Hollywood Station

Joseph Wambaugh's "Hollywood Station" is a police procedural novel about, as the title would suggest, the Hollywood precinct of the L.A. Police Department. The book is composed of a multitude of stories and anecdotes, following various police officers from Hollywood Station, a pair of amateur Russian criminals, and a pair of bumbling meth heads. The main plot concerns the Russians and their trail of robbery and murder, but the plot thread is at times lost within the divers other subplots concerning the Hollywood Station officers.

If there is a stand out feature in this novel, it's the characterization. Wambaugh does an amazing job of crafting interesting and vivid characters. I think I most enjoyed reading about the minutiae of police show more life and the interactions between the officers and the many humorous stories Wambaugh weaves into the narrative. The main plot thread may have been run-of-the-mill, but the characters made up for it.

In short, "Hollywood Station" is a solid police procedural with a humorous slant. I would recommend it to any fan of the crime or mystery genre, but I have a feeling even those not accustomed to the genre would still find it enjoyable. show less

I love Wambaugh books and hadn't read one in a long while, so I was happy to learn this one is no exception in being immensely enjoyable. I had the audio CD and it was perfect for in-the-car listening, very well narrated by Adam Grupper, who did an excellent job of making each character recognizable by their accent and intonation, bringing the book to life. Wambaugh is, of course, a first rate storyteller and he had a lot of Hollywood stories to tell in this one. His characters, both the bad guys and the good guys and girls, are delightfully, richly drawn and believable. The plot was good, the style better, the whole a wonderfully entertaining read. One of the strengths of Wambaugh as a crime writer is that he seems to have a sincere show more passion for justice, and his books tend to end on a most satisfying note. For me, it's on to the next Wambaugh read and I can hardly wait! show less

This book is about the night shift at the Hollywood Division of the Los Angeles Police Department, post-Rodney King, and some of the cases they encounter.

They are very understaffed. Crystal meth is the most popular drug on the street and crack heads working the tourist strip are a huge part of the work being done by the police. There is an array of interesting characters from the surfer dudes known as “Flotsom and Jetsom”, to aspiring actor Nate, who never misses an opportunity to talk about the movie business, and new single, mother Budgie Polk, who wants to be taken seriously, but finds herself the butt of lactating jokes.

The characters in the novel are colorful and memorable, both the police officers, the criminals, and the show more public. Some of the stories are entertaining and realistic enough. The novel was is quite graphic in both language and action. I felt like the book took a little time to get going, mostly because of the huge amount of characters, both police and criminal. Somewhere in the middle I started to become invested in the story and began to enjoy it.

Hollywood Station has a meandering plot but Wambaugh writes well and there are some really funny moments. This started out as a bizarre group of over-the-top characters, but it eventually turned into a mostly cohesive police procedural novel. show less

IF YOU read that the police had received information that Batman was assaulting Spider-Man, and the person who had reported it was Marilyn Monroe, wouldn’t you be intrigued?

Joseph Wambaugh is a former Los Angeles police officer and author of 16 bestsellers. A great deal of hype and excitement heralded the publication of Hollywood Station, because it is his first novel in 20 years.

The story has a large cast: the Hollywood division of the Los Angeles Police Department and an assortment of criminals, lowlifes and drug addicts.

The characterisation is superb, with descriptive portraits so exact and powerful that they assume a shadowy reality, like people whom we have never met but whose doings we read of in newspaper articles every day show more until we feel we know them.

There is Budgie — the new mother who has returned to duty while still lactating and has to stop off every few hours to pump her painfully engorged breasts — and wannabe actor “Hollywood Nate”, who is convinced his job as a policeman is temporary, and stardom is just around the corner.

And we all know someone like BM Driscoll, a kind and good cop whom no one wants to partner because he is a terminal bore on the subject of his chronic hypochondria.

Hollywood Station is packed with perceptive and exquisite verbal sketches of universal types, and even the darkest villains, while not always likeable, are at least explicable with motivations laid bare in a way that would be an actor’s dream if Hollywood Station was adapted for the screen.

BUT — big BUT — the story is boring, slow-paced and unsatisfying: it reads like a series of essays and the plot is not tight enough to engage the reader.

Certain unities, conventions and themes one expects in a crime thriller are absent: perhaps the author drew too heavily on his own experience as a police officer? The story gives the impression of a carefully observed and only lightly fictionalised autobiography.

The unfortunate thing about real life is that it is seldom quite as entertaining, exciting and neat as fiction: while life is random, fantasy is not. The reality is terrible. Things occur without reason. Real life, let’s face it, can be an untidy let-down — full of loose ends — which is why many of us prefer fiction, where events have consequences, every relationship has a meaning, justice generally means retribution not just a legal quibble, and everything worth recording has long-term significance.

Hollywood Station is not like that: interesting and provocative characters are introduced; exciting and amusing situations are set up, and people are faced with perplexing personal and moral dilemmas. It offers us beginnings, and sometimes middles, but seldom the ends. Will Mag Tahara, who had half her face destroyed when undercover, ever be restored to her former beauty? Will the pimp who attacked her get off with a mere assault charge?

Will poor little rich boy Wesley Drubb, who gave up a life of privilege to join the police and “make a difference”, find some sort of resolution? Does “Hollywood Nate” ever get that break into stardom?

We never do get any answers, which is why I found this book so disappointing. But, on the other hand, we do care, and that makes it an emotional triumph. show less

Before NYPD, CSI and the one hundred and one other ‘real life’ cop shows, there was Joseph Wambaugh and his series Police Story. Wambaugh, who was once a detective sergeant in the Los Angeles Police Department, who turned producer, screen writer and novelist, has published his first novel in ten years. And boy has it been worth waiting for. It’s a gripping, edge of the seat, page turning thriller, set in modern day Los Angeles and is already being developed for a TV series. There are enough stories in this book to keep any potential show going for years.

There is no single plot as such in this book. Instead there are multiple unconnected storylines featuring a small group of LAPD officers. There are too many stories to relate. One show more that impacted on me is the man with cancer who, unable to commit suicide, puts himself in a position where he gets shot by police. Another horrific story is a botched murder-suicide – not something you want to be reading while eating! The reader also gets to see into the lives of the police, such as the policewoman who is breast feeding and needs to stop during the shift to pump her breasts and store the milk in a cooler bag. One funny scene has her leaving her gun behind and bringing the bag with the milk bottles to a hold up situation.

After a while the reader begins to be aware that while there is no one major plot, some of the crimes are connecting. There is a background story involving stolen information, stolen diamonds and an armed hold-up. Each of these criminal events is separate, but eventually the crimes are connected and criminals and police meet in a final blood drenched, yet darkly humorous showdown. As soon as this showdown finishes other events start, giving the reader a sense of unfinished business. This, to me, enhanced the ending, as in the real life of a police officer there is rarely a definitive ending – when one crime is solved, you move out for the next one. There are some extremely graphic passages which makes it terribly difficult to read at times. Crime is never pretty, and this is a rough neighbourhood. These are screwed-up, wacky, sick criminals who for the most part have their brains partially fried from the drugs they use.

Many issues are brought to the reader’s attention, such as police brutality, racism and sexual harassment. Wambaugh introduces the issues with no attempt to excuse or justify the situations. He just makes the reader aware of how such a scenario can arise, and what the result can be. This is what Wambaugh does best – he never condemns or approves of the behaviour of his characters, what he does is allow the character to shine through as real captures of human nature. The hardened criminals and the street people are trying to survive in a harsh world; all have an edge of desperation and loss of hope which gives the reader a slight insight into how someone could possibly descend to this level. HOLLYWOOD STATION is a don’t-miss book. If you loved Wambaugh before, you will love him this time round. show less

This was really great. Different than other crime novels I've read lately, it focused more on the people than on the crime. Wambaugh grabbed me from the start with a fast-paced, no added narration dialogue between two cops forever known only as "Flotsam" and "Jetsam". From there you meet an increasingly colorful cast of characters that includes cops and criminals alike. I thoroughly enjoyed this sojourn to "Hollyweird".

Hollywood Station is almost a collection of short stories containing the same primary characters. It is slices of life in the Hollywood Station of the LAPD, allowing us to experience both the unusual (but usual for Hollywood) incidents and the condition of being "on the job." We get a real sense of the lives of the individual officers as well as life in the station. Realistically portrays the comradery and sometimes sophomoric behavior of the officers at Hollywood Station, as well as compassion and bravery. I thoroughly enjoyed each chapter, finding the whole to be entertaining, realistic and well written.