Death by Hollywood

Rating:
Summary: Stick to television
Review: I read his book and all I can say stick to writitng television scripts. Please do not try to write another book. The plot jumped all over the place. It was hard to keep track of the people and who was talking etc.

Rating:
Summary: Death by Hollywood
Review: I thought that DEATH BY HOLLYWOOD was mediocre and it moved very quickly, so quick in fact that I didn't even realize when I was done.
Written in first person, DEATH BY HOLLYWOOD speaks heavily about the "glamourous" life of Hollywood actors, screenwriters, and their agents. We follow Bobby, a writer who is down on his luck. He catches his wife in action cheating on him, his agent fires him, and he witnesses a murder all in the same day.
He uses this murder to his advantage in hopes that he can make it into a killer screenplay. From then he plots himself into his own misfortune.
Although this wasn't one of the best books I've read, the twists and surprises the book took on at the end really had me going. And for that I give it 3 stars.

Rating:
Summary: A Very Big Surpise. I LOVED IT!!
Review: I was given this book as a present from someone whom I don't really share the same tastes with; however I started to read it because I really didn't have anything else at the time. I could not believe how I got sucked into this book! It had had some great twists and was very funny at time too. You can really tell this guy knows Hollywood inside and out.

Rating:
Summary: It's a better story than a book
Review: If you could round up a good director, some good actors, a good cinematographer, etc., I bet you could make a heck of a movie or tv show out of this story. It has a lot of nifty twists and turns and surprises, with a fair amount of sex and intrigue mixed in.

But, this is a novel. And, as a novel, it's not that great. Great novels are written by authors who can paint a word picture of the scene that puts a reader right in the middle of it. This book is more like an outline - it's pretty short - that might have been turned into an outstanding book by someone who can really write. George Pelecanos comes to mind, or maybe Turow. Bochco is gifted for sure. Just not as a novelist. I think he'll do fine if he sticks to writing material for tv or the screen. Otherwise, I'll feel free to skip any more of his books and spend my reading time on works by authors who can deliver the entire package with words on a page.

Rating:
Summary: Breezy, Fun, and Suspenseful
Review: It's been a while since I've enjoyed a book as much as I enjoyed reading this one. It kept me glued to my seat the whole time I read it. While, yes, the language was a bit foul at times, it added to the grittiness of the material. It made the whole book feel more realistic, especially when you consider the plot.

Mr. Bochco wowed me with his first foray into the wonderful world of literature. I anxiously await his second novel.

I recommend this book to anyone who enjoys a good suspenseful tale... as well as fans of Mr. Bochco's TV work.

Rating:
Summary: a quick review
Review: Just a small criticism: You'd think that after all those years of working with Jimmy Smits (on "NYPD Blue") he would have picked up some authentic Spanish! On p. 80 Ramon's maid finds his body and says "Es muerte." ("Is death.")- She probably should have said "Esta muerto." (accent on the "a.")

Rating:
Summary: A Good Murder Equals a Better Screenplay
Review: Lately Screenwriter Bobby Newman's fingers spend more time wrapped around a bottle then they do tapping on a keyboard. He's got writer's block, but his eyes aren't blocked and they spend the evenings peeping through his high-powered telescope, spying on his neighbors. And one evening Bobby sees the wife of a Hollywood millionaire smack her Latin lover with an acting trophy, killing him.

He hustles over to the murder scene, finds the body. He also finds that the Latin Lover made videos of his sexual conquests and graded them A to F. And, to his shock, he sees that his wife Vee is a B+. He takes the tape, along with the tape of the murder.

He gets an idea to solve his little writer's block problem. He decides to do a screenplay about the murder. He gets close to both the murderer, and the detective in charge of the case n order to get inside the minds of the future protagonists of his screenplay.

The story is told by Bobby's cynical agent, Eddie Jelko who is recounting the story as Bobby has told it to him. This is a witty story told by a Hollywood insider about Hollywood, it's goings on real and imagined. The people may not exactly be the types you'd want to live next door to, but they are entertaining, I know, because I couldn't put the book down.

Reviewed by Lenore Douglass

Rating:
Summary: A novel isn't a screenplay...
Review: OK,disappointment is the 1st thing that comes to mind. Bochco has developed some of my fav TV programs; innovative, provocative...I expected the same. What I think Mr. Bochco didn't understand is that a novel requires more detailed info than a screen play & that's 1 of the problems. These characters are flat. Yeah, they have 'in your face..[love scences]', but it's not sensual or arrousing. It's just poking and proding. The author, aka narrator, is TELLING the story, not SHOWING the reader. The twists of plot were very good. The tidey ending was clever. And maybe this is a view of inside Hollywood. If so, what a horrible place to be addicted to. The read was fast & easy, but I think I'd wait for the paperback & a vacation on the beach.

Rating:
Summary: Funny, Depressing, Entertaining Exposé
Review: Screenwriter Bobby Newman has a few problems. He's got writer's block, his agent wants to dump him, he's drinking too much, his wife is having an affair with a producer and to add a little excitement to the mix, while peeping on his neighbor's window with a high powered telescope, he's witnessed a murder. He'd been spying on a couple doing what couples do, when he recognizes the actor, then afterward the lover kills him. The female in question is not the man's wife, but someone elses.

Bobby decides to keep quiet about what he's seen, because he sees a screenplay in the making, a definite kickstart for his sagging career. However as he gets into his screenplay, he gets involved with the real lives of the people he's writing about and eventually becomes a player himself.

The story is told though the eyes of Bobby's cynical agent, Eddie Jelco who tells the tale with a generous dose of wry humor. This is a different kind of Hollywood exposé that is both very funny and at times depressing, but most of all it's what Hollywood is all about. It's entertaining.

Rating:
Summary: A different type of writing
Review: Steven Bocchco is probably one of the better known producers in Hollywood, with Hill Street Blues, L.A. Law, and NYPD Blue to his credit, among other things. So he's done so well there, he decided to become a novelist like his friend Stephen J. Cannell, who has now written a number of novels. The result is Death by Hollywood, a frothy entertainment with few redeeming features but no real flaws either.

The text alternates between first person narration and the points of view of many other characters, with the conceit that the narrator is telling you what he thinks happened when he wasn't there. The narrator is a Hollywood agent named Eddie Jelko, a guy with hundreds of stories and more jokes about the biz than Jay Leno. He represents the main character, Bobby Newman, a down-on-his-luck screenwriter who has writer's block, a drinking problem, and an unfaithful wife who's just decided to leave him. Bobby witnesses a murder in the middle of this, and instead of reporting the killer to the police, as he should, he sees an opportunity to escape his writer's block. Much hilarity ensues, as the law of unforseen consequences boomerangs with a vengeance.

I enjoyed this book a good deal. Bocchco proves to be a pretty skilled writer, though the book shows signs of lengthening. There are many jokes and anecdotes that have nothing to do with the main plot, and the margins on the pages are wide, ditto the space between the lines of text. I bet they could have fit this into 180 pages if they'd tried. I suppose this is a result of Bocchco knowing how to write hour-long screenplays, most of the time, rather than longer books. It's a skill you learn, I guess. That being said, this is still a fun book, and I would recommend it.