I couldn't put it down. Also, I didn't expect a hard-boiled private investigator story to make me cry, but... here we are.
I received a copy from Netgalley and I'm voluntarily leaving a review. Thank you to the author and publisher for the opportunity to check this out.
So. This is the second book I've read by this author. At this point, I feel like I can safely assume I'm going to enjoy anything he writes. His style is just right for the genre. Spare, but with the occasional use of the perfect descriptive phrase. Usually metaphor makes me gag, but here? Ugh. Masterful.
The plot was well paced, carefully constructed, and incredibly tense. There are three timelines on the go (1998, 1999, 2000), but it's easy to keep track. It's seriously stressful, though, because you know that when it all comes together, it's going to be brutal. Like I said before, I didn't expect to well up, but that one scene... a lump most decidedly formed in my throat and my eyes started leaking. It was surprisingly emotional.
There were some lighter moments, too, and some nice detective work, and a couple of scenes that were genuinely upsetting.
Mickey, the PI protagonist, is a great character. He's fully fleshed out and if not relatable, certainly recognizable. Likewise, the rest of the cast were equally well developed, even the minor characters. They were believable. We could see and understand their motivations and behaviors. The villain of the piece was particularly interesting. Loathsome, but interesting.
The one thing that bothered me was the open ending. Not the epilogue, which was great, but just before that. It was realistic enough, but it was also... frustrating and unsatisfying. There was a bit of a twist that came as a huge shock, and left me with a sour taste in my mouth, you know,?
But yeah, overall? This was really good.

In Porno Valley I felt like I was walking through a trailer park full of lowlifes. Now I don't include Mickey O'Rourke, the PI trying to find Jeffrey Strokes, a missing porn star and druggie. The sad fact is that Porno Valley is loaded with life's losers, and that does not make for entertaining reading, at least for me. The O'Rourke character could have used more playing time.
Thanks, NetGalley, for the ARC.

Porno Valley takes place in the year 2000 with some flashbacks to 1998 and 1999. Seventy Eight year old Mickey O’Rourke , a long time PI , takes his last case before retiring. This proves to be one of his toughest cases. He is hired to find Jeffrey Stokes, an award winning porn star who had gone missing a year ago. The story follows the lives of two couples. Jemeka Johnson suspected her boyfriend Ray Ray of cheating on her in 1998. She follows him finds him in a drug deal gone bad. This leads to her getting involved in supplying drugs to the neighborhood dealer while running a hair salon. Richie and Alabama are junkies that spend their time robbing diners and shooting up heroin in the cheap motels that they live in. In 1999, they move back to LA and hope for a big score instead of just robbing diners. The story follows the lives of both couples through the drug filled lives. Mickey O Rourke finds his search for Information on Jeffrey intersecting the lives of the couples. Mickey was one of the few likable characters in this book.The book seemed long and drawn out.

I wish to thank NetGalley and author, Philip Elliot for this hard-boiled, gritty crime novel. At first, I wasn't attracted to a book with Porno Valley as its title. (I admit I am old and old-fashioned and try to avoid erotic literature.) But then I realized its author has written 'Nobody Move', a fast-paced, entertaining, humourous crime thriller which I enjoyed immensely, and I was very pleased when my request for this advance ebook was granted.

This is a modern take on the old 1940s and 1950's LA Noir. It sinks the reader into the sordid world of porn stars making sexually explicit films in a warehouse in San Fernando Valley. Then it plunges one into the world of the desperate and dangerous world of drug dealers on the streets of Compton. This book seems to portray the authentic and realistic lives of gangsters and porn stars.

It is the year 2000. Mickey O'Rourke' age 78, has worked as a private detective for 50 years. Think of an aged Philip Marlowe. He takes what he believes will be his last case. He is hired by an 18-year-old porn star. She is alluring, erotic, but also sweet and naive. She wants the detective to find her lover, Jeff, an award-winning porn star. He vanished almost a year previously.

In 1998, Jemeka Jackson is a diligent worker in a beauty salon. She wants more from life than her salary provides. When following her boyfriend who she suspects is unfaithful, she stumbles upon a drug deal gone very wrong. Fate has given her the opportunity to turn her life around beyond her wildest dreams. But in what direction?

In 1999, a young married couples' life has reached rock bottom. Richie and Alabama are usually strung out from injecting bad dope, living in dirty, cheap hotels, and robbing roadside diners. They decide to return to LA to enrich their lives by making a big score, give up drugs, and perhaps buy a house.

The story is arranged in a non-linear manner, following separate threads for the main characters. This slowed the pace somewhat for me, but the characters were so well developed that it kept the story compelling. Near the end, it becomes fast-paced and exciting when the characters' threads connected and collided. I especially enjoyed Mickey O'Rourke and his growing fatherly or grandfatherly bond with the porn star who hired him. I was absorbed by the atmospheric portrayal of LA, and his dangerous search through the underbelly of glittery LA and its inhabitants. I hope we meet the old detective again! 3.5 stars raised to 4.

Porno Valley by Philip Elliott is a suspenseful and thrilling throwback to the LA noirs of the '40s and '50s but with a turn of the century spin. With an eclectic mix of characters everyone has a time to shine in this tale, from withered private detectives to small time crooks to drug lords to porn star stoners. Plotted masterfully, the book takes readers on an unpredictable journey from start to end. While at times the author's influences are a little too obvious in the work overall this is a fantastic story that is sure to entertain old school noir fans, Tarantino fans or crime fans in general.

Porno Valley by Philip Elliott is the second entry of his superb Angel City Private Investigation novels. It unfolds like an old-time Los Angeles noir novel a la Raymond Chandler. It is populated with eclectic characters ranging from the erotic but innocent 18-year-old porn star to the all too real gangsters populating the city’s most grim and dangerous areas. Not only is the reader treated to a fast-moving and ever-changing PI novel but is also introduced to a multiplicity of three-dimensional characters who are striving for money, happiness, and freedom. On the way, some sell drugs, make porn, and even help to find a missing person.

Porno valley is an entertaining and eye-opening novel. It recalls the best of Michael Connelly as our characters and their problems are spread out on the velvet background of Los Angeles 20 years ago. Reading Porno Valley is a lot like the city itself. Good fortune lingers on every block but that is obscured by drugs, crime, sex, and the overall desperation of those in Porno Valley whose ambition exceeds their reach.
Porno valley is an exciting entry into what is sure to become a memorable series. Philip Elliott is a writer to be watched and Porno Valley is his coming-out party.