As a long-time fan of NYPD Blue, I had to give Steven Bochco’s first novel a read. The publisher had to do the usual margin and leading tricks to get this up to hard-back page count (what would have been wrong with a 150 page novel?). But Death by Hollywood is a tasty little snack.

By and large, we’re nothing more than well-paid pimps who represent our poched-out clients as if they’re beautiful young virgins, offereing them up to a bunch of jaded johns who know better, but these are the only whores in town. As the saying goes, denial is not a river in Egypt. It’s a river in Hollywood, and it runs deep, and brown.

On deck: Deception Point by Dan Brown; and Quicksilver by Neal Stephenson. Volume one of three. Each in the 1,000 page range.