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Book Review By David Loftus
Death By Hollywood by Steven Bochco

Bobby Newman, a reasonably successful Hollywood screenwriter, owes a script to a director/producer and is blocked. He happens to witness a murder in a house below his: 40-year-old but still gorgeous former actress Linda Paulson, married to the older, fat, and extremely wealthy owner of a string of TV stations, has just had sex with her lover, Hispanic actor and acting teacher Ramon, gets in a fight with him, and clubs him. Ramon dies, but he has been videotaping their sex unbeknownst to Linda, so Bobby retrieves the video and decides to write a screenplay about the situation.

Detective Dennis Farentino catches the case, and Bobby interviews him for plot ideas and color. Farentino quickly determines that Bobby knows more about the murder than he's letting on. Bobby and Dennis discuss working on a TV cop series together. Bobby gets involved with Linda, and Bobby's estranged wife Vee starts seeing the detective. Angry at Vee, Bobby plants Ramon's video of his night with HER and some coke in her car, then sets it afire and calls 911. Although Dennis arranges a self-defense plea deal for Linda, things heat up again when a bootleg copy of her encounter with Ramon, including the murder, gets out to the tabloids.


Plot & Themes
Tone of story - Dry-cynical
Time/era of story:
Kid or adult book? - Adult or Young Adult Book
descript. of violence and chases - 20 %
Planning/preparing, gather info, debate puzzles/motives - 40 %
Feelings, relationships, character bio/development - 20 %
How society works & physical descript. (people, objects, places) - 20 %
Crime Thriller Yes
Crime plotlets:
General Crime (including known murderer) Yes
Is Romance a MAJOR (25%+) part of story? Yes

Main Character
Gender - Male
Profession/status:
Age: - 40's-50's
Ethnicity/Race

Main Adversary
Identity: - Male
Age: - 20's-30's
Profession/status:
Eccentric: Yes
Motive of antagonist - money/treasure
How sensitive is this character?
Sense of humor - Cynical sense of humor
Intelligence - Average intelligence

Setting
United States Yes
The US: - California
City? Yes
City: - Los Angeles
Misc setting - fancy mansion

Writing Style
Accounts of torture and death? - moderately detailed references to deaths
Explicit sex in book? Yes
What kind of sex: - touching of anatomy - actual description of sex - descript. of breasts - descript. of other female areas
Unusual forms of death - blunt clubbing (like seals)
Unusual form of death? Yes
Amount of dialog - roughly even amounts of descript and dialog
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