L.A. Rex

by Will Beall

Book Overview

As far as everyone in the squad room knows, Ben Halloran is completely fresh to the streets of the 77th Division, a soft white kid from the West Side. But demons from Ben's past catch up with him all too quickly and he and his partner are quickly drawn into a web of ultraviolent corruption involving hardcore Crip gangbangers, Mexican Mafia and dirty cops. In L.A. Rex, Beall has penned a wholly explosive thriller that takes readers deeper into the...

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1594489262
• ISBN13: 9781594489266
• Release Date: September 2006
• Publisher: Riverhead Books
• Length: 353 Pages
• Weight: 2.00 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.2" x 6.2" x 9.3"
• Age Range: 18 years and up
• Grade Range: Postsecondary and higher

Customer Reviews

Great Read!

I read this book in about 4 days. Usually I read books over a span of weeks or even months. LA Rex was hard to put down. If you are a fan of the TV show The Shield this is a book for you.

Like Nietzsche -- don't read it in the dark. Beall's debut is perfectly crafted, razor-sharp grit.

In his debut novel L.A. Rex author and LAPD officer Will Beall takes us to a world that we might never otherwise know. His novel is escapist only because of our limited access to the streets of L.A.'s 77th District, not because they don't exist. Only an LAPD officer who patrols South Central could take us to the places Beall does. As readers, we are fortunate that in addition to being a no-frills beat cop, Beall is also a supremely talented writer who hasn't added to a genre as much as he has created one. As a former large city / urban patrol and narcotics cop myself, I can attest that Beall's novel is set in a world that offers edge, grit, brutality and consequence that will enthrall and surprise both the cynical cop and the lay reader. His first time out, Beall swings for the fences and delivers a walk-off homerun. He reveals to the reader a world that is, sometimes mesmerizing, sometimes bleak, but always vivid. While authenticity is Beall's trump card, this book represents a royal flush: a balanced novel with a plot bolstered by Beall's credibility but also powerful, original and extremely imaginative in its own right. Beall details a world he experiences instead of describing a ghetto he imagines. Beyond the realism of Beall's work is a structured novel that transcends the abilities of most debut offerings. At first glance, I thought that Beall's decision to use a type of scattered chronology would render the plot hard to follow. Instead, he uses time to his advantage and it results in a novel that is more journey than story. I believe that few people are as hesitant as I am to pick-up crime fiction or as quick to discard it. If most novels are like tattoos that are created; this novel is like a scar--something actually experienced and with a better story. This book is no tease--it delivers and makes you breakfast the next morning. L.A. Rex represents Beall's initial offering--hopefully just one of many. Someday you'll thank Officer Will Beall for weaving his world into honest, quality fiction, and thank God he's out there so you don't have to be.

Unbelievably Real

This book is gritty and real and after I read it I felt like I was a little less innocent than I was when I had begun. I was born and raised in South L.A. (South Central) and was surrounded by the gang lifestyle, complete with drugs, police and violence but was a statistical outlier and fortunately, I went on to college and eventually earned a professional degree. That being said I have a connection with many of the gritty gang bangers Beall writes about that most people never will. Somehow, I feel this book captures the road I didn't travel with amazing reality. This book is eerily real. In so many ways it truly captures not only the everyday happenings in our nations most dangerous areas but it captures the soul of the area. The book is a real page turner but what struck me was how Beall delved into psychological and spiritual underpinnings behind the social ills in urban Los Angeles. I was actually shocked to turn to the back cover and see that the writer was white. But when I found out that he was a cop in 77th division of L.A.P.D it all made sense. Beall has probably been in my old neighborhood 100 times more than I in the last decade and clearly has his finger on the pulse of the real demons of my hometown and this country. There were parts of this book that made me literally stand still and marvel at how Beall had translated the thoughts and feelings of young urban America for the masses to read. On its face the book has some of the strengths of some of my favorite novels. The book is as colorfully descriptive as the Da Vinci Code and almost more satisfying as I have never seen the cities in Europe that Dan Brown speaks of but with this book I could see every little familiar spot that I had grown up around in my mind as I read. It reminded me of how Walter Mosley books used to describe L.A. in the 40's but now as a child of the 90's I can check the authors work like only my grandparents could Mosley's. The book is a highflier, no doubt has ups and downs and crazy plot twist that I didn't see coming but to me this book gets high marks because of something much more important, good old fashioned character development. I highly recommend getting this book. I hope there's a sequel and really hope there's a movie. I see Crash meets Training Day meets Pulp Fiction.

Gritty, fast-paced and fun

Clear your calendar before reading LA Rex--once you start it you won't be able to put it down. Beall's characters are wacky, scary, degenerate and heroic, but never cookie-cutter good or bad. I was a little squeamish over the blood and gore, yet realize it's a fact of life in South Central LA. Lots of surprises! There's one point where I was sure Beal had written his main character into a corner; the escape is perhaps one of the most imaginative in the annals of adventure/suspense stories. I heartily recommend this book.

Literary Thriller

I loved this book. Written by an LAPD cop and set in Los Angeles, the story combines a can't-put-it-down page-turning thriller with a moving portrait of the cops, gangsters, and honest citizens caught up in the pathos of South-Central. Gangsters and cops (especially LAPD) are so often cast as one-dimensional thugs, but in this book they are people who feel anger, love, fear, compassion, etc. This is a violent, violent story. And South L.A. is a tragically violent place. I dislike violence for entertainment, but here, even the most over-the-top moments have an emotional truth: an allegorical transmission of the horror, fear, and futility faced by real urban cops like the author. It is also a fast-paced, fun, and often funny. Author Will Beall writes with wit and style. He echoes classic L.A. noir and gangsta rap, yet has a singular style which evokes the true-to-life details with his wry choice of words. My husband is a cop in L.A. and I wrote this, my first review, because this book so vividly portrays the truth of an almost mythical world. I'm giving it my highest recommendation because it is fascinating, truthful, and an exciting read.