Hollywood Station: A Novel

From Publishers Weekly Starred Review. Wambaugh's outstanding new novel, his first in a decade, is not only a return to form but a return to his LAPD roots. Times have sure changed since the 1970s, the setting for some of Wambaugh's best earlier works such as The New Centurions and The Onion Field. Grossly understaffed, the officers of Hollywood Station find themselves writing bogus field interviews with nonexistent white suspects in minority neighborhoods to avoid allegations of racial profiling. Crystal meth rules the streets, and crackheads and glass freaks dressed in costume (Elvis, Marilyn Monroe, Darth Vader, Elmo) work the tourist strip, bumming money for their next fix. With an impressive array of police characters, from surfer dude partners "Flotsam" and "Jetsam" to aspiring actor "Hollywood" Nate Weiss and single mother Budgie Polk, Wambaugh creates a realistic microcosm of the modern-day LAPD. Today's crop of crime writers, including Michael Connelly and George Pelecanos, obviously owe a debt to Wambaugh. The master proves that he can still deliver. 5-city author tour. (Nov.) Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From AudioFile The dean of cop fiction, Joseph Wambaugh, hasn't lost a step. Moreover, an expert interpretation by actor Adam Grupper makes HOLLYWOOD STATION a standout in audio fiction. The chameleon-like Grupper creates full-on characterizations of Wambaugh's cast of cops, felons, addicts, street people, and Slavic lowlifes. Grupper brings listeners a vivid, memorable, highly entertaining audio experience. Granted, Wambaugh's people fairly leap off the page, but this interlocking series of characters and crimes, freaks and egomaniacs, heroes and villains fully deserves the one-man audio theater of our reader. D.J.B. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award © AudioFile 2007, Portland, Maine-- Copyright © AudioFile, Portland, Maine --This text refers to the Audio CD edition.