Hollywood Station: A Novel

Joseph Wambaugh
Little Brown and Company (2006)
ISBN 0316066141
Reviewed by A.J. Cooper for Reader Views (1/07)

"Hollywood Station' gives a glimpse at what happens on the streets at night in Hollywood in the eyes of the police officers. The street feeders are the hustlers, homeless, criminals and the gangs that the tourists wander through without truly recognizing the intense danger so close to them. The Oracle is the senior sergeant of the division who works the night shift and tries to keep everything flowing smoothly by the assignments he makes between the officers. It is a fine line to assign senior officers with rookies and males with females. There is always a sense to the madness. This unique mix of officers lends to a sometimes humorous look at the cars and lives of the officers.

This is another great book from Wambaugh. I really enjoyed reading about life on the streets of Hollywood and the police officers that try to control the hustlers and the criminals. I would recommend this book to anyone that is interested in police and the situations that they encounter on a daily basis. I think the view of police officers is mostly from the television and it does not put into perspective what happens on a daily basis and what police officers really have to deal with. Yes there are some really bad people out there, but it is not a shootout every day or a big fight. It shows that the officers really start to learn about the people on the streets and learn unique ways in dealing with these people. I like the personal interactions and the small views into their personal lives that I can relate with. Not everyone has big problems or huge dramas going on in their lives and this book depicts everyday life. There is no movie glamour or made up story line and not everything has a happy ending. This is how I want to read police stories, reality not Hollywood fiction. It is a real page turner that kept me wondering what would happen next. The end was surprising and sad, not what I expected to happen at all. “Hollywood Stations” is a very good read.

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