Hollywood Station: A Novel | 
| Author: Joseph Wambaugh
Publisher: Little, Brown and Company
Category: Book
List Price: $24.99
Buy Used: $5.32
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Avg. Customer Rating:  95 reviews
Sales Rank: 107726
Format: Bargain Price
Media: Hardcover
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 352
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.2
Dimensions (in): 9.1 x 6.2 x 1.2
Dewey Decimal Number: 813.54
ASIN: B0015USZ9C
Publication Date: November 28, 2006
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Shipping: Expedited shipping available
Shipping: International shipping available
Condition: Good condition, several copies available, will show visible wear, may have highlighting, dust jacket may be missing, tears in dust jacket, soiling, tears, edge wear, may be an ex library book, we will send our best available, good reading copy, prompt shipping, excellent service.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 90 more reviews...
 A Thin Blue Line of Humor July 12, 2008
This book has its moments of classic Wambaugh police humor, and politically correct it is not. Having said that, it is nowhere near the epic police novels that were "The Blue Knight" or "The New Centurions." Hollywood Station is more a collection of funny cop stories, most no doubt (partially) true, than a tight novel. In fact, the plot does not even begin to roll out until well into the second half of the book. I grew up on Wambaugh and his early novels (as well as "The Onion Field") had an impact on who I am today. But this book did not measure up.
 One of the best books on audio--funny as Wodehouse July 1, 2008
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
My all time favorite humorist is P G Wodehouse, and I never thought I'd find an author that made me laugh out loud like Wodehouse's books do. But "Hollywood Station" is outstanding, as read by Grupper.
Not to mention that Wambaugh's characters are sheer perfection. Who could forget Hollywood Nate, a policeman who longs to become a famous movie star? Or the surfer cop team, the Oracle, or Farley, the meth addict?
The police try to keep a lid on the boiling cauldron of Hollywood, with its crazy mix of drug dealers dressed in Spiderman costumes, prostitutes who are men in drag, and new immigrants with murder on their minds. And they have to do this with their hands tied behind their back due to the supervision and laws passed since the Rodney King incident. Not to mention while understaffed.
It's a crazy mixture, and Wambaugh paints it to perfection.
Back with the LAPD 14 years A.C.G. (After Chief Gates) June 2, 2008
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
It's been literally decades since I've read a Joseph Wambaugh police procedural thriller. Once his plots left the realm of the LAPD, I lost interest. But he returns with all the old panache with HOLLYWOOD STATION first published in 2006, 14 years after the legendary Chief Daryl Gates retired, or, as some say, was forced out by the 1992 riots that followed the wretched Rodney King episode (and "wretched" is used as a modifier of both King and the episode, especially the former considering his subsequent performance as a citizen). It's a new world for the force.
The characters of this novel are the law officers and miscreants they police in the Hollywood Division, which I drive through every day on the way to work unaware of the human dramas and comedies bubbling just below the surface. It's the beat that includes Grauman's Chinese, the Walk of Fame, the Kodak Theater (of the Oscars) and the famous HOLLYWOOD sign. On a broader scale, it's interesting to learn the author's take, as seen through the eyes of his cop heroes, on the doldrums the LAPD has entered under Gates' lackluster successors and the current activist city mayor. The federal consent decree, under which the department currently operates, is particularly odious. Only the watch of the current police chief achieves a hint of approval.
The crimes and misdemeanors of Hollywood's low-life, and the situations confronting L.A.'s finest, are often bizarre. You couldn't make this stuff up, and I suspect that Wambaugh hasn't. At the book's beginning, he gives credit to the police officers of Los Angeles, San Diego and Palm Springs for providing him with anecdotal stories. So, even if the Hollywood Division isn't quite so lively on a daily basis as depicted, the stretch to the imagination is more about frequency than substance and the descriptive "Hollyweird" perhaps has basis in fact.
Wambaugh is back! And I've already got his latest book, Hollywood Crows: A Novel(involving many of the same protagonists), on my Wish List.
I can relate May 16, 2008
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
Excellent read, tough to put down, humor, and you can feel the real grit of working the streets of Hollywood. Wambaugh continues to do what he does best, nice to see that he brings the 21st century into his story.
Hollywood Confection March 29, 2008
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
This is an excellent depiction of how officers of the law and their stations interact and function. I'll avoid plotting this fiction story because that type of review ruins the sub-plotting between pages. Hollywood Station is a complete overview of cop fuzzing full of fatuous dialog enjoyment between officers and criminals. Situational descriptions are full of huff and puff but they are entertaining. This is a great beach read. Enjoy.
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