It must be years, decades even since I read anything by Joseph Wambaugh, but I got "Hollywood Hills" in a jumble sale and its pretty good. It is, of course, about American cops - here LAPD and the Hollywood Station. It is also and I did not realise it until after I finished it, one of a series. However you do not need to have read the others to enjoy this.It is 30 years since Wambaugh was a cop but he gets stories from serving officers that go into his books. And the cops are all interesting characters - Flotsam & Jetsam - the surfers, "Hollywood Nate" Weiss who dreams of being a movie/TV star, Britney Small - the rookie and many others - some who feature in the other books of the series but have walk-on parts here.The plot is good about inept criminals and losers and Hollywood crazies. However, it does remind me of Elmore Leonard and Joseph Wambaugh is not as good a writer. But "Hollywood Hills" is good enough to make me want to read the others in the series. Another “airport book”.The 4th in the “Hollywood” series, although I am not reading them in order.LAPD detective “Hollywood Nate” continues to try to get into the movies. He hooks up with B list director Rudy Ressler and his wife and hopes to get a break. Rudy’s wife Leona has a valuable art collection and an art dealer who covets the art is planning on stealing it while the couple is on a month long vacation in Tuscany. Meanwhile, the couple have hired an aging movie star to house sit and provide butler service to Leona’s ex husband’s brother.At the same time a ring of teenage burglars that have been dubbed “the bling ring” has taken to pillaging the homes of celebrities like Paris Hilton and Lindsay Lohan.Wambaugh is a good writer in this "police procedural" genre. I enjoy his books and am working my way through them.
What do You think about Hollywood Hills (2010)?
Too many characters. Not until 2/3 thru the book does the plot start coming together
—lyssa
Not Wambaugh at his best -- indeed, pretty much at his worst.
—mturek
