Hollywood Moon: A Novel

Joseph Wambaugh
Little, Brown and Company (2009)
ISBN 9780316045186
Reviewed by Bill Cooper for Reader Views (02/10)

 

As a 30-year, retired police officer and Chief of Police, I have followed Joseph Wambaugh’s books for as long as he has been writing them.  As with all police officers I know, and there are many, we have appreciated his writing, not only from the perspective of law enforcement and its idiosyncrasies, but of his humor and ability to articulate a story.  Mr. Wambaugh has brought the reality of policing to the public in his true stories, bringing his readers directly into the scenes, the investigations, the feelings, and outcomes.  He has brought the fun and often humorous side in his other writings.  In his latest book, “Hollywood Moon,” he has done it yet again.

The characters in his book are fictional, but real; real in the sense that the readers are with them and come to know them, laugh at and with them, and empathize with them.  This book continues the stories of Hollywood, particularly the side most people never see.  It’s done with genuineness and fun.  The cases, the calls, the victims and perpetrators are right with you.  Mr. Wambaugh proves yet again that he is a gifted writer.  He does not disappoint, and after as many books as he has written, I, for one, always look for the next.  For so many years I’ve considered Joseph Wambaugh one of the finest writers I’ve read and I truly hope he keeps bringing us his books.  There are so many police stories to tell and he tells them like no one else can.

“Hollywood Moon” is well worth the purchase price and time.  There are a number of plots and sub-plots, all sewn together in a fun and interesting book.  As with his others, you’ll find yourself asking where the time went, and why there aren’t more pages.

Joseph Wambaugh and this book, “Hollywood Moon,” deserve a well-done rating.  Keep them coming, sir.

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