Death by Hollywood

Rating:
Summary: Not mainstream
Review: Death by Hollywood is one of those books you just keep reading in an effort to figure out why you keep reading it. Is the story going to get better? Are the characters going to improve? Where is the story actually going? The book was ok. I got the distinct impression reading it that this book was written for Bochco's Hollywood friends and supporters more than for the public-at-large. There are a lot of "in" references that won't really have any impact on people not affiliated with the biz. I felt like an outsider looking in on this story and it didn't really involve me as much as I'd hoped. Despite being about a murder, the book wasn't that graphic, but was definitely very heavy on profanity. It wasn't scholarly material by any means but was a quick read with some suprisingly good humor about the human existance.

Rating:
Summary: A Good Read But Watch the Language
Review: Death by Hollywood is probably as enlightening as it is shocking. Ok, I am not the type of person that normally is found hanging out with the moral majority; however, I was a little taken back by the crudeness and blatant sexuality of this book. With that in mind, I did not return the book or quit reading it; rather I just thought it was shocking.

As you probably already know, the story is told to us by Eddie Jelko, a former Hollywood agent that used to represent the stars and now represents writers and directors. The story revolves around the murder, sort of like the old 1980's move Body Double of a minor Hispanic actor, his lover, a Hollywood detective, a down on his luck drunk screen writer, and his soon to be ex-wife.

These characters all intersect in each other's lives and the fun is seeing them figure out what the other knows. The story is laced with Hollywood inside jokes and the names have been changed to protect the innocent type of dirt on some of so-called big stars in Hollywood. This causes the story to sometimes get off track, but it is interesting so I doubt many people will care.

Although I found the ending entertaining, I did feel somewhat cheated by the book, in my opinion, of not having a great ending. Stil it is not a bad end, just not great. As I said in the opening, I found the language shocking and not really needed. It is an interesting read and I would not have a problem recommending it to someone. I would just say be prepared for some graphic language.

Rating:
Summary: A new venue but the same great style
Review: Death by Hollywood was a great read. It was extremly difficult to put down. It has the same style that we are used to from Bochco with all the elements you expect from a seasoned writer. I hope to see more from Mr. Bochco in the book department.

Rating:
Summary: screw the naysayers
Review: do not listen to people who do not like this book. they have no sense of humor, and though it is only their opinion, they manage to be wrong.
funny, profane, sexy. yup, that's my wife. it also happens to be this book.
a very brisk, fun read. honest. c'mon you know me. why would i lie?

Rating:
Summary: If You Like High Brow Move Along
Review: Go in with the right attitude: PULP FICTION. In the mood for a bunch of well-to-do jerks to get murdered, arrested, drunk along with silly attempts at guilt and remorse and love? In the mood to forget about the deficit, war,election and just read about some good old characatures in an R- to X-rated comic book? This is it, baby.

If you want a real murder mystery, move along. If you love fine writing, move along. If you want a good sex scene, move along. But if you just want the quick fix of entertainment short of simply watching t.v.: This is it, baby.

Rating:
Summary: Very good, especially fom a TV guy
Review: I always liked Bochco's TV shows, so I thought it would be interesting to see how he writes a novel. I was not disappointed by this book.

There were a lot of places in this story, where I thought the writing didn't flow too well, jokes added in unnecessarily, anecdotes that seemed out of place and expanations of things that didn't require an explanation. At one point, he even goes so far as to put the quotes from the previous paragraph that he is explaining in parentheses in his explanation, which was a little too much, since i had just read it and it was easy enough to follow without the references. Also, I didn't really like the point of view of this book, told in the first person from the agent's point of view. There were things in the story that the agent really shouldn't have had any idea about, but somehow he did. Bochco seems to try to clean this up at the end by miplying that those parts are just speculation, but it just doesn't come off well. Also, I really didn't see too much reason to include the agent in the story anyway. It seemed like he just didn't know how to tell the story, and used the agent in place of himself to tell it, and I think it would have been better in the third person without the agent. Also, there is an anecdote from the agent near the end of the story that seems completely superfluous, and I got the impression that it was included only to take a shot at David Caruso. There are also some fairly large leaps of logic made by both the agent and the cop which are a bit hard to swallow.

Despite the problems with some of the writing, I really enjoyed the story, and I especially liked some of the twists and turns of the plot. Near the end, it seemed like it was going to have a fairly predictable ending, and Bochco manages to avoid it nicely. The characters were also pretty interesting, despite being a little shallow. All in all, I enjoyed the book, but I think Bochco's main talent may be as an idea man, and not a writer, but despite that, I will read his next novel if he writes one, and would recommend this one as well.

Rating:
Summary: Entertaining Presecptive
Review: I am a true Angelino..meaning, I have had the misfortune of living in Los Angeles my whole. The story is modestly entertaining. But what I found woundefully humorful was the depition of the characters. Bochco's portrayal of the entertainment world and what people will do, sleep with, and even murder for - for thier star on Hollywood had me laughing. The characters personalities, flaws, desires and the sad ironies are what made this book worth reading for this Angelino. Perphaps, a little bit too much truth for the aspiring person trying to make in the entertainment biz. The premise was a bit impracticable..but the way Bochco weaved all the charaters togeter made this book a good read.



Rating:
Summary: Death By Hollywood
Review: I can't understand how the editors let this be published without someone reading through it first. What is with all the parentheses and added on little phrases everyother sentence.Is Bochco trying to be Harold Robbins of the 21st century? I read four chapters and was wondering if all the language and sex went anywhere but dead??? The sex is just there, as foul language, it doesn't add anything to the story line and as whitty as Mr. Bochco tries to be with these characters, they just don't go anywhere! I love his TV. work but this is a novel, not a screenplay. Unfortunatly, it reads like a screenplay without the "enter stage left". Didn't like this book at all. Sorry

Rating:
Summary: Enjoyable must read cosmopolitan, true, satirical & much mor
Review: I enjoyed reading this book after putting away new titles by S. King, Koontz and other major writers. Enough is enough. I just can't find myself reading same book only written by different writers. Steven Bochco brings fresh, courageous, uninhibited writing that is enjoyable and it's a fact. I didn't feel being preached to, or lied to, or absorbing production of overworked writer's mind. His book reads in one go and you do want to read next volume. If he has another story to tell I will definitely be interested to read it.

Rating:
Summary: What a waste of paper and ink
Review: I have read sixth-grade English Composition papers that were far superior to this.