Guttentag, an Academy Award–winning film director (Twin Towers
), offers a moving, loosely knit crime drama about life on the streets of Hollywood in his first novel. Casey, a 15-year-old castoff from her dysfunctional family in Oregon, makes her way to the boulevards of Tinseltown to join the teeming, ever-revolving crew of runaways who get by through begging, stealing, and prostitution. One night at the legendary Chateau Marmont hotel, Casey kills a high-powered, politically connected lawyer who has a sexual penchant for the young. Leading the murder investigation is LAPD detective Jimmy McCann, whose own drug-addled son also lives on the streets. Despite occasional slips into misty-eyed prose, Guttentag shows a deft touch with detail as he chronicles an existence marked by moments of sheer panic followed by hours of boredom and mundane routine. The action builds to a hopeful and satisfying conclusion. (Feb.)
