Harbor Nocturne

Starred review from February 6, 2012
MWA Grand Master Wambaugh ventures into L.A.’s San Pedro district in his highly entertaining fifth novel to feature his Hollywood Station crew (after 2010’s Hollywood Hills). Surfer cops “Flotsam and Jetsam” get their first “intelligence-gathering mission” to ferret out the “money guys” behind a ring of erotic massage parlors, whose human trafficking operation may have resulted in the deaths of 13 Asian immigrants smuggled in a container at San Pedro’s shipping yards. Jetsam’s amputated foot is their entry to a wealthy Russian with an infatuation with amputees. Meanwhile, a Romeo and Juliet love burgeons between Dinko Babich, a Croatian longshoreman, and Lita Medina Flores, a Mexican dancer whose roommate’s sister was among the container’s victims. Razor-edged dialogue punctuates the vignette-filled plot. Realistic criminals are well matched by Wambaugh’s equally authentic police, including “Hollywood Nate” Weiss and a lazy cop nicknamed Unicorn, in this darkly comic, gritty look at life on the streets.

February 1, 2012

Mystery Writers of America Grand Master Wambaugh introduces readers to another Los Angeles neighborhood, the port of San Pedro. But never fear, favorite characters such as surfer cops Jetsam and Flotsam (Hollywood Hills) make their appearance, as does most of the LAPD Hollywood Station crew. A human trafficking ring catches their attention when 13 dead Asians are found inside a shipping container. Terrified by the news, two of the young women already enslaved in the sex trade try to flee. However, freedom is not an option, and those runaways will be hunted down. On a lighter note, a secondary plot gives Jetsam a cameo role in a creative sting operation involving illegal elective amputations. VERDICT The legendary Wambaugh's newest is chock-full of his trademark cop talk and offbeat side vignettes. His ability to weave a complex story together out of seemingly disparate elements lightens up some of the grittiness of big city police work.

Copyright 2012 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Starred review from February 15, 2012
Wambaugh fills his books with over-the-top, crazy war stories, disturbing, sometimes revolting in their details and insights into human nature and made more shocking because readers know Wambaugh gets his stories from real cops. And, while that could be more than enough, Wambaugh embeds the stories he hears from cops within fiercely and ingeniously plotted mysteries. The war storymystery combination works because cops naturally tell each other their stories in the downtimes between calls. This latest is part of Wambaugh's Hollywood Station series, in which police do battle against the crazies on the streets and in the hills. The action expands, this time, to the L.A. district of San Pedro, one of the world's busiest harbors, which boasts a harbor's share of lowlifes and career criminals. A love story starts when a druggie longshoreman takes the assignment of driving a young Mexican stripper from a harbor bar to a Hollywood nightclub, a decision that gets the longshoreman enmeshed in the sex-trafficking trade. Fans of Hollywood Station (2006), the first in the series, will be glad to see surfer cops Flotsam and Jetsam return, along with the always-ambitious Hollywood Nate Weiss, now pushing 40 and fearing that his chances to be discovered are as flimsy as his SAG card. A very fast ride-along, enlivened by cop gallows humor, snarky street altercations, and an insistent pull to the dark side.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2012, American Library Association.)