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The Big Nowhere

 The Big Nowhere
type
TVTItem
 The Big Nowhere
label
The Big Nowhere
 The Big Nowhere
page
TheBigNowhere
 The Big Nowhere
comment
Los Angeles, 1950.The city of angels is now the city of the angel of death.Three detectives with three different angles will be drawn together into a circle of lies and murder. Danny Upshaw is an LA sheriffs detective with a group of bodies that will lead him to find out more about himself than he bargained for. LAPD lieutenant Malcolm "Mal" Considine is locked in a bitter custody battle for his son, whilst being drawn into the corrupt district attorney's plan to smoke out communists in Hollywood. Turner "Buzz" Meeks, a disgraced former cop, is now working for millionaire Howard Hughes and gangster Mickey Cohen. Buzz may try to right a few of his wrongs along the way.All three men will come together with front row seats to a nightmare...1988 novel by James Ellroy and the second part of the The L.A. Quartet.
 The Big Nowhere
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2024-03-06T07:01:00Z
 The Big Nowhere
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2024-03-06T07:01:00Z
 The Big Nowhere
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Dropped link to Blackmail: Not a Feature - ITEM
 The Big Nowhere
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Dropped link to FriendlyNeighborhoodGangster: Not a Feature - UNKNOWN
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ArmoredClosetGay
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 The Big Nowhere
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DBTropes
 The Big Nowhere / int_1237828f
type
Anyone Can Die
 The Big Nowhere / int_1237828f
comment
Anyone Can Die: By the end of the book both Mal and Danny are dead.
 The Big Nowhere / int_1237828f
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The Big Nowhere / int_1237828f
 The Big Nowhere / int_188668f2
type
Redemption Quest
 The Big Nowhere / int_188668f2
comment
Redemption Quest: Takes up the quest to go after the Wolverine to redeem himself.
 The Big Nowhere / int_188668f2
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1.0
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The Big Nowhere / int_188668f2
 The Big Nowhere / int_1b93f276
type
The Fixer
 The Big Nowhere / int_1b93f276
comment
The Fixer: Buzz Meeks has taken a job as this for Howard Hughes and his friends, covering up their scandalous liaisons with underage girls, getting their relatives out of criminal litigation, and otherwise protecting their reputations.
 The Big Nowhere / int_1b93f276
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The Big Nowhere / int_1b93f276
 The Big Nowhere / int_1e584efa
type
Cruel and Unusual Death
 The Big Nowhere / int_1e584efa
comment
Cruel and Unusual Death: Marty Goines suffered an Eye Scream sexual assault after being killed with an overdose of heroine and then a Groin Attack. His body was left for exposure in all its humiliation as well.
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The Big Nowhere / int_1e584efa
 The Big Nowhere / int_1f6983f7
type
Ambiguous Situation
 The Big Nowhere / int_1f6983f7
comment
Ambiguous Situation: Celeste claims that she made up all of the stories about her Nazi lover and that he actually was very kind to her as well as sabotaged concentration camp gas chambers. Whether this is true or just trying to dig at her husband is anyone's guess.
 The Big Nowhere / int_1f6983f7
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The Big Nowhere / int_1f6983f7
 The Big Nowhere / int_35474f36
type
Sliding Scale of Law Enforcement
 The Big Nowhere / int_35474f36
comment
Sliding Scale of Law Enforcement: Danny and Mal are trying to do the right thing. Other cops may vary...
 The Big Nowhere / int_35474f36
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The Big Nowhere / int_35474f36
 The Big Nowhere / int_3dd3951e
type
Cowboy Cop
 The Big Nowhere / int_3dd3951e
comment
Cowboy Cop: Danny Upshaw and Mal both bend the law when they try to do the right thing. Hilariously, Buzz Meeks is a transplant from Oklahoma, and references are made to him working as a ranch hand and a Western movie extra - so he was practically a literal cowboy cop. In practice though he used to be more of a Dirty Cop.
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The Big Nowhere / int_3dd3951e
 The Big Nowhere / int_3e2125f5
type
Scary Teeth
 The Big Nowhere / int_3e2125f5
comment
Scary Teeth: The killer mutilates his victims' corpses using a set of dentures he fashioned out of wolverine teeth. Buzz and Mal get to see this in person during the climactic shootout.
 The Big Nowhere / int_3e2125f5
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The Big Nowhere / int_3e2125f5
 The Big Nowhere / int_466ccbb4
type
Gayngst
 The Big Nowhere / int_466ccbb4
comment
Gayngst: Danny Upshaw is actually a severely repressed homosexual.
 The Big Nowhere / int_466ccbb4
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The Big Nowhere / int_466ccbb4
 The Big Nowhere / int_4e3d253b
type
Downer Ending
 The Big Nowhere / int_4e3d253b
comment
Downer Ending: Upshaw killed himself before he ever caught the killer he was obsessed with. Meeks and Considine finished the job for him, with both Considine and the killer shot dead in the process. Meeks, the only one left who even cares about the wolverine killings, skips town and abandons Audrey Anders when Mickey Cohen finds out about their affair. Made even worse by the first chapter of LA Confidential, in which Dudley Smith tracks Meeks down and kills him just a week after the end of The Big Nowhere.
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The Big Nowhere / int_4e3d253b
 The Big Nowhere / int_4ef92d0b
type
The Atoner
 The Big Nowhere / int_4ef92d0b
comment
The Atoner: Buzz attempts to make up for the fact he got Danny Upshaw killed.
 The Big Nowhere / int_4ef92d0b
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The Big Nowhere / int_4ef92d0b
 The Big Nowhere / int_504a1991
type
Body Horror
 The Big Nowhere / int_504a1991
comment
Body Horror: The Murders in the book are carried out with extreme vengeance and torture.
 The Big Nowhere / int_504a1991
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The Big Nowhere / int_504a1991
 The Big Nowhere / int_56515a39
type
Artistic License – History
 The Big Nowhere / int_56515a39
comment
Artistic License – History: Another notorious L.A. murder case — the Sleepy Lagoon murder — that was never solved in real life is given a resolution.
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The Big Nowhere / int_56515a39
 The Big Nowhere / int_588d766f
type
BlackAndGreyMorality
 The Big Nowhere / int_588d766f
comment
Black-and-Grey Morality: Outside of the main three, most of the characters are complicit in some abhorrent crime or another. Of the main three, Buzz Meeks is a corrupt ex-cop who does dirty work for Mickey Cohen and helps cover up Howard Hughes' affairs with underage girls. Mal Considine is a wife beater. Danny Upshaw might just be the most upstanding of the bunch, and he ends up killing himself.
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The Big Nowhere / int_588d766f
 The Big Nowhere / int_590eb583
type
Domestic Abuse
 The Big Nowhere / int_590eb583
comment
Domestic Abuse: Considine beats his Czech girlfriend within an inch of her life when she reveals she made up all of the sexuall perverted stories about her Nazi owner during World War 2.
 The Big Nowhere / int_590eb583
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The Big Nowhere / int_590eb583
 The Big Nowhere / int_6b2b3b59
type
The Reveal
 The Big Nowhere / int_6b2b3b59
comment
The Reveal: Reynolds was the father of the murderer Coleman, he then formed a sexual relationship with him and drove him mad.
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The Big Nowhere / int_6b2b3b59
 The Big Nowhere / int_6d332aea
type
Driven to Suicide
 The Big Nowhere / int_6d332aea
comment
Driven to Suicide: Danny Upshaw in a bid to avert anyone finding out about his homosexuality
 The Big Nowhere / int_6d332aea
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The Big Nowhere / int_6d332aea
 The Big Nowhere / int_71329e49
type
Turn in Your Badge
 The Big Nowhere / int_71329e49
comment
Turn in Your Badge: Danny Upshaw is forced to do this when he is accused of killing Gene Niles after the latter accused him of being queer. In fact, Buzz had killed Gene the night before.
 The Big Nowhere / int_71329e49
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The Big Nowhere / int_71329e49
 The Big Nowhere / int_72cdfc33
type
Big Bad Ensemble
 The Big Nowhere / int_72cdfc33
comment
Big Bad Ensemble: The killer is just the tip of the iceberg. In reality, he's a renegade lashing out at his sexually abusive father Reynolds Loftis, and the latter's fiancee Claire De Haven, both influential figures who cover up the killings. On the other side of things there's Dudley Smith, a tremendously corrupt cop who spearheads the anti-Communist investigation to cover up the fact that he was the Sleepy Lagoon murderer. Then there's crime boss Mickey Cohen, who's tangentially involved as well.
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The Big Nowhere / int_72cdfc33
 The Big Nowhere / int_7301ae04
type
Serial Killer
 The Big Nowhere / int_7301ae04
comment
Serial Killer: The Wolverine targets gay men and proceeds to gnaw on them with dentures.
 The Big Nowhere / int_7301ae04
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The Big Nowhere / int_7301ae04
 The Big Nowhere / int_744e3311
type
Police Brutality
 The Big Nowhere / int_744e3311
comment
Police Brutality: Danny actively beats up men in a bid to find the killer. Of course it's pretty standard in this setting.
 The Big Nowhere / int_744e3311
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The Big Nowhere / int_744e3311
 The Big Nowhere / int_7e74d66f
type
Politically Correct History
 The Big Nowhere / int_7e74d66f
comment
Politically Correct History: Averted massively. The LAPD is violently homophobia, racist, and corrupt. The persecution of communists in Hollywood is motivated by paranoia, corruption, and outright theater.
 The Big Nowhere / int_7e74d66f
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The Big Nowhere / int_7e74d66f
 The Big Nowhere / int_868409c
type
Broken Pedestal
 The Big Nowhere / int_868409c
comment
Broken Pedestal: Claire Katherine De Haven is a figure on the Hollywood social circuit and is a communist sympathizer in order to help people in need. She also enabled a known rapist and murderer get away with his crimes as well as protected Reynolds Loftis despite the fact he had sex with his own son. This ruins the opinion of Mal Considine, who carried a torch for her.
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The Big Nowhere / int_868409c
 The Big Nowhere / int_895ec17
type
Only in It for the Money
 The Big Nowhere / int_895ec17
comment
Only in It for the Money: Buzz Meeks makes it clear to Howard Hughes that appealing to his sense of patriotism in fighting communism is a joke. Not because he's a communist or sympathetic but because he's aware his boss only cares about money, women, and airplanes too.
 The Big Nowhere / int_895ec17
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The Big Nowhere / int_895ec17
 The Big Nowhere / int_8e20b0f7
type
Private Detective
 The Big Nowhere / int_8e20b0f7
comment
Private Detective: Buzz is the head of security for Howard Hughes, which roughly gives him this feel before he's hired by the Grand Jury and becomes indistiguishable from a cop.
 The Big Nowhere / int_8e20b0f7
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The Big Nowhere / int_8e20b0f7
 The Big Nowhere / int_90b66e22
type
Femme Fatale
 The Big Nowhere / int_90b66e22
comment
Femme Fatale: Claire is called one of these by the grand jury investigators but they're colored by their accusations of communism. Claire proves herself to be one as she stages an elaborate pornographic movie showing in her home just to expose Danny as sexually arroused by men.
 The Big Nowhere / int_90b66e22
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The Big Nowhere / int_90b66e22
 The Big Nowhere / int_9a1d239e
type
Been There, Shaped History
 The Big Nowhere / int_9a1d239e
comment
Been There, Shaped History: Buzz Meeks bumps elbows with both Howard Hughes and Mickey Cohen, even starting an affair with the latter's mistress. With regards to the real-life Sleepy Lagoon murder of Jose Diaz, corrupt cop and L.A. Quartet regular Dudley Smith is revealed to be the culprit. Not only that, but Coleman Masskie/Healey, the "wolverine killer", witnessed the crime as a teenager, which started him down his dark path.
 The Big Nowhere / int_9a1d239e
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The Big Nowhere / int_9a1d239e
 The Big Nowhere / int_9adeadc
type
Bandaged Face
 The Big Nowhere / int_9adeadc
comment
Bandaged Face: Danny Upshaw hears a lot about a kid with bandages covering a supposedly burned face who used to hang around Marty Goines and help him commit burglaries. In reality, the bandages were the aftermath of plastic surgery. The bandaged kid was Coleman Masskie, Reynolds Loftis' illegitimate son. Reynolds commissioned a facelift from Terry Lux to make Coleman resemble him perfectly, as part of his own twisted incestuous fantasies. At the time he was seen with the bandages, Coleman was recovering from his second visit to Lux, to undo this job by breaking every bone in his face.
 The Big Nowhere / int_9adeadc
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The Big Nowhere / int_9adeadc
 The Big Nowhere / int_9e1e14ea
type
Ambition Is Evil
 The Big Nowhere / int_9e1e14ea
comment
Ambition Is Evil: The District Attorney is starting another hunt into communists hidden in Hollywood. He doesn't care if the rumors are true and he is only using the investigation as a means to further his career.
 The Big Nowhere / int_9e1e14ea
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The Big Nowhere / int_9e1e14ea
 The Big Nowhere / int_a1b141f4
type
My God, What Have I Done?
 The Big Nowhere / int_a1b141f4
comment
My God, What Have I Done?: Buzz kills a Dirty Cop in self defense and Danny Upshaw is blamed for it due to the fact they'd been in a confrontation the previous day. This leads to Danny's suicide. Mal has this reaction after he beats his wife to the point their son tries to stop him.
 The Big Nowhere / int_a1b141f4
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The Big Nowhere / int_a1b141f4
 The Big Nowhere / int_a1d48853
type
Stupid Crooks
 The Big Nowhere / int_a1d48853
comment
Stupid Crooks: Buzz's stripper girlfriend Audrey embezzles from Mickey Cohen, and is so clumsy at it that he faces an uphill battle covering for her.
 The Big Nowhere / int_a1d48853
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The Big Nowhere / int_a1d48853
 The Big Nowhere / int_a65288e2
type
Ascended Extra
 The Big Nowhere / int_a65288e2
comment
Ascended Extra: Buzz Meeks was briefly mentioned in The Black Dahlia before becoming one of the main protagonists of The Big Nowhere.
 The Big Nowhere / int_a65288e2
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 The Big Nowhere / int_a65288e2
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The Big Nowhere / int_a65288e2
 The Big Nowhere / int_a70223
type
Karma Houdini
 The Big Nowhere / int_a70223
comment
Karma Houdini: Claire Katherine De Haven ends the book with no repercussions other than a guilty conscience.
 The Big Nowhere / int_a70223
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The Big Nowhere / int_a70223
 The Big Nowhere / int_aabe2fb
type
Deliberate Values Dissonance
 The Big Nowhere / int_aabe2fb
comment
Deliberate Values Dissonance: Much attention is given to the association of communism, labor, and racial justice in America as well as how the three are targeted for their associations. Danny Upshaw fully believes he's not going to receive any help from the LAPD due to the presumption Marty Goines was a dopefiend and then that he was a homosexual. He's later hounded into committing suicide under the threat of revealing his homosexuality.
 The Big Nowhere / int_aabe2fb
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The Big Nowhere / int_aabe2fb
 The Big Nowhere / int_ab2df806
type
Red Baron
 The Big Nowhere / int_ab2df806
comment
Red Baron: Danny Upshaw eventually starts referring to his Serial Killer suspect as The Wolverine.
 The Big Nowhere / int_ab2df806
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The Big Nowhere / int_ab2df806
 The Big Nowhere / int_ab5eea65
type
Dramatic Irony
 The Big Nowhere / int_ab5eea65
comment
Dramatic Irony: Buzz Meeks suffers this after he manages to barely survive an assassination attempt on Mickey Cohen. He kills the Dirty Cop, Eugene Niles, in self-defense, only to find out that Danny Upshaw is being made for the killing due to a confrontation the two had earlier. This results in Danny Upshaw's suicide.
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The Big Nowhere / int_ab5eea65
 The Big Nowhere / int_ac1e30d8
type
Red Scare
 The Big Nowhere / int_ac1e30d8
comment
Red Scare: All three characters become part of a task force investigating Communism in Hollywood.
 The Big Nowhere / int_ac1e30d8
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 The Big Nowhere / int_ac1e30d8
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The Big Nowhere / int_ac1e30d8
 The Big Nowhere / int_aed65980
type
All for Nothing
 The Big Nowhere / int_aed65980
comment
All for Nothing: Mal's massive efforts to keep custody of his son end up meaning nothing as he dies taking down the Wolverine killer.
 The Big Nowhere / int_aed65980
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 The Big Nowhere / int_aed65980
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The Big Nowhere / int_aed65980
 The Big Nowhere / int_b7475a74
type
Bothering by the Book
 The Big Nowhere / int_b7475a74
comment
Bothering by the Book: Danny Upshaw uses the fact that food and beverages are under the control of LA County to threaten people he can't technically arrest in Los Angeles proper.
 The Big Nowhere / int_b7475a74
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The Big Nowhere / int_b7475a74
 The Big Nowhere / int_bec82f41
type
Anti-Hero
 The Big Nowhere / int_bec82f41
comment
Antihero: All of the protagonists are morally compromised in some respect, though Danny Upshaw is the Token Good Teammate until his suicide.
 The Big Nowhere / int_bec82f41
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The Big Nowhere / int_bec82f41
 The Big Nowhere / int_c0689dff
type
HoneyPot
 The Big Nowhere / int_c0689dff
comment
Honey Pot: Danny Upshaw sent to seduce Claire de haven as part of his investigation into communist activity.
 The Big Nowhere / int_c0689dff
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The Big Nowhere / int_c0689dff
 The Big Nowhere / int_c2676b00
type
Jurisdiction Friction
 The Big Nowhere / int_c2676b00
comment
Jurisdiction Friction: The LAPD and LA County Sherriff's Department are loggerheads over Cohen. Thus Danny gets stonewalled by the LAPD when he first tries to investigate the Goines murder. A free hand in running the case is his top condition for joining the anticommunist task force.
 The Big Nowhere / int_c2676b00
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The Big Nowhere / int_c2676b00
 The Big Nowhere / int_c3585f4a
type
Boom, Headshot!
 The Big Nowhere / int_c3585f4a
comment
Boom, Headshot!: Mal takes a bullet to the face.
 The Big Nowhere / int_c3585f4a
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 The Big Nowhere / int_c3585f4a
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The Big Nowhere / int_c3585f4a
 The Big Nowhere / int_c3fbac64
type
Bestiality Is Depraved
 The Big Nowhere / int_c3fbac64
comment
Bestiality Is Depraved: Lucy did some smutty pictures with a Great Dane and this is the blackmail material being used against her. They may or may not be faked.
 The Big Nowhere / int_c3fbac64
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The Big Nowhere / int_c3fbac64
 The Big Nowhere / int_c66f2bb5
type
Witch Hunt
 The Big Nowhere / int_c66f2bb5
comment
Witch Hunt: The massive anti-communist hunt organized by the LAPD is established as this from the get go. Not only are the number of actual communists painfully thin but it's pretty much framed as an anti-labor effort from the very beginning operating from political goals and paranoia. Even the people doing the investigation mostly find it to be a waste of time or are outright crooked with it said a good half of the cops involved "would let off Karl Marx himself if the price was right."
 The Big Nowhere / int_c66f2bb5
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The Big Nowhere / int_c66f2bb5
 The Big Nowhere / int_d52d28b6
type
Hypocrite
 The Big Nowhere / int_d52d28b6
comment
Hypocrite: Claire de Haven preaches communist rhetoric and working class values but is a rich Uptown Girl who uses her connections to get herself as well as her friends out of trouble with the authorities.
 The Big Nowhere / int_d52d28b6
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 The Big Nowhere / int_d52d28b6
featureConfidence
1.0
 The Big Nowhere
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The Big Nowhere / int_d52d28b6
 The Big Nowhere / int_ddeaea82
type
Miscarriage of Justice
 The Big Nowhere / int_ddeaea82
comment
Miscarriage of Justice: The Sleepy Lagoon Murder due to being Truth in Television. A man may or may not have accidentally drowned but the LAPD promptly arrested seventeen Mexican youths before finding them guilty of second degree murder. The charges were later reversed on appeal. The events cast a shadow over the attempted persecution of communists in the book.
 The Big Nowhere / int_ddeaea82
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1.0
 The Big Nowhere / int_ddeaea82
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 The Big Nowhere
hasFeature
The Big Nowhere / int_ddeaea82
 The Big Nowhere / int_e3b0cd87
type
Morality Pet
 The Big Nowhere / int_e3b0cd87
comment
Morality Pet: Mal Considine's adoptive son Stefan. Subverted when an argument over custody of Stefan leads Mal to viciously beat the boy's mother.
 The Big Nowhere / int_e3b0cd87
featureApplicability
-0.3
 The Big Nowhere / int_e3b0cd87
featureConfidence
1.0
 The Big Nowhere
hasFeature
The Big Nowhere / int_e3b0cd87
 The Big Nowhere / int_eb251937
type
Dirty Cop
 The Big Nowhere / int_eb251937
comment
Buzz kills a Dirty Cop in self defense and Danny Upshaw is blamed for it due to the fact they'd been in a confrontation the previous day. This leads to Danny's suicide.
 The Big Nowhere / int_eb251937
featureApplicability
1.0
 The Big Nowhere / int_eb251937
featureConfidence
1.0
 The Big Nowhere
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The Big Nowhere / int_eb251937
 The Big Nowhere / int_f42f96fa
type
Would Hit a Girl
 The Big Nowhere / int_f42f96fa
comment
Would Hit a Girl: Considine certainly doesn't seem to hesitate when he finds out his wife lied to him. The same over a custody dispute.
 The Big Nowhere / int_f42f96fa
featureApplicability
1.0
 The Big Nowhere / int_f42f96fa
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 The Big Nowhere
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The Big Nowhere / int_f42f96fa
 The Big Nowhere / int_f788b2c5
type
Love Makes You Evil
 The Big Nowhere / int_f788b2c5
comment
Love Makes You Evil: Considine's love for Celeste leads him to murdering a Nazi prisoner and later his love for his adopted son results in him becoming a spouse abuser as he can't stand the thought of her taking him away. Claire De Haven protects her bisexual lover, Loftis, despite the fact he sexually abused his son. Also, this results in covering up Coleman's murders of multiple queer men. Coleman, himself, was severely mentally ill from numerous traumas but only snapped when Claire decided to marry his father despite knowing about his abuse. Coleman had been in love with her and it was finally too much.
 The Big Nowhere / int_f788b2c5
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 The Big Nowhere / int_f788b2c5
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 The Big Nowhere
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The Big Nowhere / int_f788b2c5
 The Big Nowhere / int_fccd06b6
type
Beware the Nice Ones
 The Big Nowhere / int_fccd06b6
comment
Beware the Nice Ones: Meeks, Smith, and other ostensibly far more badass characters give Mal Considine a wider berth than his otherwise unassuming demeanor would seem to require because, during his stint as an Army officer in Europan theater of World War II, when he witnessed the inside of a concentration camp first-hand, he walked into a room where the camp's commander was held and unloaded his sidearm into the latter's face. Subverted when we discover that Considine is guilty of Domestic Abuse.
 The Big Nowhere / int_fccd06b6
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 The Big Nowhere / int_fccd06b6
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 The Big Nowhere
hasFeature
The Big Nowhere / int_fccd06b6
 The Big Nowhere / int_fd7267dd
type
Master of Disguise
 The Big Nowhere / int_fd7267dd
comment
Master of Disguise: The killer, Coleman Masskie. In his daily life under the pseudonym "Coleman Healy", he wears a fake beard. While hunting and killing, he removes this fake beard and dons a grey wig and makeup to impersonate his father, Reynolds Loftis. During the act of killing itself, he wears wolverine-tooth dentures. On top of this, he's been subjected to multiple rounds of plastic surgery that completely altered his face in the past, all while living under different identities or anonymously. Upshaw, Considine and Meeks hear various accounts of a "bandaged kid" who associated with Marty Goines and Reynolds Loftis' seemingly identical younger brother, and Upshaw even meets "Coleman Healy" face to face at the beginning of his investigation. It's not until the end that the investigators finally piece together the numerous identities of the same killer.
 The Big Nowhere / int_fd7267dd
featureApplicability
1.0
 The Big Nowhere / int_fd7267dd
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 The Big Nowhere
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The Big Nowhere / int_fd7267dd
 The Big Nowhere / int_name
type
ItemName
 The Big Nowhere / int_name
comment
 The Big Nowhere / int_name
featureApplicability
1.0
 The Big Nowhere / int_name
featureConfidence
1.0
 The Big Nowhere
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The Big Nowhere / int_name
 The Big Nowhere / int_name
itemName
The Big Nowhere

The following is a list of statements referring to the current page from other pages.

 The Big Nowhere
hasFeature
American Literature (J To M) / int_7c07450a
 The Big Nowhere
hasFeature
Red Scare / int_7c07450a