So that was The Choirboys. Interesting. Alright how to review this novel? There have been a few people who have asked me how the book stacks up to the real thing. Is is it accurate and truthful? Are cops really like that and so on and so forth. In light of events in the past year people want to know. Some tell me because they think they know what I and my fellow officers are like. Okay. After giving it some thought I think the best way to approach this review is to break it into sections. So here goes.
ACCURATE & TRUTHFUL (with some reservations)
The book is mostly a series of events leading up to a tragedy. There is no central plot involving a criminal mastermind, criminal conspiracy or an investigation. We are introduced to many different officers and different experiences they have both professionally and personally. The events are tragic, hilarious, semi-serious, bizarre, disgusting and horrific. Some of these events took me back to calls I've been on in the past.
I can remember a suicide in which the victim used a magnum revolver on himself, dealing with a drunk driver who was totally naked (except for his fishing hat), and almost shooting another officer when he ran up behind me when I was looking for a suspect who had just beaten another person to the point of death with a claw hammer. The struggle to stay awake during the long stretches of nothing and the non-stop craziness when call after call is stacked up and there is just not enough officers to go around. The unexpected violence, the smell (now that's something that one can only experience first-hand. The smells that cops experience.Sorry but the Internet will never convey that experience) and the grinding of the teeth when one's instinct demands that a suspect be pounded, but the law and society says otherwise. Wambaugh accurately conveys the anger, irritations, humor, pathos, boredom, fear and exhilaration that is part and parcel of police work. He does a very good job in that respect.
I've known cops who have crashed and burned. I worked for several years with an officer who fought a losing battle with alcohol and had a couple failed marriages. He finally killed himself. I've known other (former) officers who made some really bad choices (mostly having to do with sex - of course) and lost their jobs. In a couple cases they also went to prison. It happens. The officers depicted in this novel are based on actual cops. I wish I could say that my profession is made up of god-like people, but that would be crock and everyone knows it.
NOT SO TRUTHFUL(in my humble opinion)
There are a few things to keep in mind when reading this novel. First of all I have gotten the impression (based on reading and instinct) that Wambaugh had pretty much resigned from the L.A.P.D. in spirit ,if not body, by the time he began writing The Choirboys. He had already had a couple best sellers in "The New Centurions" and "The Blue Knight" and it was time to commit full-time to his writing career. Knowing that he was going to resign before Choirboys was published Wambaugh uses the novel as his chance to vent about all those things that he didn't like about the L.A.P.D. Why not? He was wealthy (or getting there real quick) and he didn't need the job anymore. That tends to make one braver. As a result the book presents a very slanted view of the department's administration.
I've been in the profession of law enforcement for over fourteen years and I work for a much smaller department (65 officers vs. thousands of officers like L.A.P.D.). Our administration has made decisions that have irritated me as well. However administration has a very tough job involving pressures that I don't experience at my level and I'm okay with that. I don't believe that everyone past the rank of sergeant is an absolute and total idiot. Which is the impression that Wambaugh conveys in this book. Really? All of them? If that was the case I'm surprised that anyone got paid and the fleet kept running not to mention the lights and water keep running (yes police departments have to pay for utilities) No it's too much. I think that Wambaugh was influenced by the time period when he wrote the book. The serious anti-establishment attitude that was so prevalent in the early seventies. It slants the book and gives it an air of unreality. I also believe that it's sour grapes. He was getting ready to quit and he had had enough. So basically he is giving the finger to the department and that's all there is to that.
The officers that the book focuses on are screw-ups. Make no mistake they're bad cops (most of them) in so many ways. Misogynistic, alcoholic, abusive, corrupt, racist, and so on. Any police department worth it's salt would get rid of those officers as fast as it could if it had any sense whatsoever. But they are purposefully exaggerated characters and they are based (loosely I hope) on actual L.A.P.D. cops that Wambaugh had either heard about or knew. In Choirboys he brought all these cops together and put them in the same division on the same watch. While one will always have one or two colorful officers on any team you probably won't have ten of those officers working together.
We don't have choir practices in my department. We/I work a twelve hour shift (not an eight hour shift). I work as a one man car ,not a two man car, meaning that I deal with everything on my own. I don't have a partner to divide up the work load. A a result when my shift is over I'm tired. I go home to the wife and kids. I've been married for twenty-three years and I don't screw around on my wife. However that's just me.
The book was written over forty years ago and there have been big changes not only within the L.A.P.D., but in America law enforcement and American society in general (for example there are many more women now wearing badges and they are on the road). Try to keep that in mind when reading this novel. Please.
CONCLUSION
A pretty good book all in all. I found the chapter near the end in which there is a blow-by-blow accounting of a choir practice to be rather tedious. It dragged on too long. Obnoxious drunks are obnoxious drunks. Doesn't matter if they are cops or civilians. I don't like obnoxious drunks and I found myself skimming through that chapter. I wasn't offended by the various racial epitaphs nor should you be. First of all the book is forty years old and second of all police work isn't a nice job. It can get ugly at times and cops are called things and say things that aren't always real pleasant. If you're sensitive about such things (and no I am not making fun of you if you are) then don't read this novel. However by today's standards it's actually pretty mild - with a few notable exceptions.
So if you are curious about what a patrolman experiences (and it is about the patrol experience - not the detective) then give The Choirboys a read. Just remember what I wrote. It isn't a real pleasant read, but you might find it rather enlightening.
ACCURATE & TRUTHFUL (with some reservations)
The book is mostly a series of events leading up to a tragedy. There is no central plot involving a criminal mastermind, criminal conspiracy or an investigation. We are introduced to many different officers and different experiences they have both professionally and personally. The events are tragic, hilarious, semi-serious, bizarre, disgusting and horrific. Some of these events took me back to calls I've been on in the past.
I can remember a suicide in which the victim used a magnum revolver on himself, dealing with a drunk driver who was totally naked (except for his fishing hat), and almost shooting another officer when he ran up behind me when I was looking for a suspect who had just beaten another person to the point of death with a claw hammer. The struggle to stay awake during the long stretches of nothing and the non-stop craziness when call after call is stacked up and there is just not enough officers to go around. The unexpected violence, the smell (now that's something that one can only experience first-hand. The smells that cops experience.Sorry but the Internet will never convey that experience) and the grinding of the teeth when one's instinct demands that a suspect be pounded, but the law and society says otherwise. Wambaugh accurately conveys the anger, irritations, humor, pathos, boredom, fear and exhilaration that is part and parcel of police work. He does a very good job in that respect.
I've known cops who have crashed and burned. I worked for several years with an officer who fought a losing battle with alcohol and had a couple failed marriages. He finally killed himself. I've known other (former) officers who made some really bad choices (mostly having to do with sex - of course) and lost their jobs. In a couple cases they also went to prison. It happens. The officers depicted in this novel are based on actual cops. I wish I could say that my profession is made up of god-like people, but that would be crock and everyone knows it.
NOT SO TRUTHFUL(in my humble opinion)
There are a few things to keep in mind when reading this novel. First of all I have gotten the impression (based on reading and instinct) that Wambaugh had pretty much resigned from the L.A.P.D. in spirit ,if not body, by the time he began writing The Choirboys. He had already had a couple best sellers in "The New Centurions" and "The Blue Knight" and it was time to commit full-time to his writing career. Knowing that he was going to resign before Choirboys was published Wambaugh uses the novel as his chance to vent about all those things that he didn't like about the L.A.P.D. Why not? He was wealthy (or getting there real quick) and he didn't need the job anymore. That tends to make one braver. As a result the book presents a very slanted view of the department's administration.
I've been in the profession of law enforcement for over fourteen years and I work for a much smaller department (65 officers vs. thousands of officers like L.A.P.D.). Our administration has made decisions that have irritated me as well. However administration has a very tough job involving pressures that I don't experience at my level and I'm okay with that. I don't believe that everyone past the rank of sergeant is an absolute and total idiot. Which is the impression that Wambaugh conveys in this book. Really? All of them? If that was the case I'm surprised that anyone got paid and the fleet kept running not to mention the lights and water keep running (yes police departments have to pay for utilities) No it's too much. I think that Wambaugh was influenced by the time period when he wrote the book. The serious anti-establishment attitude that was so prevalent in the early seventies. It slants the book and gives it an air of unreality. I also believe that it's sour grapes. He was getting ready to quit and he had had enough. So basically he is giving the finger to the department and that's all there is to that.
The officers that the book focuses on are screw-ups. Make no mistake they're bad cops (most of them) in so many ways. Misogynistic, alcoholic, abusive, corrupt, racist, and so on. Any police department worth it's salt would get rid of those officers as fast as it could if it had any sense whatsoever. But they are purposefully exaggerated characters and they are based (loosely I hope) on actual L.A.P.D. cops that Wambaugh had either heard about or knew. In Choirboys he brought all these cops together and put them in the same division on the same watch. While one will always have one or two colorful officers on any team you probably won't have ten of those officers working together.
We don't have choir practices in my department. We/I work a twelve hour shift (not an eight hour shift). I work as a one man car ,not a two man car, meaning that I deal with everything on my own. I don't have a partner to divide up the work load. A a result when my shift is over I'm tired. I go home to the wife and kids. I've been married for twenty-three years and I don't screw around on my wife. However that's just me.
The book was written over forty years ago and there have been big changes not only within the L.A.P.D., but in America law enforcement and American society in general (for example there are many more women now wearing badges and they are on the road). Try to keep that in mind when reading this novel. Please.
CONCLUSION
A pretty good book all in all. I found the chapter near the end in which there is a blow-by-blow accounting of a choir practice to be rather tedious. It dragged on too long. Obnoxious drunks are obnoxious drunks. Doesn't matter if they are cops or civilians. I don't like obnoxious drunks and I found myself skimming through that chapter. I wasn't offended by the various racial epitaphs nor should you be. First of all the book is forty years old and second of all police work isn't a nice job. It can get ugly at times and cops are called things and say things that aren't always real pleasant. If you're sensitive about such things (and no I am not making fun of you if you are) then don't read this novel. However by today's standards it's actually pretty mild - with a few notable exceptions.
So if you are curious about what a patrolman experiences (and it is about the patrol experience - not the detective) then give The Choirboys a read. Just remember what I wrote. It isn't a real pleasant read, but you might find it rather enlightening.
