Boulevard

by Bill Guttentag

Overview

“Guttentag brings the story lines together in a conclusion that leaves you morally conflicted, yet surprisingly satisfied.” —San Francisco Chronicle

When a high-profile lawyer is murdered at the Chateau Marmont, lackluster detective Jimmy McCann takes to the streets and finds himself enmeshed in this complex web of prostitution and drugs, learning that the killer, a young girl named Casey, is a victim in her own right. Delving into Casey’s troubled community of homeless runaways, characterized by abuse, rape, death and disease, but also by friendship, loyalty and love, Bill Guttentag has crafted a stunning literary crime novel.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781681770000
Publisher:	Pegasus Books
Publication date:	04/15/2011
Series:	Pegasus Crime
Sold by:	SIMON & SCHUSTER
Format:	eBook
Pages:	304
File size:	574 KB

About the Author

Bill Guttentag is a two-time Oscar-winning documentary and feature film writer-director. His films include the documentary feature Nanking, and the dramatic feature Live!. He was an executive producer and creator of the series Law & Order: Crime & Punishment, which ran for three seasons on NBC. He has also directed films for HBO, ABC, CBS and others. He lives with his family in Northern California, where he teaches a course at Stanford University.

Editorial Reviews

Guttentag, an Academy Award–winning film director (Twin Towers), offers a moving, loosely knit crime drama about life on the streets of Hollywood in his first novel. Casey, a 15-year-old castoff from her dysfunctional family in Oregon, makes her way to the boulevards of Tinseltown to join the teeming, ever-revolving crew of runaways who get by through begging, stealing, and prostitution. One night at the legendary Chateau Marmont hotel, Casey kills a high-powered, politically connected lawyer who has a sexual penchant for the young. Leading the murder investigation is LAPD detective Jimmy McCann, whose own drug-addled son also lives on the streets. Despite occasional slips into misty-eyed prose, Guttentag shows a deft touch with detail as he chronicles an existence marked by moments of sheer panic followed by hours of boredom and mundane routine. The action builds to a hopeful and satisfying conclusion. (Feb.)

Publishers Weekly

This graphic and gritty debut novel by an award-winning Hollywood documentary producer explores Tinseltown's dark side. When lackluster detective Jimmy McCann is assigned to search for the murderer of a high-profile lawyer at the legendary Chateau Marmont, he trolls the alleyways of Sunset Boulevard looking for clues and watching the back of an imbedded young cop as she runs with a pack of feral teenage runaways who view Hollywood as a kind of Mecca. It's a tough case to crack because clues are few, and the kids are a tightly knit violent and untrusting group. VERDICT Raw and brutally realistic, this is a tragic story of victimization and desperately unrealistic expectations in an underworld where murderers are also victims. This is not a novel for everyone but strongly recommended for readers who can stand the grim reality depicted. [Do not confuse this title with Stephen Jay Schwartz's recently published Boulevard, which is about an L.A. cop who is also a sex addict.—Ed.]—Susan Clifford Braun, Aerospace Corp., El Segundo, CA

Library Journal

Acclaimed documentary filmmaker Guttentag unleashes considerable rage against L.A. in this heartfelt mystery set on the seedy side of the city of angels....The introduction of an undercover cop provides welcome juice, and the plots collide in a way so surprising that, well, it would make a good movie.

Daniel Kraus - Booklist

A fun and fast read that reveals a darker slice of L.A. life that most have never heard about. Every character feels real, every situation loaded with telling detail and tension. You're surprised by how much you care about each character.

Scott Frank

Like Dostoevsky's Crime and Punishment, Boulevard begins with murder. Most American novelists would stop there, but Bill Guttentag doesn't flinch from anything. We know dreams die in Hollywood, but what happens then? Boulevard is a rare thing—a thriller that matters, that reveals, that makes us reexamine who we are.”

David Vann

Boulevard is a fast-paced story with prose as jumpy and gritty as its characters. The novel is a stark look at the darker side of Hollywood streets, littered with broken glass and desperately real characters with a slim shot at very human dreams. Guttentag's keen eye for detail, brutal honesty, and unflinching vision make him an essential voice of our time.”

Keith Scribner

While the kids may be violent or oblivious to turning tricks, there's a certain humanity here, a kinship and kindness that raises them above LA's thin selection of characters. Throw in a detective with a runaway son of his own, a partner whose marriage is slipping away—in addition to orbiting pimps, self-important lawyers and small-time freaks aplenty, and you have a tale that gets major points for freshness and ambition. It's engrossing, original, and comes with the Official True Crime Report Seal of Freshness.

Pete Kotz - True Crime Report

While the kids may be violent or oblivious to turning tricks, there's a certain humanity here, a kinship and kindness that raises them above LA's thin selection of characters. Throw in a detective with a runaway son of his own, a partner whose marriage is slipping away—in addition to orbiting pimps, self-important lawyers and small-time freaks aplenty, and you have a tale that gets major points for freshness and ambition. It's engrossing, original, and comes with the Official True Crime Report Seal of Freshness.— Pete Kotz

True Crime Report

Acclaimed documentary filmmaker Guttentag unleashes considerable rage against L.A. in this heartfelt mystery set on the seedy side of the city of angels....The introduction of an undercover cop provides welcome juice, and the plots collide in a way so surprising that, well, it would make a good movie.— Daniel Kraus

Booklist