The Ticket Out

The Los Angeles Times

an intermittently exciting...walk on the seamy side of the Hollywood scene, past and present.—Tom Nolan

Stephanie Foote

Part noir lament, part witty liberal rant, this masterful first novel from Knode—the wife of bestselling crime writer James Ellroy—is fast paced and complex. Ann Whitehead, a movie critic for a trendy alternative paper in Los Angeles, is bored with her job. She loves Hollywood and its seedy history but hates the new corporate movie culture. Just as Ann is on the verge of quitting the coolest job she'll ever have, the body of an aspiring female screenwriter turns up in her bathtub, prompting her to investigate the young woman's death. Knode has a keen eye for everyday details and an unusually polished cast of characters. Ann and her cynical friends are less nihilistic, more caffeinated versions of the noir heroes of the 1940s. Ann's crankiness in the face of bad taste and bad art is a particular pleasure.

Publishers Weekly

Film critic Ann Whitehead has a problem. She doesn't find Tom Cruise sexy. She's bored by Harry Potter. She even can't get excited about the new David Lynch movie. The heroine of Knode's debut crime novel is simply fed up with her job and the Los Angeles alternative weekly paper where she works. But there's no quicker cure for ennui than finding a gorgeous blonde corpse in your bathtub. Ann stumbles on the murdered body of film school grad Greta Maria Stenholm in the bathroom of her pool house (where she lives in exchange for minor caretaking of the mansion next door) and becomes obsessed with the case. Though she's stymied in her investigation by Lockwood, a sexy LAPD detective with a shady past, she discovers a second case of murder, blackmail and coverup. This one is from 1944, and it's the subject of a script that Greta had been working on when she died. Knode, an ex-film critic for the L.A. Weekly, juxtaposes Hollywood's golden age and today's entertainment industry, exploring how the city has used and abused the ambitious, beautiful women who flock there. She offers a juicy portrait of contemporary L.A. in which Hollywood's elite kill one another for script ideas and follow secret passages from MGM to a high-end whorehouse. Some of these images feel overly familiar; this is a novel in which the HUAC committee lists resurface and still have currency. Still, Knode's clever, sophisticated plotting packs a punch. L.A. noir fans-and Hollywood buffs-will be rapt. (Jan.) Forecast: Knode's husband is James Ellroy, which won't hurt in the publicity department. An eight-city author tour and a strong ad campaign will also grab attention for this promising debut. Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information.

Library Journal

Ann Whitehead is a burned-out movie critic for a small counterculture newspaper and, like many others in Hollywood, a screenwriter wannabe. She lives in the pool house of a famous old manse and keeps an eye on the place for its consortium of owners. When she discovers the body of an aspiring writer in her bathtub the morning after a big party, Ann begs her boss for a chance to chase a real crime story. He reluctantly agrees, but the detective in charge, singed in a recent scandal, is not thrilled at having the press dogging him. Ann takes off like Nancy Drew, and her search for the killer turns into a search for the victim's missing script about the unsolved murder of a 1944 starlet. Suddenly, there are two murders to solve and a host of movie moguls scrambling to cover their questionable pasts. A former columnist and movie critic for L.A. Weekly and the wife of author James Ellroy, Knode features lots of intriguing backlot history and tales of Hollywood's first generation of the rich and famous linked with those of the present generation who would kill for just one more break. This well-done debut is recommended for most popular fiction collections.-Susan Clifford Braun, Aerospace Corp., El Segundo, CA Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information.

Kirkus Reviews

Movies are the stuff nightmares of made of in this debut noir thriller. For the protagonist of what may well become a series, former L.A. Weekly film critic Knode, spouse of bestselling James Ellroy, comes up with Ann Whitehead, film critic for a fictional magazine, L.A. Millennium, an edgy publication that seems about to slide into celebrity journalism while Whitehead, an emotionally tight iconoclast, fears she'll end up writing puff pieces about the likes of Tom Cruise. The morning after a party at a house where she's the caretaker, Ann discovers aspiring screenwriter Greta Stenholm in a pool-house bathtub, dead from stab wounds. Since the weapon came from Ann's kitchen, she's a suspect. But Ann seeks to do more than clear herself: she sees the murder as the subject of the Hollywood story she'll write to escape the drudgery of reviewing action thrillers. She manipulates her skuzzy editor for the assignment and sets out to find the killer in a violent and soiled Hollywood that Raymond Chandler would appreciate. Ann teams up with LAPD detective Doug Lockwood and eventually, in a solid, credible moment, makes emotional contact with him and with herself. Film-land detritus-agents, producers, faded extras, film-school friends-form the complex nest of suspects. Ann and Doug close in on Casa de Amor, a cluster of bungalows with a shady history traceable back to Hollywood's golden age. Plotting is dense by now, as even Ann and Doug observe that "there are too many suspects and motives." An underground chase and some family melodrama push matters over the top. Still, Knode lands a final, affecting point: even in a day of a "human prophylactic" like Cruise, some lost souls still believe in theultimate good of the movies. A promising start down the mean streets of Culver City. Author tour