Customer Reviews

Boulevard

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

This may be Stephen Jay Schwartz's first book, but you'd never know it from the writing. Or the plotting. Or the characters. BOULEVARD is all adrenaline, a spiraling dance of doomed souls in the best tradition of LA noir. The streets here are so well-drawn you can almost see the heat shimmering off the asphalt and smell the exhaust as hookers, cops, and addicts of various kinds do their perpetual dance. Hayden Glass is a cop with a secret, a secret that not only endangers his search for a vicious serial predator, but also brings Glass to the jolting realization that he is somehow part of the predator's scenario. From the first scene to the dead-stop conclusion, Schwartz never lets up, and his story lifts a corner of the social fabric and peers beneath it to shine light on a part of the urban world that most of us, if we are lucky, will never be part of.

Just set aside a couple days of your life, right now, and buy this book. This truly is one you will not be able to stop reading. The deeply flawed, complex main character grabs your attention from the beginning and never lets go. It's an extremely dark and twisted ride, fearless in the willingness to face the shadow. By the ending, the reader is left breathless and exhausted, and unable to forget about the time shared on the Boulevard. Amazing debut.

This one blew me away. I was hooked from the start, and then became irritated and grouchy when real-life interruptions got in the way of my read. That's a very good sign. :)

In Boulevard, Schwartz's debut thriller, we're introduced to a troubled protagonist, Hayden Glass, a dedicated and gifted robbery and homicide investigator plagued by a private demon, sex addiction. Slowly, we learn the many facets of Hayden's true self that have been lost to his addiction, but what really brought this character to life for me was the realistic "one step forward, two steps back" portrayal of his continued efforts to heal and recover.

As Hayden works a string of murder cases, he discovers that he is the link connecting them all. While other detectives in his division are headed down the wrong path, Hayden struggles to end a serial killing spree alone, without backing from his comrades or captain. He knows he is a common link to each crime, but can't come forward with full disclosure without essentially ending his career. Worse, he doesn't believe the men left to do the job have the capacity to do it right.

With tight prose, outstanding dialogue, and strong supporting characters, I enjoyed this novel as much for its impressive writing as for its fast-paced and gripping storyline. Highly recommended for thriller fans, readers of police procedurals, and those who like a dark, disturbing read that taps uncomfortable spots in the psyche. This one is definitely an emotional ride.

I'm standing by for the next in the Hayden Glass series, BEAT, coming in September, 2010.

The protagonist is a sex addict cop, and a huge proportion of the book revolves around him and his addictive behaviours. Unfortunately, the way he approaches his addition is not very engaging, and it's difficult to like him. We don't see enough of any other character to like them much either. The female characters in the book are particularly hard to take...why do they have any interest in this guy? None of his relationships rang true, for me.

Some of the aspects of the murders he investigates are interesting, and as he starts to build the profile of the killer -- and the challenges of investigating a case he is so close to -- the book picks up some speed and interest.

Unfortunately, it always comes back to his sex addiction. Some of the other reviews have used adjectives like "steamy" for this book. This, for me, was a major problem. The author seems to be trying to walk a line between honestly addressing the painful life of the addict, and writing to titillate.

The finale goes more than a bit over the top. (Why do so many new authors think they have to try to out-do Hannibal Lecter?)

I also kept thinking that the author was writing with a screen-play in mind. Maybe I'm doing him a disservice, but I would have appreciated a little more character development and interaction, instead of what seemed like a set-up to sell a script to some studio.

I was tempted to put it down at several points, but was curious enough to keep going to the end, so that's not all bad. But the end certainly didn't satisfy.

I come from the Old School of Los Angeles crime fiction (think Ross MacDonald) so I tend to view newer writers seeking to make a name in that niche with a jaundiced eye. That bias of mine made it all the more of a pleasure to discover this debut novel by a great new voice in the field. What makes "Boulevard" so compelling is not just the expertly plotted narrative but the profoundly conflicted protagonist at its center. Throwaway terms like "gritty" and "hardboiled" will certainly be used to describe this book but they fail to convey the psychological depth found within. Hopefully the beginning of a prodigious series, this certainly merits close attention to future work from Schwartz.

Several reviewers indicated that they had a hard time putting this book down. While it read easily, I found that it wasn't difficult to put it aside because the plot, protagonist, and villain are so unrealistic and so contrived that I found myself getting impatient with the whole setup. The protagonist, Hayden Glass, does manifest some of the stereotypical negative qualities of an addict: self-absorption, narcissism, self-indulgence, recklessness, and irresponsibility as well as that perennial addictive behavior of blaming everyone for the unraveling of his life and success. Unfortunately, Schwartz seems to find these qualities endearing and has engineered all the other characters to serve as fodder for Hayden's obsessions.

There's that old saying, "Only in Hollywood." It tells that Schwartz has written for the movies, because he seems more intrigued with shock, gory spectacle, and special effects (all the banes of much of contemporary movie making) rather than creating character that is inner motivated and believable. The last couple chapters of the book were so far fetched as to be laughable. I was no longer thrilled, held in suspense, or shocked. I just wanted this book to be done.

It's hard to imagine a second act for Schwartz since he seems to have pulled out every stop on this novel. What's left to be shocking?

I was surprised to read the endorsement of Robert Crais, a suspense writer that I admire. I could see James Ellroy applauding this book since its literary excess matches some of his over-wrought and indulgent fantasies.

I feel I'am getting lucky. This is another book that is smashing to bits the mold of formula novels. No cardboard characterization here. It down and dirty with detective Hayden Glass, because when things get bad they go to wosre and then, he thinks...there will be an end. Thats the great thing about finding it worse each day because eventually there will be a bottom/then things can start looking up!
The dectective is drawn to counter the go along to get along corporate hiearchy. He hasn't risen to the rank of D3 by rearranging facts in a case to satisfy politicians(Cheney/Bush 101), and he isn't about to start ANYTIME!
The dectective is a sex addict and knows it. He is trying to fight it but his animal being isn't having it. He's having a psychological fight within himself that is going off balance. Hayden is trying to hold onto his sanity as he investigate another sex addict who is in WAY DEEPER than Glass/pulling him to the point of no return.
I miss my Penthouse Letters(my wife's advise). That said, Stephen Jay Schwartz can really sex up a page(s), the steam coming off the page(s) was just getting too much for me to see through!
The violence, sex, intrique, puzzle, tension, pressure - all build up to a climax that had me wondering about that ole truism: be carefull what you wish for/ Mine was - NO MORE Hollywood endings.
What you'll get is another trusim: a half glass (FULL/empty).
A very satisfying read at many levels. Another fresh new perspective that has me eager to snatch up his next work at first opportunity.

HIGHLY RECOOMMENDED !!!!!

I had Boulevard recommended to me by another writer while we were discussing novels that left you feeling a little dirty, and not in a good way. I intended to buy it for my kindle, but paid remarkably less for a used paperback copy that surprisingly enough, reads just the same. Ahem. Anyway.
I was excited to dig into the book and it didn't disappoint. Once you get into this novel, it grabs a hold of you and drags you down into the depths of Hayden's depravity as he spirals into rock bottom and almost loses everything in the process. The trail the serial killer leaves is violent and disturbing, yet even you doubt the connections and Hayden's sanity at some moments. I know I at least spent the majority of the book wanting to slap Hayden and make him disclose to save his own neck and many others, and many nights I read irresponsibly late just wanting to see what the next chapter would bring. The book is gripping and engaging, I would highly recommend for anyone who is of a mind to stomach depravity.
However, I did find the ending lacking in a little bit of flair. First of all, it was a little hazy. I'm still not sure exactly what happened, or if there was a hint of Hayden having a darker addiction than the reader knew, or really having any clarity on exactly what happened in the last scene. But more than that, I felt that an element that makes crime novels great was missing. Part of the fun derived from such a book comes from (in my opinion) trying to connect the clues before the great reveal and attempting to figure out the guilty party ahead of the protagonist. In Boulevard, the who-done-it turned out to be a side note previously in the book and left the reader no chance to even not suspect them of the crimes. I felt like this robbed the reader of a little bit of fun in the ending.
Despite this, however, I loved the book. Will definitely be passing along to a friend.

The first thing that needs to be said about BOULEVARD is that it is not for the squeamish or the faint of heart. This is bitter black noir in which the protagonist is almost as deeply screwed up as the people he's both trying to lock up and save. Personally, I loved the oppressive Los Angeles atmosphere and the tight plotting, but some readers might be turned off by the intensity of the subject matter. For those with a taste for the darker side of genre fiction, BOULEVARD is a sure thing. It will challenge, compel and entertain in equal doses.

I just finished the book and it was pretty good. The story was not formulaic and rather original. The ending left me scratching my head because there was no explanation given as to why the villain did what he did and the book just ends. I took off a star for that. The protagonist is a flawed cop that is believable and very raw. There were times when the action slowed a bit, I think to give the reader a breather so I was ok with that. There were a few spots where the author needed to pick up the action a little faster.

Overall a good read and a very believable character. I just picked up Schwartz' second book that continues Hayden's story. I'm interested to see where this goes.