Hollywood Moon: A Novel

Product Details

• Notes: Type New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
• Mould: NEW
• ISBN13: 9780316045186

Description

There's a saying at Hollywood station that the full moon brings out the beast--rather than the best--in the precinct's citizens. One moonlit night, LAPD veteran Dana Vaughn and "Hollywood" Nate Weiss, a struggling-actor-turned cop, get a call about a young man who's been attacking women. Meanwhile, two surfer cops known as Flotsam and Jetsam keep bumping into an odd, suspicious duo--a smooth-talking player in dreads and a crazy-eyed, tattooed biker. No one suspects that all three dubious characters might be involved in something bigger, more high-tech, and much more illegal. After a dizzying series of twists, turns, and chases, the cops will find they've stumbled upon a complex web of crime where even the criminals can't be sure who's conning whom.

Wambaugh once again masterfully gets inside the hearts and minds of the cops whose jobs have them constantly on the brink of danger. By turns heart-wrenching, exhilarating, and laugh-out-loud funny, Hollywood Moon is his most thrilling and deeply affecting ride yet through the singular streets of LA.

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Customer Reviews

Washington Post Review All Wet
Regarding the book review from the Washington Post(what a surprise):

Dear Sir or Madam--IMHO, the only thing you understand less than street cops and the incredible stress they endure, is their humor in order to cope with that stress.

2010-03-14 | Daniel Baumgartner Books (Medford, Oregon) | Helpful Votes: 0 | Rating: 5

---

Another brilliant novel in Wambaugh's Hollywood police saga
Joseph Wambaugh, who is pushing 75 now, has been acclaimed as a writer of both novels and nonfiction about police and crime in Los Angeles for nearly 40 years. While still at work as a detective sergeant in 1971, his first novel, The New Centurions, was published. It was nearly that long ago (1973) when I first read The Onion Field, his true-crime story of the kidnapping of two L.A. police officers and its profoundly sad consequences. Though most of Wambaugh's work has been fiction, it was only a few years ago that he returned to writing novels about the LAPD. First came Hollywood Station in 2007, followed in 2008 and 2009 by two closely related novels, Hollywood Crows and Hollywood Moon. Perhaps more are on the way in this outstanding series of books.

Wambaugh is superbly talented. His ear for dialogue, his psychological insight, his knowledge about both criminals and police, his gift of language -- all become unmistakably clear in these three engrossing novels. He has mastered the craft of writing fiction, but these books transcend craft with credible, full-bodied characters and graceful style.

What is most compelling in this saga of the men and women of Hollywood Station are the recurring characters. Read these books, and you'll come to know and appreciate the two surfer cops, known only as Flotsam and Jetsam. For example, Jetsam says to his partner about a bowling alley that has come up in one of many conversations about how the two surfers can meet women, "I mean, there's gotta be opportunities on those lanes for coppers as coolaphonic and hormonally imaginative as the almost four hundred pounds of male heat riding in this car." And that's one of the more easily understood passages in Flotsam and Jetsam's never-ending dialogue. Then there's Hollywood Nate Weiss, an aspiring actor with a love for mirrors and hopes for a SAG card; The Oracle, a 46-year veteran sergeant with the insight of a sensitive psychiatrist; a Ukranian-immigrant detective whose inventive use of the English language would do Mrs. Malaprop proud; and several strong, smart women officers, all struggling to keep their pride and their patience in a blatantly sexist environment.

And those are just the cops! The miscreants include street people like Trombone Teddy, formerly a well-known jazz sideman; crystal meth "tweakers" and other addicts, many of them eking out a meager existence by wearing Batman, Superman, Hulk, or Spiderman costumes and cadging tips from camera-wielding tourists near Graumann's Chinese Theater; and the ex-cons and other ambitious operators whose imaginative schemes are the stuff of the clever plots in these three novels. In fact, you'll probably learn more than enough about the identity-theft scams and other cons Wambaugh describes to scare the living daylights out of you.

(From Mal Warwick's Blog on Books)

2010-02-28 (Berkeley, California) | Helpful Votes: 1 | Rating: 4

---

Everything comes together in Hollywood Moon
I read Hollywood Station a couple of years ago and thought it was pretty entertaining, but that without a strong central storyline to pull the various vignettes together it felt more like episodic television than a bon a fide novel. Still, I enjoyed it, giving it 3 stars. I missed the next entry in the series Hollywood Crows, but decided to read Hollywood Moon. Like Station, it has a large cast of characters and is filled with amusing (sometimes hilarious) vignettes. The big difference between the novels is that Hollywood Moon has a central storyline that is solid enough to support the novel.

The cops of Hollywood Station are a colorful bunch and much of the first part of the novel in spent introducing the cops and some of the wacky situations they encounter working the Hollywood beat. The central storyline is introduced a little at a time, alternating with the tales of Hollywood craziness and snappy cop banter, until it begins to dominate the final portion of the book. Because beat cops don't actually investigate crimes, the cops in the novel have minimal connection to the criminal element driving the plot, until things culminate near the end of the novel. They occasionally cross paths with them (ie: the cops pull over two of the criminals because of a minor driving infraction) but for the most part they operate on separate streams until they finally merge.

The central storyline is actually two converging streams. The first involves an angry (yet strangely polite) young man who begins assaulting women with a box cutter and the second involves a pair of identity thieves and con-artists and two of their `runners'. The link that connects these criminal elements is a wannabe actor named Dewy who is quite hilarious. As is often the case in novels of this ilk, the criminals turn against one another and there is much scheming and crossing and double crossing before the novel ends.

The plot involves a series of wild coincidences and contrivances - but not in a bad way. The last part of the novel is a crazy rollercoaster ride that is a blast to take. I found this novel enourmously entertaining from beginning to end, and even found some of the developments near the end to be surprisingly poignant. Where Hollywood Station was entertaining but lacking an essential component - Hollywood Moon feels complete and fully satisfying.

2010-02-23 (Quesnel, BC, Canada) | Helpful Votes: 1 | Rating: 4

---

Another Wambaugh success
Reviewed by Bill Cooper for Reader Views (02/10)

As a 30-year, retired police officer and Chief of Police, I have followed Joseph Wambaugh's books for as long as he has been writing them. As with all police officers I know, and there are many, we have appreciated his writing, not only from the perspective of law enforcement and its idiosyncrasies, but of his humor and ability to articulate a story. Mr. Wambaugh has brought the reality of policing to the public in his true stories, bringing his readers directly into the scenes, the investigations, the feelings, and outcomes. He has brought the fun and often humorous side in his other writings. In his latest book, "Hollywood Moon," he has done it yet again.

The characters in his book are fictional, but real; real in the sense that the readers are with them and come to know them, laugh at and with them, and empathize with them. This book continues the stories of Hollywood, particularly the side most people never see. It's done with genuineness and fun. The cases, the calls, the victims and perpetrators are right with you. Mr. Wambaugh proves yet again that he is a gifted writer. He does not disappoint, and after as many books as he has written, I, for one, always look for the next. For so many years I've considered Joseph Wambaugh one of the finest writers I've read and I truly hope he keeps bringing us his books. There are so many police stories to tell and he tells them like no one else can.

"Hollywood Moon" is well worth the purchase price and time. There are a number of plots and sub-plots, all sewn together in a fun and interesting book. As with his others, you'll find yourself asking where the time went, and why there aren't more pages.

Joseph Wambaugh and this book, "Hollywood Moon," deserve a well-done rating. Keep them coming, sir.

2010-02-14 | www.readerviews.com (Austin, Texas) | Helpful Votes: 0 | Rating: 4

---

Cop Talk
The title of this novel is derived from what The Oracle, the legendary supervisory sergeant of the Hollywood Division (now "Station") of the LAPD, called each New Moon, when the crazies emerged all over the City of Angels. In tribute to The Oracle, the present day sergeant offers the team that gets the weirdest "catch" a super-sized pizza with the works.

What works in a Wambaugh novel is a fast-moving, gripping crime story or stories, combined with accompanying anecdotes about the cops and their lives and the situations in which they find themselves. "Hollywood Moon" is no exception. There are two running plotlines: a young frustrated and unsuccessful but would-be rapist, and an identity scam, the principals of which come together for a rousing finish. At the same time, the reader is treated to the accustomed chuckles derived from old friends such as the surfers, Flotsam and Jetsam, Hollywood Nate, et al, from the Hollywood Station.

Written with the author's customary smoothness (and glibness), the novel gives an insight into the many ways identity theft can bilk unwary persons. At the same time, we are treated to glimpses of the lives and tribulations of a patrol officer. Highly recommended.

2010-02-05 (Long Beach, NY USA) | Helpful Votes: 0 | Rating: 5

---

Hollywood Moon: A Novel

Description

There's a saying at Hollywood Station that the full moon brings out the beast--rather than the best--in the precinct's citizens. One moonlit night, veteran officers Dana Vaughn and "Hollywood" Nate Weiss get a call about a prowler who's been brutally attacking women. Meanwhile, a pair of cops with the surfer sobriquets Flotsam and Jetsam are on the lookout for a smooth-talking player in dreads and a crazy-eyed, tattooed biker. But something bigger, more high-tech, and much more deadly is about to go down. After a dizzying series of twists, turns, and chases, the cops discover that they've stumbled upon a complex web of crime where even the criminals aren't sure who's conning whom. And for some of the men and women in blue, public duty will exact the heaviest of tolls.

---

Customer Reviews

Washington Post Review All Wet
Regarding the book review from the Washington Post(what a surprise):

Dear Sir or Madam--IMHO, the only thing you understand less than street cops and the incredible stress they endure, is their humor in order to cope with that stress.

2010-03-14 | Daniel Baumgartner Books (Medford, Oregon) | Helpful Votes: 0 | Rating: 5

---

Another brilliant novel in Wambaugh's Hollywood police saga
Joseph Wambaugh, who is pushing 75 now, has been acclaimed as a writer of both novels and nonfiction about police and crime in Los Angeles for nearly 40 years. While still at work as a detective sergeant in 1971, his first novel, The New Centurions, was published. It was nearly that long ago (1973) when I first read The Onion Field, his true-crime story of the kidnapping of two L.A. police officers and its profoundly sad consequences. Though most of Wambaugh's work has been fiction, it was only a few years ago that he returned to writing novels about the LAPD. First came Hollywood Station in 2007, followed in 2008 and 2009 by two closely related novels, Hollywood Crows and Hollywood Moon. Perhaps more are on the way in this outstanding series of books.

Wambaugh is superbly talented. His ear for dialogue, his psychological insight, his knowledge about both criminals and police, his gift of language -- all become unmistakably clear in these three engrossing novels. He has mastered the craft of writing fiction, but these books transcend craft with credible, full-bodied characters and graceful style.

What is most compelling in this saga of the men and women of Hollywood Station are the recurring characters. Read these books, and you'll come to know and appreciate the two surfer cops, known only as Flotsam and Jetsam. For example, Jetsam says to his partner about a bowling alley that has come up in one of many conversations about how the two surfers can meet women, "I mean, there's gotta be opportunities on those lanes for coppers as coolaphonic and hormonally imaginative as the almost four hundred pounds of male heat riding in this car." And that's one of the more easily understood passages in Flotsam and Jetsam's never-ending dialogue. Then there's Hollywood Nate Weiss, an aspiring actor with a love for mirrors and hopes for a SAG card; The Oracle, a 46-year veteran sergeant with the insight of a sensitive psychiatrist; a Ukranian-immigrant detective whose inventive use of the English language would do Mrs. Malaprop proud; and several strong, smart women officers, all struggling to keep their pride and their patience in a blatantly sexist environment.

And those are just the cops! The miscreants include street people like Trombone Teddy, formerly a well-known jazz sideman; crystal meth "tweakers" and other addicts, many of them eking out a meager existence by wearing Batman, Superman, Hulk, or Spiderman costumes and cadging tips from camera-wielding tourists near Graumann's Chinese Theater; and the ex-cons and other ambitious operators whose imaginative schemes are the stuff of the clever plots in these three novels. In fact, you'll probably learn more than enough about the identity-theft scams and other cons Wambaugh describes to scare the living daylights out of you.

(From Mal Warwick's Blog on Books)

2010-02-28 (Berkeley, California) | Helpful Votes: 1 | Rating: 4

---

Everything comes together in Hollywood Moon
I read Hollywood Station a couple of years ago and thought it was pretty entertaining, but that without a strong central storyline to pull the various vignettes together it felt more like episodic television than a bon a fide novel. Still, I enjoyed it, giving it 3 stars. I missed the next entry in the series Hollywood Crows, but decided to read Hollywood Moon. Like Station, it has a large cast of characters and is filled with amusing (sometimes hilarious) vignettes. The big difference between the novels is that Hollywood Moon has a central storyline that is solid enough to support the novel.

The cops of Hollywood Station are a colorful bunch and much of the first part of the novel in spent introducing the cops and some of the wacky situations they encounter working the Hollywood beat. The central storyline is introduced a little at a time, alternating with the tales of Hollywood craziness and snappy cop banter, until it begins to dominate the final portion of the book. Because beat cops don't actually investigate crimes, the cops in the novel have minimal connection to the criminal element driving the plot, until things culminate near the end of the novel. They occasionally cross paths with them (ie: the cops pull over two of the criminals because of a minor driving infraction) but for the most part they operate on separate streams until they finally merge.

The central storyline is actually two converging streams. The first involves an angry (yet strangely polite) young man who begins assaulting women with a box cutter and the second involves a pair of identity thieves and con-artists and two of their `runners'. The link that connects these criminal elements is a wannabe actor named Dewy who is quite hilarious. As is often the case in novels of this ilk, the criminals turn against one another and there is much scheming and crossing and double crossing before the novel ends.

The plot involves a series of wild coincidences and contrivances - but not in a bad way. The last part of the novel is a crazy rollercoaster ride that is a blast to take. I found this novel enourmously entertaining from beginning to end, and even found some of the developments near the end to be surprisingly poignant. Where Hollywood Station was entertaining but lacking an essential component - Hollywood Moon feels complete and fully satisfying.

2010-02-23 (Quesnel, BC, Canada) | Helpful Votes: 1 | Rating: 4

---

Another Wambaugh success
Reviewed by Bill Cooper for Reader Views (02/10)

As a 30-year, retired police officer and Chief of Police, I have followed Joseph Wambaugh's books for as long as he has been writing them. As with all police officers I know, and there are many, we have appreciated his writing, not only from the perspective of law enforcement and its idiosyncrasies, but of his humor and ability to articulate a story. Mr. Wambaugh has brought the reality of policing to the public in his true stories, bringing his readers directly into the scenes, the investigations, the feelings, and outcomes. He has brought the fun and often humorous side in his other writings. In his latest book, "Hollywood Moon," he has done it yet again.

The characters in his book are fictional, but real; real in the sense that the readers are with them and come to know them, laugh at and with them, and empathize with them. This book continues the stories of Hollywood, particularly the side most people never see. It's done with genuineness and fun. The cases, the calls, the victims and perpetrators are right with you. Mr. Wambaugh proves yet again that he is a gifted writer. He does not disappoint, and after as many books as he has written, I, for one, always look for the next. For so many years I've considered Joseph Wambaugh one of the finest writers I've read and I truly hope he keeps bringing us his books. There are so many police stories to tell and he tells them like no one else can.

"Hollywood Moon" is well worth the purchase price and time. There are a number of plots and sub-plots, all sewn together in a fun and interesting book. As with his others, you'll find yourself asking where the time went, and why there aren't more pages.

Joseph Wambaugh and this book, "Hollywood Moon," deserve a well-done rating. Keep them coming, sir.

2010-02-14 | www.readerviews.com (Austin, Texas) | Helpful Votes: 0 | Rating: 4

---

Cop Talk
The title of this novel is derived from what The Oracle, the legendary supervisory sergeant of the Hollywood Division (now "Station") of the LAPD, called each New Moon, when the crazies emerged all over the City of Angels. In tribute to The Oracle, the present day sergeant offers the team that gets the weirdest "catch" a super-sized pizza with the works.

What works in a Wambaugh novel is a fast-moving, gripping crime story or stories, combined with accompanying anecdotes about the cops and their lives and the situations in which they find themselves. "Hollywood Moon" is no exception. There are two running plotlines: a young frustrated and unsuccessful but would-be rapist, and an identity scam, the principals of which come together for a rousing finish. At the same time, the reader is treated to the accustomed chuckles derived from old friends such as the surfers, Flotsam and Jetsam, Hollywood Nate, et al, from the Hollywood Station.

Written with the author's customary smoothness (and glibness), the novel gives an insight into the many ways identity theft can bilk unwary persons. At the same time, we are treated to glimpses of the lives and tribulations of a patrol officer. Highly recommended.

2010-02-05 (Long Beach, NY USA) | Helpful Votes: 0 | Rating: 5

---

Hollywood Moon

Description

---

Customer Reviews

Washington Post Review All Wet
Regarding the book review from the Washington Post(what a surprise):

Dear Sir or Madam--IMHO, the only thing you understand less than street cops and the incredible stress they endure, is their humor in order to cope with that stress.

2010-03-14 | Daniel Baumgartner Books (Medford, Oregon) | Helpful Votes: 0 | Rating: 5

---

Another brilliant novel in Wambaugh's Hollywood police saga
Joseph Wambaugh, who is pushing 75 now, has been acclaimed as a writer of both novels and nonfiction about police and crime in Los Angeles for nearly 40 years. While still at work as a detective sergeant in 1971, his first novel, The New Centurions, was published. It was nearly that long ago (1973) when I first read The Onion Field, his true-crime story of the kidnapping of two L.A. police officers and its profoundly sad consequences. Though most of Wambaugh's work has been fiction, it was only a few years ago that he returned to writing novels about the LAPD. First came Hollywood Station in 2007, followed in 2008 and 2009 by two closely related novels, Hollywood Crows and Hollywood Moon. Perhaps more are on the way in this outstanding series of books.

Wambaugh is superbly talented. His ear for dialogue, his psychological insight, his knowledge about both criminals and police, his gift of language -- all become unmistakably clear in these three engrossing novels. He has mastered the craft of writing fiction, but these books transcend craft with credible, full-bodied characters and graceful style.

What is most compelling in this saga of the men and women of Hollywood Station are the recurring characters. Read these books, and you'll come to know and appreciate the two surfer cops, known only as Flotsam and Jetsam. For example, Jetsam says to his partner about a bowling alley that has come up in one of many conversations about how the two surfers can meet women, "I mean, there's gotta be opportunities on those lanes for coppers as coolaphonic and hormonally imaginative as the almost four hundred pounds of male heat riding in this car." And that's one of the more easily understood passages in Flotsam and Jetsam's never-ending dialogue. Then there's Hollywood Nate Weiss, an aspiring actor with a love for mirrors and hopes for a SAG card; The Oracle, a 46-year veteran sergeant with the insight of a sensitive psychiatrist; a Ukranian-immigrant detective whose inventive use of the English language would do Mrs. Malaprop proud; and several strong, smart women officers, all struggling to keep their pride and their patience in a blatantly sexist environment.

And those are just the cops! The miscreants include street people like Trombone Teddy, formerly a well-known jazz sideman; crystal meth "tweakers" and other addicts, many of them eking out a meager existence by wearing Batman, Superman, Hulk, or Spiderman costumes and cadging tips from camera-wielding tourists near Graumann's Chinese Theater; and the ex-cons and other ambitious operators whose imaginative schemes are the stuff of the clever plots in these three novels. In fact, you'll probably learn more than enough about the identity-theft scams and other cons Wambaugh describes to scare the living daylights out of you.

(From Mal Warwick's Blog on Books)

2010-02-28 (Berkeley, California) | Helpful Votes: 1 | Rating: 4

---

Everything comes together in Hollywood Moon
I read Hollywood Station a couple of years ago and thought it was pretty entertaining, but that without a strong central storyline to pull the various vignettes together it felt more like episodic television than a bon a fide novel. Still, I enjoyed it, giving it 3 stars. I missed the next entry in the series Hollywood Crows, but decided to read Hollywood Moon. Like Station, it has a large cast of characters and is filled with amusing (sometimes hilarious) vignettes. The big difference between the novels is that Hollywood Moon has a central storyline that is solid enough to support the novel.

The cops of Hollywood Station are a colorful bunch and much of the first part of the novel in spent introducing the cops and some of the wacky situations they encounter working the Hollywood beat. The central storyline is introduced a little at a time, alternating with the tales of Hollywood craziness and snappy cop banter, until it begins to dominate the final portion of the book. Because beat cops don't actually investigate crimes, the cops in the novel have minimal connection to the criminal element driving the plot, until things culminate near the end of the novel. They occasionally cross paths with them (ie: the cops pull over two of the criminals because of a minor driving infraction) but for the most part they operate on separate streams until they finally merge.

The central storyline is actually two converging streams. The first involves an angry (yet strangely polite) young man who begins assaulting women with a box cutter and the second involves a pair of identity thieves and con-artists and two of their `runners'. The link that connects these criminal elements is a wannabe actor named Dewy who is quite hilarious. As is often the case in novels of this ilk, the criminals turn against one another and there is much scheming and crossing and double crossing before the novel ends.

The plot involves a series of wild coincidences and contrivances - but not in a bad way. The last part of the novel is a crazy rollercoaster ride that is a blast to take. I found this novel enourmously entertaining from beginning to end, and even found some of the developments near the end to be surprisingly poignant. Where Hollywood Station was entertaining but lacking an essential component - Hollywood Moon feels complete and fully satisfying.

2010-02-23 (Quesnel, BC, Canada) | Helpful Votes: 1 | Rating: 4

---

Another Wambaugh success
Reviewed by Bill Cooper for Reader Views (02/10)

As a 30-year, retired police officer and Chief of Police, I have followed Joseph Wambaugh's books for as long as he has been writing them. As with all police officers I know, and there are many, we have appreciated his writing, not only from the perspective of law enforcement and its idiosyncrasies, but of his humor and ability to articulate a story. Mr. Wambaugh has brought the reality of policing to the public in his true stories, bringing his readers directly into the scenes, the investigations, the feelings, and outcomes. He has brought the fun and often humorous side in his other writings. In his latest book, "Hollywood Moon," he has done it yet again.

The characters in his book are fictional, but real; real in the sense that the readers are with them and come to know them, laugh at and with them, and empathize with them. This book continues the stories of Hollywood, particularly the side most people never see. It's done with genuineness and fun. The cases, the calls, the victims and perpetrators are right with you. Mr. Wambaugh proves yet again that he is a gifted writer. He does not disappoint, and after as many books as he has written, I, for one, always look for the next. For so many years I've considered Joseph Wambaugh one of the finest writers I've read and I truly hope he keeps bringing us his books. There are so many police stories to tell and he tells them like no one else can.

"Hollywood Moon" is well worth the purchase price and time. There are a number of plots and sub-plots, all sewn together in a fun and interesting book. As with his others, you'll find yourself asking where the time went, and why there aren't more pages.

Joseph Wambaugh and this book, "Hollywood Moon," deserve a well-done rating. Keep them coming, sir.

2010-02-14 | www.readerviews.com (Austin, Texas) | Helpful Votes: 0 | Rating: 4

---

Cop Talk
The title of this novel is derived from what The Oracle, the legendary supervisory sergeant of the Hollywood Division (now "Station") of the LAPD, called each New Moon, when the crazies emerged all over the City of Angels. In tribute to The Oracle, the present day sergeant offers the team that gets the weirdest "catch" a super-sized pizza with the works.

What works in a Wambaugh novel is a fast-moving, gripping crime story or stories, combined with accompanying anecdotes about the cops and their lives and the situations in which they find themselves. "Hollywood Moon" is no exception. There are two running plotlines: a young frustrated and unsuccessful but would-be rapist, and an identity scam, the principals of which come together for a rousing finish. At the same time, the reader is treated to the accustomed chuckles derived from old friends such as the surfers, Flotsam and Jetsam, Hollywood Nate, et al, from the Hollywood Station.

Written with the author's customary smoothness (and glibness), the novel gives an insight into the many ways identity theft can bilk unwary persons. At the same time, we are treated to glimpses of the lives and tribulations of a patrol officer. Highly recommended.

2010-02-05 (Long Beach, NY USA) | Helpful Votes: 0 | Rating: 5

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Hollywood Station

Product Details

• Acclimatize: NEW
• Notes: Name brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
• ISBN13: 9780446401241

Description

A #1 New York Times bestselling author, Joseph Wambaugh invented the modern police procedural thriller. Now in his long-awaited return to the LAPD, he deploys his bone-deep understanding of cops' lives--and a lethal sense of humor--in a stunning new novel.

For a cop, a night on the job means killing time and trying not to get killed. If you're in Hollywood Division, it also means dealing with some of the most desperate criminals anywhere. Now the violent robbery of a Hollywood jewelry store quickly connects to a Russian nightclub and an undercover operation gone wrong, and the sergeant they call the Oracle and his squad of quirky cops have to make sense of it all. From an officer who dreams of stardom, to a single mother packing a breast pump, to partners who'd rather be surfing, they'll take you on a raucous ride through a gritty city where no one is safe. Especially not the cops.

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Customer Reviews

Life on an alien planet called "Hollywood"
Somehow, I haven't read any of Wambaugh's books since The Onion Field, but I have been working my way through Michael Connelly's "Harry Bosch" series set in Hollywood Division, so I thought I might get a different take on the place. And, boy, it really is different. First, Bosch is a detective while most of the action in this book involves the patrol units dealing with problems on the streets. Second, there's a definite dark side to most of Harry's cases, while Wambaugh's narrative frequently has a wheels-off style reminiscent of Carl Hiaasen or Elmore Leonard. It's certainly a colorful cast of characters, however lightweight the actual plot. There's the Oracle, a whimsical and philosophical sergeant with service stripes up to his elbow, there's Flotsam and Jetsam, who spend as much off-time as possible on their surfboards, there's Budgie, a new mom with lactation issues, there's Fausto, a grumbling sort who isn't sure about women in police uniform, there's Hollywood Nate, with cinematic ambitions, there's Wesley, scion of a wealthy family in search of adventure, and quite a few more. On the other side, the Hollywood streets include more weirdness than any other five cities combined. While the story starts with a load of incidents and anecdotes that settles the reader into the midst of this bunch, and you may think that's all you're going to get, various threads involving Russian club-owners, Ukrainian robbers, Hispanic gangbangers, and desperate speed-freaks ("tweakers," these days) begin gradually to come together, until by the last few chapters the pace of events is moving at a gallop and you'll be wondering a bit uneasily who will survive and who won't. Because you will definitely come to care about most of these characters as they try to get things done in a post-Rodney-King, post-Rampart-scandal LAPD laboring under a federal consent decree. Wambaugh is of the opinion that L.A.'s cops got the short end of the stick in that regard, which is arguable -- corruption in a big city's armed police force is far worse than similar corruption in private enterprise -- but it's an opinion shared by many. And at least these cops appear not to be part of the problem. In any case, the dialogue is very nicely handled, the characterizations are fully formed, the underlying plot shows that Wambaugh has kept in touch. And there are two sequels which I shall be hunting up.

2010-03-03 (Gonzales, Louisiana) | Helpful Votes: 0 | Rating: 4

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Strong beginning for an excellent series
Joseph Wambaugh, who is pushing 75 now, has been acclaimed as a writer of both novels and nonfiction about police and crime in Los Angeles for nearly 40 years. While still at work as a detective sergeant in 1971, his first novel, The New Centurions, was published. It was nearly that long ago (1973) when I first read The Onion Field, his true-crime story of the kidnapping of two L.A. police officers and its profoundly sad consequences. Though most of Wambaugh's work has been fiction, it was only a few years ago that he returned to writing novels about the LAPD. First came Hollywood Station in 2007, followed in 2008 and 2009 by two closely related novels, Hollywood Crows and Hollywood Moon. Perhaps more are on the way in this outstanding series of books.

Wambaugh is superbly talented. His ear for dialogue, his psychological insight, his knowledge about both criminals and police, his gift of language -- all become unmistakably clear in these three engrossing novels. He has mastered the craft of writing fiction, but these books transcend craft with credible, full-bodied characters and graceful style.

What is most compelling in this saga of the men and women of Hollywood Station are the recurring characters. Read these books, and you'll come to know and appreciate the two surfer cops, known only as Flotsam and Jetsam. For example, Jetsam says to his partner about a bowling alley that has come up in one of many conversations about how the two surfers can meet women, "I mean, there's gotta be opportunities on those lanes for coppers as coolaphonic and hormonally imaginative as the almost four hundred pounds of male heat riding in this car." And that's one of the more easily understood passages in Flotsam and Jetsam's never-ending dialogue. Then there's Hollywood Nate Weiss, an aspiring actor with a love for mirrors and hopes for a SAG card; The Oracle, a 46-year veteran sergeant with the insight of a sensitive psychiatrist; a Ukranian-immigrant detective whose inventive use of the English language would do Mrs. Malaprop proud; and several strong, smart women officers, all struggling to keep their pride and their patience in a blatantly sexist environment.

And those are just the cops! The miscreants include street people like Trombone Teddy, formerly a well-known jazz sideman; crystal meth "tweakers" and other addicts, many of them eking out a meager existence by wearing Batman, Superman, Hulk, or Spiderman costumes and cadging tips from camera-wielding tourists near Graumann's Chinese Theater; and the ex-cons and other ambitious operators whose imaginative schemes are the stuff of the clever plots in these three novels. In fact, you'll probably learn more than enough about the identity-theft scams and other cons Wambaugh describes to scare the living daylights out of you.

(From Mal Warwick's Blog on Books)

2010-02-28 (Berkeley, California) | Helpful Votes: 0 | Rating: 4

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Wambaugh's 'kinder, gentler' LAPD
About a quarter of the way through Hollywood Station I almost put the book down with no intention of finishing it. I remember reading many of Wambaugh's earlier LAPD novels that seemed so much more earthier, even crude at times. By comparison, the cops in Hollywood Station seem almost neutered.

It wasn't until I decided to stick with the novel that it dawned on me how much the LAPD has changed since the days of The Choirboys. Now, in his newest books, Wambaugh gives us a whole new reality for the LAPD ... a new reality that includes police work after the Rodney King riot and the Rampart scandal and under the thumb of just about every agency that can peer over their shoulders and micromanage law enforcement.

In other words, this is the politically correct LAPD. For instance, one older male cop is teamed with a younger female cop. In the old LAPD she'd have been subjected to continuous harassment and crude jokes. But in the new LAPD rest assured that the old cop takes the younger cop under his wings and frets about her like a mother hen guarding her chicks. Likewise, the new LAPD cops depicted in the story rarely utter the dreaded F-word. In fact, the number of times cops use that word could probably be counted on one hand. That's certainly different from Wambaugh's depiction of the old LAPD.

What was amazing in the older Wambaugh LAPD novels was how the cops managed to get the bad guys in spite of their own occasional bumbling. Wambaugh's cop continue to amaze, but now the amazement comes from them getting the bad guy (or gal) despite the restrictions placed upon them at every turn.

I can't really call Wambaugh's return to novels set in the LAPD as "vintage Wambaugh." That would involve a reality based in his old books. His new LAPD novels promise to plow new ground in the post-scandal LAPD with the same Wambaugh eye for humor, sarcasm and cynicism, but without losing sight of either hope or humanity.

2010-02-05 (Kansas City, MO) | Helpful Votes: 0 | Rating: 4

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You'll forget it's fiction
Joseph Wambaugh's Hollywood Station is fiction. But so much of it is nonfiction.

This book is about life at the Hollywood Division of the Los Angeles Police Department, post-Rodney King, post-9/11, and some of the cases they encounter. Because I lived in San Diego for 20 years, I heard from afar (but close enough to get KFI, an LA talk radio station) about all the demoralizing political correctness going on at the LAPD post-Rodney King, post-9/11. But this book is a look from within the LAPD rather than from outside.

And all the police dialog sounds so authentic, I'm sure it can't be fiction. Wambaugh had lots of conversations with LA (and other) cops, and I could tell that what I read was based on them.

I've always enjoyed Wambaugh's nonfiction and didn't think I'd care for this fiction. But Hollywood Station was so real, it didn't feel like fiction.

2009-08-03 | Helpful Votes: 1 | Rating: 4

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Great Listening
This was a great audiobook. I enjoyed the character development and the plot line. It is complicated enough that I can listen to it more than once and still enjoy it.

2009-02-23 (Texas) | Helpful Votes: 1 | Rating: 5

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Hollywood Crows: A Novel

Product Details

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• Term: NEW
• ISBN13: 9780446505826
• Notes: Make New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.

Description

Seduction, black-market booze, burglary, and murder-not your ordinary fare for a division of peacekeeping officers, but Hollywood isn't your ordinary town. When a couple of LAPD cops find themselves caught up with a certain femme fatale, they're in for trouble. Meet Margot Aziz, the beautiful, soon-to-be-ex wife of Ali Aziz, proprietor of a Sunset Boulevard strip club. Ali has his diamond-studded fingers in multiple shady business deals-and he wants his lovely wife dead. Enter Hollywood Nate Weiss, a cop hungry for stardom and looking for love. Nate works alongside a squad of L.A.'s finest, including a duo of suntanned surfer cops, two tenacious women officers, and a wily veteran. As they all discover, Hollywood always deceives you, and love always comes packing heat.

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Customer Reviews

Fine followup to Hollywood Station
Joseph Wambaugh, who is pushing 75 now, has been acclaimed as a writer of both novels and nonfiction about police and crime in Los Angeles for nearly 40 years. While still at work as a detective sergeant in 1971, his first novel, The New Centurions, was published. It was nearly that long ago (1973) when I first read The Onion Field, his true-crime story of the kidnapping of two L.A. police officers and its profoundly sad consequences. Though most of Wambaugh's work has been fiction, it was only a few years ago that he returned to writing novels about the LAPD. First came Hollywood Station in 2007, followed in 2008 and 2009 by two closely related novels, Hollywood Crows and Hollywood Moon. Perhaps more are on the way in this outstanding series of books.

Wambaugh is superbly talented. His ear for dialogue, his psychological insight, his knowledge about both criminals and police, his gift of language -- all become unmistakably clear in these three engrossing novels. He has mastered the craft of writing fiction, but these books transcend craft with credible, full-bodied characters and graceful style.

What is most compelling in this saga of the men and women of Hollywood Station are the recurring characters. Read these books, and you'll come to know and appreciate the two surfer cops, known only as Flotsam and Jetsam. For example, Jetsam says to his partner about a bowling alley that has come up in one of many conversations about how the two surfers can meet women, "I mean, there's gotta be opportunities on those lanes for coppers as coolaphonic and hormonally imaginative as the almost four hundred pounds of male heat riding in this car." And that's one of the more easily understood passages in Flotsam and Jetsam's never-ending dialogue. Then there's Hollywood Nate Weiss, an aspiring actor with a love for mirrors and hopes for a SAG card; The Oracle, a 46-year veteran sergeant with the insight of a sensitive psychiatrist; a Ukranian-immigrant detective whose inventive use of the English language would do Mrs. Malaprop proud; and several strong, smart women officers, all struggling to keep their pride and their patience in a blatantly sexist environment.

And those are just the cops! The miscreants include street people like Trombone Teddy, formerly a well-known jazz sideman; crystal meth "tweakers" and other addicts, many of them eking out a meager existence by wearing Batman, Superman, Hulk, or Spiderman costumes and cadging tips from camera-wielding tourists near Graumann's Chinese Theater; and the ex-cons and other ambitious operators whose imaginative schemes are the stuff of the clever plots in these three novels. In fact, you'll probably learn more than enough about the identity-theft scams and other cons Wambaugh describes to scare the living daylights out of you.

(From Mal Warwick's Blog on Books)

2010-02-28 (Berkeley, California) | Helpful Votes: 0 | Rating: 4

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Still One of the Best!
I have read all three Hollywood stories in the trilogy and I liked this the best as it seemed to have the truest telling of a police procedural. This is a snapshot in time of the operation of the Hollywood Division of the LAPD and the "Crows" in this story are part of the Community Resorce Office.(CRO)

The focus of the story is Margot Aziz, a drop dead Holllywood cookie from the wealthy part of town who is going through a gut wrenching divorce from her Arab husband who runs a couple of strip clubs. The focus of their battle is their son, Nicky. Their anger with each other leads to dueling plans for murder. How that plays out and what parts of the Hollywood Division with it's myriad characters are drawn into it along with the other peripheral miscreants that populate the area makes for very entertaining and sometimes poignant reading.

2010-02-28 (New Gloucester, ME United States) | Helpful Votes: 2 | Rating: 4

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Hollywood Crows
Another a great Wambaugh book. Somehow, he brings the images alive and you see the action happening as you read. It is alway interesting how Wambaugh entwines his characters to make an enjoyable read.

2010-02-11 (Blair, Ne United States) | Helpful Votes: 0 | Rating: 5

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Good book
i liked this book a lot it was very hard to put down but i wish the author would've used more characters from Hollywood station even if only a brief mention

2010-02-03 | Helpful Votes: 0 | Rating: 4

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Interesting
Great follow up to Hollywood Station. Reminds me of the Wambaugh I read 33 years ago when first becoming a cop.

2010-01-27 | Helpful Votes: 0 | Rating: 4

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The Delta Star

Product Details

• Form: NEW
• ISBN13: 9780553273861
• Notes: Stigmatize New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.

Description

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Customer Reviews

Pedestrian
I am a fan of Wambaugh's but this book was weak. I found that it dragged incredibly at one point (when the cops were at the campus party and looking for the suspect) and the dialogue was boring.

There were good moments in the novel but I got the feeling that the author had had run out of new ideas and lost the humour that some of his earlier books possessed.

2008-12-03 (Melbourne Australia) | Helpful Votes: 0 | Rating: 2

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The best Wambaugh novel I have read so far
It is IMPOSSIBLE to read this novel and not fall in love with Officer Ludwig (a K-9 German shepherd).

UPDATE: as of August 2008 I have now read all but one of Wambaugh's novels, and of all 13 of them, this is absolutely the best, hands down.

2007-12-30 (San Marcos, Nicaragua) | Helpful Votes: 1 | Rating: 5

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One of Wambaugh's best.
This is Joseph Wambaugh at his best, humorous, suspenseful, and sympathetic to his police characters while not shying away from their faults, foibles, and flaws. In one of his better mysteries, the cops of Rampart Station try to solve the connections between a Nobel Prize, a Russian submarine, a useless credit card, a dead hooker and a similarly deceased sleazy private eye.

Detective Mario Villalobos tries to solve the murder of a young hooker named "Missy Moonbeam" by day while spending his nights drowning his sorrows with a typical Wambaugh cast of police and groupie characters at Leery's Saloon. Larger than life characters such as "The Bad Czech", "Jane Wayne", Ludwig the police dog, and the "Gooned Out Vice Cop" all make appearances. The thing is Wambaugh makes you actually care about these people and their situations. It is obvious that the former policeman turned author still understands and feels a great empathy and affection for the men and women who police our "mean streets".

Villalobos is one of his better drawn characters. A burned out man who drinks too much, he still possesses some great police instincts, and he is not so far gone as some of the suicidal main characters of Wambaugh's darker novels, such THE SECRETS OF HARRY BRIGHT or THE GLITTER DOME. A mixture of serendipitous luck and good police work lead to a surprising twist of a conclusion, but as with most of Wambaugh's best books, the journey and the whacky cast of characters one encounters along the way is actually more important than the destination itself.

Highly recommended. Five plus stars.

2002-10-12 (Southeastern USA) | Helpful Votes: 24 | Rating: 5

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Wambaugh Does Not Disappoint
Perhaps this should be called the precinct that couldn't shoot straight. A police procedural that is spiced up with a cast of police characters that are bizarre, pathetic, crude and funny. All of them are boozers, meeting nightly at a local tavern to toss a few and exchange wild happenings of the day. Joseph Wambaugh wrote this book in 1982. It has the hip lingo of that era - a reminder of how quickly street talk becomes cliché, nevertheless a fun read. Cops on the beat, especially in L.A, always have weird but entertaining stories to tell. Besides the gritty happenings on LA streets, there are two murders to solve here. Several clever twists keep you interested throughout. A great beach book.

2002-07-04 (Washington DC) | Helpful Votes: 6 | Rating: 5

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Fast Read
This is no dud, stop looking in the bookstore when you see this title and pick it up. This book moves at the same pace as a cop car running hot. It really is a good read with a lot of inventive characters and situations. There are a lot of police novels out there but this is defiantly one of the top ten percent. You will like the book from the moment you start reading.

2002-04-07 (Toronto Canada) | Helpful Votes: 8 | Rating: 5

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