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BOOK REVIEW

GENRE: CRIME

PUBLISHER: RANDOM HOUSE

RELEASED: 2003

Having created hit TV shows such as HILL STREET BLUES and NYPD BLUE, DEATH BY HOLLYWOOD is Steven Bochco’s debut novel. As the title suggests, the book is set in Tinseltown and by using agent Eddie Jelko as narrator, Bochco immediately introduces the reader into this elite yet bizarre world.

“It’s a tough town and a tough business, and if you don’t watch your step either one’ll kill you which I guess is what this story is actually about.”

This slick warning prepares the reader for a journey into the warped world of the A-list celebrity. Bochco, a two-time Edgar Award winning writer, has produced a darkly comical crime novel having also installed elements of betrayal and seduction.

Bochco has described the novel as “a tale which he could not tell on television.” This I do not agree with. After writing series after series about the crime ridden streets of New York, featuring countless events of drug raids and gang warfare, Bochco could very easily have adapted DEATH BY HOLLYWOOD onto the small screen.

Having said that, the decision is that of Bochco’s, a man very much qualified to make that choice.

At a glance, DEATH BY HOLLYWOOD could be seen as just another crime novel. A down on his luck screenwriter, beautiful rich women, a murder and a detective may seem the usual ingredients to make another bland tale from the genre.  However, Bochco does not focus upon the money and sex which these stars have, but the sordidness which has spread through this corrupt industry.

The novel does not stand out as something which could reinvent the genre, but Bochco’s debut is a well crafted thought-provoking insight into a world which most of us will never truly see. How much of a true reflection he has conveyed is another story. After his own success in Hollywood, the reader has no choice but to believe him. JG