Rating: 
Summary: Starsky & Hutch, Mannix, Paladin, whatever . . . . .
Review: Let me start off by saying I like Stephen Cannell. There's a certain type of writing he excels at. It's action packed, not hard to figure out. Good guys prevail, bad guys get the stuffing kicked out of them.It's also predictable, superficial, anticipated and expected. It is, for the most part, like TV. It is in fact, TV. It's difficult to feel nervous about Shane. We know at the end of the day he's going to have an Amstel Light, hug his son, and have life changing sex with his model-like wife. How bad can it get? The problem with TV is of course, it's there to sell the sponsor and is never, never very believable. Ergo, the take-off on the reality shows. Who gives a hoot about greedy people with tattoos and abs, except that for the first time since the 70's, we're not really certain how it's going to end. Not so with Shane, Chooch and Alexa. We know what's going to happen. Shane overhears one of his wife's friend's boyfriend say that he murdered his two ex-wives. Now that's a plausible beginning to a novel. So he follows up on that. And gets hooked up with the New Jersey mob. And Chooch's girlfriend gets kidnapped, and Shane starts a movie company. Actually, it's a fun kind of story. And it has it's place. It won't be quoted like Dickens or mistaken for Leo Tolstoy. But see, that's why we stopped watching TV and turned to reading, and that's why we implore our children to stop watching television. Because it's shallow, superficial and unchallenging. So I can't disregard Stephen Cannell. In fact I like him and I will continue to read him. But he's not going to have me sweat like The Guards did, or Lehane does, or Elmore Leonard or James Lee Burke. But boychik, don't be a goniff. Love 'ya. Loved your work. Keep it up babe. Ciao.
Rating: 
Summary: Hollywood Tough: It's a Pleasure
Review: My New Year's resolution was to read new authors. I didn't want to give up old authors, but I felt that I wanted to look for great reads, whether for entertainment or enlightenment. I have so far kept that resolution. The only one I ever kept, probably because it was so pleasurable. I've liked most of Steven J. Cannell's television shows, but for some reason never had read his novels. Thank goodness I read HOLLYWOOD TOUGH because it was certainly a pleasurable, funny and thoughtful.
Shane Scully is due back on the LAPD after sick leave from his last caper. His wife Alexa, who is also on the force, has a friend, Nora, who is marrying a high profile Hollywood type. Through a chance comment by the fiancé, a run-in with a former informant, and the death of a woman, Scully in an undercover sting operation gets involved in making a Hollywood flick. The Hollywood scenarios are hilarious, but at the same time give us insight into the way films are made. Another converging storyline regarding Scully's son Cooch and his Mexican gang affiliation is harrowing and sad.
I everything about the book - language, fast and modern; characters, well fleshed out; and the way the disparate plot points come together to make a unified and satisfying whole. I plan on reading more Cannell in the future. It's a pleasure.
Rating:
Summary: Essentially entertaining, but flawed
Review: Overall this Scully novel was a fairly entertaining read. However, it had two elements that kept it from being really good. The story had so many outrageous plots going on it was hard to keep track of who was doing what, and why we should care. Cannell left two of the plots hanging at the end, with no satisfactory conclusion, as though he got tired of dealing with them and wanted to move on. It left me feeling like I missed a chapter somewhere that explained what happened. Also, Cannell had an annoying literary "tic" of repetitive phrasing. It got to a point where, if I read the words "the little grifter" one more time, I thought I would scream. Some good copy editing should have eliminated this overuse of wording. The essential story held my interest and I'll continue to read his other novels, but this wasn't his best.
Rating:
Summary: Essentially entertaining, but flawed
Review: Overall this Scully novel was a fairly entertaining read. However, it had two elements that kept it from being really good. The story had so many outrageous plots going on it was hard to keep track of who was doing what, and why we should care. Cannell left two of the plots hanging at the end, with no satisfactory conclusion, as though he got tired of dealing with them and wanted to move on. It left me feeling like I missed a chapter somewhere that explained what happened. Also, Cannell had an annoying literary "tic" of repetitive phrasing. It got to a point where, if I read the words "the little grifter" one more time, I thought I would scream. Some good copy editing should have eliminated this overuse of wording. The essential story held my interest and I'll continue to read his other novels, but this wasn't his best.
Rating:
Summary: Gangs, Movie Scripts and Blackmail
Review: Shane prepares to return to work after having mandatory time off the job after his last case. He runs into Nicky, an confidential informant, who asks for a favor in finding an old friend. Shane remembers all the tips he has gotten over the years and agrees to look up Carol for him. He then attends an engagement party for
Alexa's best friend and hears the groom to be make an ominous joke. Alexa is working a case that is spinning out of control as gang wars are happening all over the city. If this isn't enough somehow Shane ends up undercover using a movie script as his cover. He plays the role of producer and Nicky is his partner. As the conspiracy and blackmailing mounts in this book, I lose interest. I find some happenings on behalf of the LAPD improbable and the way Cannell ties it all together is lame. There were three strong stories here and wrapping up in one neat story was disturbing. I realize that Cannell has been writing TV shows for over thirty five years and I can't help but this is a rejected movie script.
Rating:
Summary: Passably entertaining, but little more than that
Review: Stephen Cannell for years was one of the big figures in television, the creator of such quality shows as the Rockford Files and such pieces of silliness as the A Team. Of late, however, his focus has been on novel writing, and while his books have never been great works of art, they also have been relatively fun reads. Unfortunately, Hollywood Tough, Cannell's latest Shane Scully novel, is much more A Team than Rockford Files. There are actually three storylines going on in this book. In one, Shane suspects his wife's friend's fiancee of being a murderer based on an offhand comment. In the second plot line, his wife is involved with investigating a gang murder. Finally, Shane works undercover as a movie producer to bring down a New Jersey mobster trying to make it big in Hollywood. This story tends to read more like a TV crime drama than a mystery novel. This makes it a fast, easy read but with no real depth. There is no real sense of plausibility: Shane goes undercover, but never really tries to learn anything about his role before he starts his work; he just makes it up as he goes along. There are no really good villains, and most of the characters are walking cliches, especially when dealing with the Hollywood types. It is too silly to be realistic, and too unsubtle to be satire. Clumsy as the writing is at times, Cannell retains enough of his ability to entertain to make this at least a so-so novel: it's worth three stars but barely. This one is best for Cannell fans; others should look elsewhere for a more well-written thriller.
Rating:
Summary: Save your cash!
Review: Stephen Cannell has written his third book in his Shane Scully series. This tale involves the whole Scully family that has been created over the three books, and a deputy chief that allows his officers to do anything they wish. Gone is the hard-boiled edge Cannell has put into his previous books. Cannell has run out of ideas for this series and has failed in his attempt to keep it fun. "Tin Collectors" was by far the best work of this series. This tale drags on for 300 some pages, and is not worth the time or the money. The 3 stars is a gift. I hope he can do better in the next one.
Rating: 
Summary: It¿s Hard to get back to work
Review: Stephen Cannell's latest Shane Scully novel returns the reader to Los Angeles one year after Shane and his beautiful wife/partner/boss Alexa barely survived The Viking Funeral (St. Martin's, January 2002 and December 2002 softcover). Shane is completing medical leave recuperation from injuries received in that story. He and Alexa, happily married, and Shane's son "Chooch" seemingly have adjusted well to all of their traumas, and Shane is wondering what kind of new duty he will draw, and if he will be working under his wife, who has progressed rapidly up the LAPD promotion ladder. Things cannot stay serene for long, however.
Shane and Alexa attend an engagement party for Alexa's best friend, who has been star-crossed for lovers. At the party, Shane meets Nicky Marcella, one of his former clients/snitch, a con man who has become a movie producer. He asks Shane to help him locate an old friend whom he wants to cast in his new movie, but he can't locate her. Also, Shane overhears the groom to be making an arch comment about never needing a divorce - his previous wives died after he tired of the! Shane is suspicious and over Alexa's objections starts to investigate. He also finds the missing actress, who is now a doped-up prostitute. He reports back to Nicky, and then forgets about it - until he is called out to a crime scene to identify her tortured body and explain why she had his business card. Now Shane is angry and pushes on to discover an East Cost mafia family trying to wedge into the Hollywood unions, a merging of street gangs to take over narcotics trafficking in LA, and ends up fronting a sting that before he knows it is really producing a megamillion dollar movie. And then the gang involvement reaches in and entangles his son.
It all works out in the end, and Shane doesn't really get to be a movie magnet. It is a suspense-filled story with lots of action. Cannell can be counted on for a good story, whether in one of his novels or one of his movies. This one is true to form.
Rating:
Summary: Cannell's latest novel is impossible to put down
Review: Stephen J. Cannell would have an impressive resume even if he had never decided to try his hand at writing novels. His tracks are all over television. Cannell has created more than forty television series and it is almost impossible to channel surf at night without running into one of his celluloid children, be it The Rockford Files, The Commish or The 'A' Team. I fully expect to turn on the television one night and find myself watching a new network called The Cannell Channel. Hmmm...wait a minute, while I trademark that. Anyway, Cannell has also been racking up an ever- and always-impressive list of novels. I was amazed to discover that HOLLYWOOD TOUGH, his latest, is also his eighth. It's hard to believe but he's working on his own shelf as well --- he certainly deserves one. Cannell has carved his own niche in the adventure market with titles that include THE DEVIL'S WORKSHOP and RIDING THE SNAKE. THE TIN COLLECTORS and THE VIKING FUNERAL, his last two novels, however, have featured Shane Scully, an LAPD detective who has had his ups and downs. Scully returns once again in HOLLYWOOD TOUGH. Nora Bishop, the best friend of Scully's wife, Alexa, is engaged to Farrell Champion, an A-List movie director who appears ready to give Bishop the happiness she has so long sought. However, at an engagement party for the couple, Scully overhears Champion make an offhand, seemingly joking remark about the deaths of his two ex-wives. Scully's cop instincts are aroused and, against his wife's wishes, he begins investigating Champion. He soon finds that Champion appears to be a man without a past, someone who seemingly materialized out of nowhere. At the same time, Scully discovers that a New Jersey mobster is attempting to infiltrate the Hollywood film industry's union. Scully, in order to draw the mobster into revealing his real reason for coming to Hollywood, sets up an elaborate sting operation that, in addition to being an extremely interesting plot vehicle, permits Cannell to educate his readers into the whys, hows and wherefores of film production. Cannell does an excellent job of concisely explaining the complex world of film deals, as well as the studio politics that go into the creation of the films that are coming to a Cineplex near you. These same studio politics have Scully's sting operation soon spiraling out of control, both creatively and financially. Scully also is having difficulty with his son, Chooch, who seems to have secrets that involve an L.A. Gang leader. As Scully and Alexa are drawn deeper into the sting operation and Chooch's behavior draws him into danger, Cannell keeps the suspense level high and maintains for the reader a maximum interest level from beginning to end, making HOLLYWOOD TOUGH, as with Cannell's seven previous novels, impossible to put down. Cannell, with HOLLYWOOD TOUGH, continues to demonstrate that he is a master of whatever media he should choose to partake. Certainly the world of suspense literature is richer for his participation. Perhaps his work will one day become a subgenre unto itself. Even if this does not occur, Cannell's loyal legion of fans will undoubtedly keep reading and growing. --- Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub
Rating:
Summary: Keeps you entertained.
Review: Stephen J. Cannell's third Shane Scully novel, "Hollywood Tough" is as implausible as was his "A Team" with protagonists more resilient than his Jim Rockford. Be that as it may, if you suspend disbelief, it is big fun. The cop lingo, street jargon and snappy dialogue alone are worth the price of admission. Noteworthy scene setting and character descriptions ("'Champagne' Tony Valentine was managing to stay just inside the boundaries of fashion comedy.") abound. Mr. Cannell knows Hollywood and uses his insider knowledge to paint amusing and self-effacing portraits of the movie biz and its oh-so-Hollywood-execs. Either of the two major plots could carry a novel on its own. That makes for some clumsiness, confusion and too many handily convenient coincidences to move the plot forward...at times convoluted, but always entertaining. Titling each chapter in a wry, tongue-in-cheek fashion is a nifty touch.
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