Maynard’s book-of-the-day
Do you need a brief respite from national cacophony of political talking points? Hollywood Station, the latest book by Los Angeles policeman-turned-novelist Joseph Wambaugh, is excellent escapist fare. It’s a hugely entertaining page-turner that’s also highly relevant to our times. The story is fictional, but it conveys an honest impression of modern Los Angeles officers, doing the best they can in an environment plagued by dysfunctional micromanagement and hostile oversight and political correctness gone mad.
In the aftermath of the Los Angeles riots and later the Rampart scandal, the LAPD fell under control of police-hating political forces. This is a long and troubling story in itself, and you’ll understand it better (and you’ll get angry) when you read “Hollywood Station”. But that’s not really what the book is about; it’s just the historical background in this tale of officers and detectives working to solve a nasty robbery/homicide.
Wambaugh creates a cast of charismatic characters that won’t let you go. The story meanders through numerous police incidents which range from the pathetic to the absurdly hilarious. You feel as if you’re on the scene, riding along with the struggling officers. It’s easy reading, but be warned that some of the language and situations are pretty raw; “sensitive” readers beware!
This is the new mass-market paperback edition; it’s also available in audio and Kindle and hardback and telepathic uplink into your neural cortices. For additional reviews, click to Metacritic. Enjoy!
I haven’t read this Wambaugh book, but the posting reminds me of a very interesting article by Heather MacDonald about the horrific conditions in the LA Skid Row area a while back, and how a brave LAPD officer started to improve things there by cracking down on bad behavior. Before some progress was made, the place sounds like it was worse than anything even Thomas Hobbes might have imagined. And as you might guess the bad conditions in the area were exacerbated by “homeless advocates” and “community leader” types, who now are trying to turn back the progress that’s been made. The article is at http://www.city-journal.org/html/17_4_skid_row.html