From Publishers Weekly
The LAPD's Hollywood Station deals with some of the strangest lawbreakers anywhere, as shown in MWA Grand Master Wambaugh's amusing fourth novel to feature Hollywood Nate Weiss, surfer cops Flotsam and Jetsam, and the rest of the series' colorful police crew (after Hollywood Moon). In the main plot line, the paths of a pair of drug-addled thieves--high school dropout Jonas Claymore and his down-on-her-luck housemate, Megan Burke--converge and collide with those of snooty art dealer Nigel Wickland and sleazy part-time butler Raleigh L. Dibble with results both absurd and tragic. Meanwhile, Wambaugh diverts with smaller episodes about such odd Hollywood denizens as the Wedgie Bandit and the Goths, a couple whose dress and house channels the Addams family. Veteran police officer Della Ravelle's sage mentoring of young officer Britney Small lends some gravity to this deliciously convoluted caper. (Nov.)
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From
Wambaugh runs the same plays that heβs used repeatedly in his Hollywood series of cop novels, jumping between the lives of street people, the ridiculously wealthy denizens of the Hollywood Hills, and the cops who careen among them. This series has several cop stars, including βHollywood Nateβ Weiss, who has a SAG card and is actively pursuing a movie career, and a pair of surfer cops, known as Flotsam and Jetsam. As usual, Wambaugh gives the reader a lot of street action and one showcased plotline. This time, the cops come into contact (through Hollywood Nate) with a B-movie director, his Botoxed girlfriend, and a ring of teen burglars targeting upscale homes. The highly entertaining plotting is offset this time by Styrofoam characters and unlikely dialogue. Fans expect Wambaugh to give them actual cop talk, but he misfires here, giving his cops lines like βgymnosophical gyrations of that slamminβ speaker.β In addition, the opening scene is needlessly pornographic; Wambaugh doesnβt need to try to get readersβ attention this way. A good novel but not at all representative of what Wambaugh can do. --Connie Fletcher