Alison Flood at the British newspaper the Guardian offers a Brit review of Joseph Wambaugh's novel Harbor Nocturne.
It's very hard not to fall for a novel in which a fight between Iron Man and Spider-Man ends up with the former writhing in pain on the ground, Marilyn Monroe, "aka Regis the plumber in another life", screaming and Captain America calling 911. Joseph Wambaugh is back on familiar ground with his fifth novel about the cops of the Hollywood Station, Harbour Nocturne, and lucky us.
A former LAPD detective sergeant – he quit when his fame began intruding on his work – Wambaugh reveals on his website that he ran out of his own material to mine for his fiction 30 years ago. He began collecting fresh stories from serving officers, and in the front of Harbour Nocturne, the author thanks 51 of them "for the terrific anecdotes and great cop talk". From the costumed street characters who hustle tourists in front of Grauman's Chinese theatre to the police officer who lets a Gypsy off a ticket to avoid a curse, and the child lying dead while his mother and grandmother watch television, Harbour Nocturne's stories of real-life policing are odd, tragic, hilarious – always compelling.
You can read the rest of the review via the below link:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2012/dec/16/harbour-nocturne-joseph-wambaugh-review
You can also read my earlier review of Harbor Nocturne, which appeared in the Washington Times via the below link:
http://www.pauldavisoncrime.com/2012/04/joseph-wambaughs-new-cop-novel-harbor.html
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