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Death By Hollywood
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Plot Summary of Death By Hollywood
"Bobby Newman, a reasonably successful Hollywood screenwriter, owes a script to a director/producer and is blocked. He happens to witness a murder in a house below his: 40-year-old but still gorgeous former actress Linda Paulson, married to the older, fat, and extremely wealthy owner of a string of TV stations, has just had sex with her lover, Hispanic actor and acting teacher Ramon, gets in a fight with him, and clubs him. Ramon dies, but he has been videotaping their sex unbeknownst to Linda, so Bobby retrieves the video and decides to write a screenplay about the situation.

Detective Dennis Farentino catches the case, and Bobby interviews him for plot ideas and color. Farentino quickly determines that Bobby knows more about the murder than he's letting on. Bobby and Dennis discuss working on a TV cop series together. Bobby gets involved with Linda, and Bobby's estranged wife Vee starts seeing the detective. Angry at Vee, Bobby plants Ramon's video of his night with HER and some coke in her car, then sets it afire and calls 911. Although Dennis arranges a self-defense plea deal for Linda, things heat up again when a bootleg copy of her encounter with Ramon, including the murder, gets out to the tabloids."

David Loftus, Resident Scholar



Review Analysis of Death By Hollywood
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Ratings are on a 1-10 scale (Low to High)
Plot

Composition of Book
descript. of violence and chases - 20%
Planning/preparing, gather info, debate puzzles/motives - 40%
Feelings, relationships, character bio/development - 20%
How society works & physical descript. (people, objects, places) - 20%




Tone of story - Dry-cynical
Time/era of story: - present (2000-2010)
Kid or adult book? - Adult or Young Adult Book
Crime Thriller Yes
Crime plotlets: - seduction/blackmail
General Crime (including known murderer) Yes
Is Romance a MAJOR (25%+) part of story? Yes

Main Character
Gender - Male
Profession/status: - police/lawman
Age: - 40's-50's
How much violence does he/she use? - a significant amount
Ethnicity/Race - White/American
How sensitive is this character? - middling sensitive to others' feelings
Sense of humor - Cynical sense of humor
Intelligence - Smarter than most other characters
Physique - average physique

Main Adversary
Identity: - Male
Age: - 20's-30's
Profession/status: - writer
Eccentric: Yes - deluded - emotionally unstable
How much of work is main antagonist actually present in: - a substantial amount
Motive of antagonist - money/treasure
How sensitive is this character? - middling sensitive to others' feelings
Sense of humor - Cynical sense of humor
Intelligence - Average intelligence
Physique - average physique

Setting
United States Yes
The US: - California
City? Yes
City: - Los Angeles
Misc setting - fancy mansion

Style
Person - mostly 3rd
Accounts of torture and death? - moderately detailed references to deaths
How many deaths? - 3-4
Sex Yes
What kind of sex: - touching of anatomy - actual description of sex - descript. of breasts - descript. of other female areas
Unusual forms of death - blunt clubbing (like seals)
Unusual form of death? Yes
Amount of dialog - roughly even amounts of descript and dialog
Most similar books to Death By Hollywood
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Honeymoon by James Patterson & Howard Roughan
Ceremony by Robert B. Parker


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