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Summary: The Wheels on this Book go Round & Round
Review: "Beverly Hills. What a country!" This is a fun little (stretched to 274 pages with wide margins) murder mystery by Hollywood insider Steven Bochco. It is also part chronicle, part spoof of the wheeler/dealers of Bochco's milieux with a wink to Franz Kafka. Readers will know some of the players. Daniel "(God forbid you called him Dan or Danny)" Deveaux (p. 245+) seems a Dead Ringer for David Caruso <- former prima donna of Bochco's NYPD Blue. The wheels on this Hollywood tour de farce keep rock & rolling `til The End. Reviewed by TundraVision, Amazon Reviewer.
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Summary: Unabridged audio
Review: A fast entertaining story, written by one of Hollywoods power players, gives you a pretty good idea about the goings on in tinsel town.
This is one story that, perhaps, is perfect for unabridged audio. It's fast paced, easy to follow, and read with flair by Dennis Franz. I kinda liked the jokes too.From inside: "There used to be a writer by the name of Merle Miller, who wrote that people in Hollywood are always touching you - not because they like you, but because they want to see how soft you are before they eat you alive." Recommended
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Summary: great airplane read
Review: a great read when you a jammed in row 14 on a flight. I loved the dialogue and inside view on Hollywood. I see a film coming.
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Summary: A fast paced steamy novel
Review: A page turning story that's, ok, not that thought provoking, but has true to life characters and dialogue. A jersey kind of L.A. feeling to it. I liked it and think it'll be a great made for TV movie...on HBO.
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Summary: Was Excited to Read...Big Let Down
Review: Although the story was good, this was not a good book. Steven Bochco is SO GREAT with his TV shows and I thought his book was be equally entertaining....not so. The language is very explicit and raw, the story is good but he floats from writing from 3 different perspectives and it takes a while to figure out who's who. There are so many other good books out there, read them first before this one.
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Summary: A Psychological Perspective
Review: As a shrink in Hollywood, I'm going to make this insider's book required reading for my patients. As a lover of a good story that's fast, sexy, and transporting, this book is a fun ride. From the first page when narrator Eddie Jelko opens his mouth to spill the "truth," you'll get a glimpse of what it's like to get a booth at the Grill in Beverly Hills where they live and die beneath the Tinsel.
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Summary: Wish I Hadn't
Review: Being a fan of Bochco's TV work, I was really looking forward to reading this book. I was also worried that with only a little over 200 pages (and not small font print)the story would be a little thin. I was right. The first thing I didn't like about the book was it being written in third person. You are being told what happened to the main character, told by his agent. It was a plot with great potential, just told through the wrong eyes and it kind of just "ended", on a flat note at that. Although I read this book in one day, it wasn't because I was engrossed in the plot, I was just trying to get to the "good part"..it just never came.
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Summary: Some really nice passages...
Review: Being always willing to give an industry oriented book a shot, I picked up this entertaining page turner with no preconcieved notions in my head. It was penned by Steven Bochco- the creative force behind TV shows like Hill St. Blues, NYPD Blue, and L.A. Law- and spins a windy tale about a blocked screenwriter, sexual escapades, money, and murder. While the writing is a bit predictable and sluggish at times, and the attempt to come across blunt and gritty just feels forced, its still a fun and entertaining read with a nice touch of dark humor. The narrative is engaging and the twists will make your brain smile. It reads like a decent movie script in need of an editor: fun and full of potential.
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Summary: Debut novel by a veteran screenwriter.
Review: Bobby Newman, a Hollywood screenwriter with marital, personal and professional problems witnesses a murder from his back porch while spying on his neighbors with a telescope. Looking for a fresh idea for a script, he decides to go to the murdered man's house and investigate rather than call the cops. He finds a hidden video camera that recorded the murder, as well as, a black book that the man used to rate his lovers- including Newman's wife! Newman befriends the investigating detective, Dennis Farentino, in order to follow the investigation. However, things quickly begin to go awry as Newman begins a relationship with the murderer and tries to get back at his estranged wife by implicating her in the murder.
Steven Bochco, well known for creating several hit TV series, has written his first novel. He has won Emmys and Edgars for his screenplays but never has written a fictional narrative. It actually and unsurprisingly reads like a screenplay with a relatively brief length to match. This satire reads quite quickly. In a sense, Bochco has used this platform to expand on his views and, at times, condemnation of the Hollywood industry. We learn where the stars eat lunch, what goes through their minds and we get a general view of the shallowness of the society. Thoroughly entertaining and just the perfect length to sustain interest, DEATH BY HOLLYWOOD is an excellent debut novel by a veteran writer who truly writes about what he knows.
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Summary: A Nice Dessert
Review: DEATH BY HOLLYWOOD is a nice confection served up by a writer who knows his way around the kitchen. The plot works, the characters are stereotypical (we'd be disappointed if they weren't) and the narrative is laced with jokes and anecdotes. There is something about Hollywood that leads to spicy anecdotes and off-center quotes. Part of it is the get-rich-quick/get-poor-quick ethos; part of it is the argot of Jewish moguls from the east who ran an industry that was unfamiliar but which they came to understand in their own way; part of it is the trove of stories that undergird every new story. Whatever it is, Bochco understands it and taps into it. This is a quick read and good fun.
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