Hollywood Tough
Summary:
Detective Shane Scully is back in the good graces of the department, hailed as a hero after bringing down a deadly gang of rogue cops in The Viking Funeral. At a glamorous Hollywood party with his new wife, Alexa, Shane overhears a famous producer make a suspicious remark about the strange deaths of his two ex-wives. Is he serious or merely joking around with his coterie of hangers-on? This becomes more than just police business, because the party is to celebrate the engagement of the producer to Alexa’s closest friend.
Against his wife’s wishes, Shane begins to look into this heavy-hitter’s past. At the same time, he becomes aware of a high-profile wiseguy’s attempt to control Hollywood’s unions. He initiates an elaborate and expensive sting operation, actually setting up a phony production company to produce a bogus movie at LAPD expense. <small)(retrieved from )
Group Review/Comments:
Although reviews were mixed –two strong thumbs down, five thumbs up and the rest in the middle–there were plenty of comments about the book which is significant for a group reading choice.
Members were pretty much uniformly influenced by the knowledge of two things:
The author is dyslexic
The author is a prolific Hollywood TV writer who had written scripts for many of our favorite shows (Rockford Files, Baretta , Ten Speed and Brown Shoes, etc.)
The writing wasn’t strong, and many in group attributed this to the author’s dyslexia. However, most agreed that the story-telling was what compelled one to finish the book. The telling was visual, as befits a screen writer. One member had listened to the audiobook instead of reading and felt that it was a perfect format for the story.
One member referred to the book as a “spoof” on H0llywood stereotypes, and this also, resonated with the group. The story was so incredibly over the top that the reader had to suspend disbelief and just hang on for the ride, enjoying the goofy albeit broad stroke characters and plot.
The storytelling was imaginative, there was humor in the writing, and although the characters (especially the females) lacked depth, it was good fun. Interspersed throughout were tiny sparks of insight–wealth vs. poverty, gang leader as revolutionary, greed and temptation, enough to keep the book from being completely lighthearted fun.
