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Hollywood Station Audiobook
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(3.01) - 1,201 listener ratings
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Publisher Description
For a cop, a night on the job means killing time and trying not to get killed. If you're a cop in Hollywood Division, it also means dealing with the most overwrought, desperate, and deluded criminals anywhere. When you're patrolling Sunset and Hollywood Boulevards, neither a good reputation nor the lessons of scandals past will help you keep your cool, your sanity, or your life when things heat up.The robbery of a Hollywood jewelry store, complete with masks and a hand grenade, quickly connects to a Russian nightclub, an undercover operation gone bloodily wrong, and a cluelessly ambitious pair of tweakers.
Putting the pieces together are the sergeant they call the Oracle and his squad of street cops. There's Budgie Polk, a twenty-something firecracker with a four-month-old at home, and Wesley Drubb, a rich boy who joined the force seeking thrills. Fausto Gamboa is the tetchy veteran, and Hollywood Nate is the one who never shuts up about movies. They spend their days in patrol cars and their nights in the underbelly of a city that never sleeps. From their headquarters at Hollywood Station, they see the glamour city for what it is: a field of land mines, where the mundane is dangerous and the dangerous is mundane.
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"I thoroughly enjoyed this book. Not really what I was expecting. After a few chapters I started thinking how much it reminded me of the old cop series "Hill Steeet Blues". After a little investigating, found that series and others used ideas from Wambaugh's writing. Will definitely read more!"
— Julie (4 out of 5 stars)
Quotes
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“I have been waiting a long time for this book.”
— Michael Connelly -
“Outstanding…With an impressive array of police characters…Wambaugh creates a realistic microcosm of the modern-day LAPD. Today’s crop of crime writers, including Michael Connelly and George Pelecanos, obviously owe a debt to Wambaugh. The master proves that he can still deliver.”
— Publishers Weekly (starred review) -
“A triumphant return. Not only does Wambaugh give readers his usual feast of black humor, as well as deliver another cast of edgy LAPD cops and wacko denizens of the street, but he also portrays how life for LA cops has changed in the last twenty years. The novel is both a celebration of street cops and an elegy for the old LAPD…High-voltage suspense drives the tale, and as always, Wambaugh’s characters, language, and war stories exude authenticity. Terrific.”
— Booklist (starred review) -
“Grupper brings listeners a vivid, memorable, highly entertaining audio experience. Granted, Wambaugh's people fairly leap off the page, but this interlocking series of characters and crimes, freaks and egomaniacs, heroes and villains fully deserves the one-man audio theater of our reader.”
— AudioFile
Awards
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A New York Times bestseller
Hollywood Station Listener Reviews
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" Love Wambaugh! I read the others in this series before this one (the first) and enjoyed them, as well. If you like realistic police procedurals with laugh-out-loud humor mixed in, you'll like this series. "
— D.V., 2/4/2014 -
" It was like a long episode of CSI but longer and poorly written. "
— Kirsten, 1/12/2014 -
" Nancy 4 stars; Ron 3 stars "
— Ron, 1/12/2014 -
" I liked this book very much, but it is very Wambaugh formula which is totally alright with me. "
— Coach, 1/4/2014 -
" I have enjoyed Wambaugh books over the years. This is a new series about the hollywood division. Never really warmed up to the characters. "
— Barbara, 1/2/2014 -
" Funny cop humor and good plot. Not the easiest book to read, it bounces around a lot but if you watch a lot of cop shows on TV you should be ok with that. "
— John, 12/24/2013 -
" This was a pretty entertaining book. Full of dialogue between the characters. It became apparent very early in the book that Wambaugh is a former cop. At times it seemed like some of the characters could be sitting in a shift briefing in Apple Valley. "
— Adam, 12/8/2013 -
" Great! Good diverting fiction with great dialogue, quirky characters and a fast-paced, multi-layered plot. This is #1 in Wambaugh's "Hollywood Station" series. Looking forward to the others! "
— Margie, 11/13/2013 -
" My grandfather recommended this to me. I've always enjoyed cop-dramas on the big and small screens. Why not try a cop book? Written by a retired LA Cop, this book is written from the perspective of the good guys and the bad guys. Full of humor, drama, and heroics, this was an enjoyable read. "
— Philip, 11/6/2013 -
" this is just a good piece of cop novel popcorn. i read this a couple of months ago. yiur life won't be changed by it, but you can shut off your brain for awhile. "
— Stephanie, 9/30/2013 -
" Wambaugh starts out writing what appears to be a book about disjointed experiences in the lives of officers at a L.A. station, but entwines them together for a quick and exciting finish. "
— Tom, 3/18/2013 -
" listening to - well read. Slice of life in LAPD with overarching thriller. Good cop/criminal characters as well as multiple anecdotes illustrating life on the Hollywood beat. relatively clean in terms of violence and sex, some language. "
— Coki, 8/4/2012 -
" Wambaugh back to form! It's engaging, funny and smart. You'll look at police officers in a whole new way. "
— Liz, 7/15/2012 -
" I felt a pretty good book. Small stories that intertwine into a thrilling end. My first from this author. "
— Dave, 5/20/2012 -
" Fun book to read, especially being in law enforcement. Not a literary masterpiece, but an entertaning book. "
— Brooke, 8/20/2011 -
" A character development tour de force. It hardly even bothers with a plot. "
— Emory, 8/6/2011 -
" Interesting characters, very uninteresting plot. "
— Kenny, 7/3/2011 -
" Excellent read in the Hollywood Station series. "
— David, 4/27/2011 -
" Wambaugh has been a favorite writer of ours for many years. <br/>He combines drama and humor well. His police are very human <br/>and very real. He's at his best creating the small vignettes <br/>of everyday police work. "
— Jacqueline, 4/26/2011 -
" same charactures, same pace. pretty funny "
— Hrn1947, 4/21/2011 -
" Lots more of the main plot with less of the vignettes about the cops. But more emotional/less humor than usual. I liked it! Listened to. "
— Coki, 2/27/2011 -
" started out good and now has turned into a ridiculous storyline and a bungled robbery, etc and its kind of lame and annoying and predictable. Ended pretty good though...worth a read "
— Kristen, 2/8/2011 -
" I good police procedural. You really feel for the characters. "
— Graden, 1/11/2011 -
" Many of the same LAPD cops we have come to know and love in the previous three Hollywood books return here. The many intersecting subplots revolve around an effort to steal some art from a wealthy widow's home in the Hollywood Hills. "
— Virginia, 1/4/2011
About Joseph Wambaugh
Joseph Wambaugh, a former LAPD detective sergeant, is the author of numerous New York Times bestsellers, including The Onion Field, The Blue Knight, The Blooding, The Choirboys, and other fiction and nonfiction works. He has won a number of awards, including the Edgar Award and the Rodolfo Walsh Prize for investigative journalism. He served in the US Marine Corps and later joined the Los Angeles Police Department. With regret he resigned from the LAPD in 1974 after fourteen years of service but continued with his writing. His first four books and his work on the Police Story television series in the 1970s set new standards for subsequent writers, and many acknowledge their debt to him. He lives with his wife in California.
About Adam Grupper
Adam Grupper, award-winning narrator, has garnered honors from AudioFile magazine, Publishers Weekly, iTunes, the Society of Voice Arts and Sciences, and the Audio Publishers Association. He has been in eleven Broadway productions, including the acclaimed revival of Fiddler on the Roof. His film and television credits include The Rebound, Homeland, Master of None, Music and Lyrics, Two Weeks Notice, Elementary, and Allegiance.