Boulevard by Stephen Jay Schwartz

Epigraph:  The lines along which [the shattered vase] had broken...will always remain discernible to an experienced eye.  However, it will have a certain wisdom since it knows something that the vase that has never been broken does not:  it knows what it is to break and what it is to come together. - Salman Akhtar, Psychoanalyst

Opening line to the book:  Detective Hayden Glass of the Los Angeles Police Department's Robbery-Homicide Division drove his old Hollywood beat, crossing Fairfax, heading east on Sunset Boulevard.

Synopsis:  Watch this extensive video of the author being interviewed in two parts taken from youtube:





And here is another video (14:13) taken from www.spinetinglermag.com which I think is a must-watch due to it being a startling interview by a promising new voice:


Stephen Jay Schwartz interview from Damon Cap on Vimeo.

There is something when reading this book that makes me feel as if I am being transported right into the grittiness of LA, not sitting solitude in my front room looking out the window on an uneventful rainy afternoon in UK.  I cannot quite pinpoint what that something is but I can tell you that this author has a unique voice that draws you into each and every word, scene, description and character and at the same time, it repulses.  It is a powerfully evocative read.  It is original.  It is disturbing.  It is riveting.  It is shocking.  It is intimately honest.  It is intense.  It is amazing.  It is fascinating.  I can honestly say that I have not read a book of this calibre in a long time.  Heck, I could not believe this is the work of a first-time writer.

What strikes me most is Schwartz's mastery of language/prose and dialogue which are realistic, articulate, convincing and unpretentious.  He tells of a complex protagonist who works as a vice cop and who hides a tortured and ironic secret.  I cannot even begin to imagine anyone who is plagued by a shameful addiction and yet have to fight the inclination everyday on the job but here he is, LAPD Detective Hayden Glass, laid bare for all to get to know.

If you do not know much about the gist of this book aside from it being a gripping thriller, then this book will open your eyes and I mean literally.  It is because it is a book about human fallibility and human weakness but it is also a book about the human spirit and human resilience, of surviving through the deep murky waters of life and of fighting through whatever life throws at you because there is hope.  You cannot go far wrong reading a book written by an author who has experienced it and this is the kind of book that I like reading.  It is impressively written with amazing depth.

I have already placed an order for the sequel.  It may be a guy's guy book but yeah, I can dig it!

Stephen Jay Schwartz grew up in New Mexico and travelled the United States extensively before settling down in Los Angeles with his wife, two sons, a crazy dog and a rat.  There he became the director of development for film director Wolfgang Petersen, helping develop films such as Outbreak and Air Force One.  Boulevard is his debut novel and is on the Los Angeles Times Bestseller list.  His second novel, Beat, a sequel to Boulevard is already out on 28 September 2010.  To find out more about this gifted author, his website is at Stephen Jay Schwartz or you can friend him on Facebook.

Rating:  7/5