystery author Jonathan Kellerman, who supplied an introduction for the limited edition. The limited edition is dedicated to Randy Rice. Cover design by R.K. Sloane. In the 2000 edition of "Breese's Guide To Modern First Editions" from Breese Books Limited, Michael Johnson of Scorpion Press, publisher of a first-rate ltd. edition of "My Dark Places," contributes an essay on Ellroy collecting, as well as an extensive bibliography of Ellroy's U.K. & U.S. 1st editions. Johnson assigns the highest value to Blood & Guts Press' limited hardback edition of "Silent Terror," valuing the signed and lettered edition of that version of the book at 325 pounds. So how did the title change? In an exclusive interview with James Ellroy's World, the author explained: "I called the book 'Killer on the Road.' Avon, who published it as a paperback original, wanted 'Silent Terror,' which was their title. They foisted it upon me. When they reprinted the book re-jacketed the book they wanted to be nice to me, so they called it 'Killer on the Road," which is my title."The novel was later given a different title in the U.S., "Killer on the Road," drawn from the lyrics of the Doors' tune, "Riders on the Storm."
Order the trade paperback edition of Killer on the Road
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