Customer Reviews

Law & Order: Crime Scenes

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I've been waiting for months for this book to come out, and it was worth the wait! I LOVE Law & Order, and this book really captures what the show is all about...the dark, sometimes disturbing search for justice. I especially love the part where Dick Wolf discusses how he came up with each character (especially my favorite A.D.A., Jack McCoy!) If you're a fan of Law & Order, you'll want to own this book.

The best show on TV deserves of book of this caliber. It is truly excellent. I loved reading about all of the major characters, and the photos of the crime scenes make you think they are real. That's what makes this book incredible. Just like the show, it crosses over between fiction and reality, so much that you think these crime scenes must be real. I am going to buy this book for all my friends who are nuts for the show.

"Law & Order" is becoming the British Empire of TV franchises: the sun never sets upon it. At any given moment, somewhere in the world, some station is probably broadcasting an episode of one of the three L&O series. If you're one of the many people who consider this a Good Thing, "Law & Order: Crime Scenes" is a book for you.

Much of the book is taken up by "crime scene" photos from the original "Law & Order" series. These photos not only illustrate the care taken by the show's actors and technicians, but are themselves often featured in the program. Serious fans will thus have fun playing "Name That Episode" with these images. While you know they're all staged, many of these photos are nevertheless rather gory and blood-spattered, and some are downright gruesome. That's why I doubt this book will be left out on the coffee table when the grandparents visit. Unless, of course, Grandma's an L&O fan too.

While the photos themselves are interesting (and one, at least, is surprisingly moving: the photo of Claire Kincaid [Jill Hennessy] "dead" in her car following the accident that took her out of the program), I was more intrigued by the sections that bookend them. The last part of the book consists of thumbnail biographies of L&O's principal characters. From Max Greevey and Paul Robinette all the way to Ed Green and DA Arthur Branch, series creator Dick Wolf not only explains their history on the show, but also why they were created, why they left (in real life and "TV life"), and how they progressed. While he doesn't answer any questions about a Jack-Claire affair, he does at least provide an explanation for Serena Southerlyn's changing dress and hairstyles from season to season.

On the front end, Wolf's introduction includes an excellent discussion of how the show was created, what he set out to do, and how well he thinks he's achieved it. This is followed by an in-depth look at the process of creating the "teaser," the two scenes between the initial fade-in ("In the criminal justice system...") and the opening credits. Everyone involved, from the techs to the actors to the real NYPD officers monitoring things and even the corpse herself, get a chance to speak about their role in the process. It's a fascinating behind-the-scenes look at how a television production happens.

This book isn't really a viewers' guide to the show, and contains no episode summaries or anything like that. But many hard-core fans will no doubt get a lot out of it anyway. And even people interested in knowing how a series TV production goes from script to screen will probably enjoy the experience too.

This is a nice big coffee table book on Law and Order. It, however, only goes to 2003. It has a lot of great charactor sketches and nice large photos--black and white-- of the cast until that point. Obviously, a lot has happened on the show since--most important the death of Orbach/Briscoe. There are more current sources of information, but as a collectors piece, very good

I got this book for my husband as a birthday present. We religiously watch all the Law & Order episodes, (rock on tnt and usa!) This book does contain some gore, but if you are a fanatic of the show, you will love this book! The book is separated into 3 sections. Each section is great in it's own way. Very well done and put together. Bravo!
Blessings to Jerry Orbach.

This book is everything I expected and more. Clear, fascinating text describes the show's origins, and how it is put together from its story-driven framework, to its ever-evolving cast of characters. Excellent profiles on those in front of and behind the scenes; they clearly have a formula that works. I found the section delineating the show's plot structure especially interesting. The crime scene photographs are top notch as well. Graphic, yes, but expertly composed and realistic. Jessica Burstein (the co-writer and photographer) is a true artist. This book is a must have for all Law & Order fans!

I try to stray away from other reviews, keeping my fingers crossed that if, by chance, we share the same thoughts, it's just coincidental. Well, I erred and read a review from Andrew Rogers and I must agree with everything that he said.

Dick Wolf's very informative photographic essay of the long-running NBC institution is for the fan and non-fan alike. It gives all the intricacies of television production, as well as showcases the actors that respectively starred in the show over the past fourteen years.

When I saw this one on the shelf of a local bookstore, I knew that it had to be mine. Just like the series it profiles, the book is worthy of awards for its striking black and white photography.

It also needs to be in the home of everyone that appreciates Wolf's masterpiece.

Now, I can't wait for the Special Victims Unit edition!

Apart from being a Law & Order fan, I'm very interested in photography. Law & Order Crime Scenes is the perfect balance of inside information on the show and fascinating photographs. This book is unique and is a true testament to the talent that makes Law & Order so special. I highly recommend it.

This book does overwhelm one with Dick Wolfe's power to "make it happen." When you read it, it's the same kind of feeling you get when you watch Law and Order.

If you get a chance to page through this book before you buy it, it will be time well spent. This book is NOT what I expected, nor what I thought it would contain, when the announcement of this book came out a few months ago.

I just finished the book and my gut reaction is - disappointment. There were no new or huge revelations about the characters that I could see, and I thought that there were supposed to be some in this book. It focused predominantly on the "behind the scenes" people (script, makeup, location manager, art dept. etc.) and the production process, which was somewhat interesting but frankly not why I watch the show. The odd thing is that the explanation of what the behind the scenes people do is presented in pure text, you don't see photos of the people DOING their jobs, which may have added some interest. In fact, I would have liked the book better if I could have seen these people in action, along with the familiar cast faces we know and love.

I know the book is called "Crime Scenes" but I could have done without so many pages on the photos of their staged crime scenes. It looks much more gory than what we see, or what we percieve on the show, and frankly I LIKE the fact that the show downplays the gory details. So having so much space devoted to these photgraphs was a bit repulsive to me.

Bottom line is that if you buy the book to get new information on your favorite characters, or information about the people who portray them on the show, this book is not for you. Even with me being a real Law and Order junkie, I think I should have passed on this book.