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Hollywood Hack Job
Three disparate and deranged tales featuring deluded narcissists, desperate wannabes, cunning fraudsters, lecherous vampires and sociopathic social climbers, in the city where dreams are sold and nightmares are conjured.
FALSE ICONS AND SACRED COWS: Fr. Arthur Gerdtz is on a mission from God. His church is fighting for relevance in the modern world. Attendances are dwindling, atheism is rising, and Instagram celebrities are bigger than Jesus. This veteran priest is in danger of losing his religion - until he brings some Old Testament values into the twenty-first century.
THE HONEY TRAP: Two lost souls are drawn to each other one night via Tinder. He is a successful businessman, searching for a reprieve from a life of solitude. She is a sweet-natured but damaged schoolgirl who just wants to be understood. Both long to connect with another human being. They know that meeting up is a bad idea, and they know their actions could have far-reaching consequences. What they don’t know is that the other hides a secret.
THE SHARPEST KNIVES IN THE DRAWER: Cameron Knight and Eric Haas discover the realities of being a Hollywood screenwriter haven’t quite met their expectations. Their dreams of living the high life have fallen by the wayside and they find themselves hopelessly out of their depth, struggling to finish the lowbrow horror gore-fest they have been hired to write. Do they have what it takes to make it in Hollywood? How far they are willing to go to succeed in such a cut-throat industry? And when you have no limits, how do you know when you’ve gone too far?
- GenresFictionEbooksParanormal
243 pages, Kindle Edition
Published January 17, 2022
61 people are currently reading
135 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
May 9, 2024
Very interesting
September 29, 2018
I decided to read another book by Nathan Allen. I had read two of his books and although I rated them both five stars I really liked one and I really disliked the other one. As of today the three books mentioned here are still available for the kindle for free through amazon.com.
I am really happy to say that I thoroughly enjoyed Hollywood Hack Job. This book shocked and surprised me and it did have a lot of the personal style of Nathan Allen's writing as well. Like in The War On Horror: Tales From A Post-Zombie Society his writing heavily critiques modern western society and it is full of clever satire just like both that book and his book All Against All. But unlike his book The War On Horror: Tales From A Post-Zombie Society I found that his critique in Hollywood Hack Job is very lighthearted. Personally I think its fun and more enjoyable. It was also insane.
I went into this book fairly blind and because of the title and the cover I thought that Hollywood Hack Job was actually going to be about hacks in Hollywood as in this dictonary.com definition:
a person, as an artist or writer, who exploits, for money, his or her creative ability or training in the production of dull, unimaginative, and trite work
I think maybe I was sort of right about that but it turns out (I think) that the title is another clever move from Nathan Allen and its got a purposeful dual meaning. This book was some of what I thought it was going to be and also people getting killed, often, in large numbers... Just for fun I have attempted to gather a list of some of the people killed in this book that you might have heard of. Lots of characters get killed in various ways. Including
James Franco
Bella Thorne
Seth Rogan
Courtney Cox
Billy Bob Thornton
William Shatner
Sonny Skrillex Moore
Cara Delevinge
David Lee Roth
Kelly Osbourne
Meat Loaf
Tobey Maguire
Larry The Cable Guy
The drummer from 5 seconds of summer
Taylor Lautner
Adam Levine
Vince Vaughan
Gary Sinese
Ben Affleck
Bruce Willis
Sean Penn
Jeremy Renner
Kevin Sorbo
Ice T
Ted Nugent
Miranda Lambert
Kid Rock
Ryan Reynolds
Dana Carvey
Adele
Jessica Simpson
Seth MacFarlane
a bunch of victorias secret models
Amy Schumer
Justin Long
Macklemore
two of the jonas brothers
four cast members from modern family
Anna Kendrick
Calvin Harris
Chelsea Clinton
Bradley Cooper
Kendall Jenner
Drake
Blake Lively
John Mayer
Lorde
There were many more deaths but I think you get the picture. There is a bit of fun and abandon in reading a fictional tale about celebrities being killed after Nathan Allen properly set up this tale. Although its largely satire he does a great job of pointing out certain truths that make these fictional deaths a little easier to read about. I don't think its mean spirited either but I took it to be sort of zany.
Here is a quote from the book that I liked quite a bit.
“Ordinary, unremarkable people who had cultivated huge online followings for no discernible reason. The possessed no unique talents, nor had they done anything to to benefit anyone other than themselves. There was nothing particularly interesting about any of them. In fact, most appeared to be simply horrible people – self centered, Shallow, vindictive, and extraordinarily vain. Of greater concern was that this sort of behavior was actively rewarded.”
This is something that I think has occurred to all of us at some point so its almost impossible to disagree with that assessment. It almost makes you want to nod your head. I found that his critiques are always true but sometimes they are also really funny. Here is another quote that I liked.
“He saw young people pouting into the camera, shots in a mirror's reflection, post-workout images, point-of-view- beach snaps, and innumerable instances of people who believed that having their tongue hanging out of their mouths somehow made them edgy or subversive. [Side note: Hanging Tongue Syndrome is a condition prevalent in many types of dogs. It is caused by inbreeding.]”
Hollywood Hack Job also has the kind of wild almost comical violence that I enjoyed from his other books. Here is another quote that I picked out.
“He clasped a handful of bloodied hair extensions and lifted the pop star's disembodied head into the air. Screams of terror rippled around the auditorium as her lifeless eyes opened up and stared back into the crowd.”
This book includes many characters in different social and financial brackets. Including a murderous priest, murderous screenwriters, Hollywood producers and actors right down to low life petty criminals. It includes some of what might be seen as extreme religion. It includes what is definitely one of the biggest conspiracy theories about a cult that many people think exists in Hollywood. It may or may not actually have a character that is Satan. Their stories start in different places but often their tales later meet and weave into each other in unexpected ways. Sometimes there are satisfying twists depending on how you look at it.
It might sound strange to say that this particular book is fun but I think it is. I really enjoy Nathan Allen's wit as well as his sense of poetic justice and I think he has very interesting ideas. I have always preferred an underdog and I love the way he turns the status quo on its head.
I also enjoy his subtle clash of themes like the older generations versus the younger generations and new technologies. Like celebrities versus normal working class people. Finally, I enjoy his unique fictional ideas of good people doing good things versus bad people doing bad things and how that line and the possibilities can shift and move or get erased completely depending on someone's personal beliefs and worldview.
This book is fiction, its blatantly fiction, its fun and wild and it can get pretty crazy. It is also thought provoking. I think it has a great pace and I was very entertained. Objectively I rated this book FIVE stars but I also liked it on a personal level. I can imagine that a lot of people wouldn't like this book and I imagine a lot of people would be offended. I don't know if this book is for everyone and I would probably recommend this book to someone who would actually be interested in these themes.
I am really happy to say that I thoroughly enjoyed Hollywood Hack Job. This book shocked and surprised me and it did have a lot of the personal style of Nathan Allen's writing as well. Like in The War On Horror: Tales From A Post-Zombie Society his writing heavily critiques modern western society and it is full of clever satire just like both that book and his book All Against All. But unlike his book The War On Horror: Tales From A Post-Zombie Society I found that his critique in Hollywood Hack Job is very lighthearted. Personally I think its fun and more enjoyable. It was also insane.
I went into this book fairly blind and because of the title and the cover I thought that Hollywood Hack Job was actually going to be about hacks in Hollywood as in this dictonary.com definition:
a person, as an artist or writer, who exploits, for money, his or her creative ability or training in the production of dull, unimaginative, and trite work
I think maybe I was sort of right about that but it turns out (I think) that the title is another clever move from Nathan Allen and its got a purposeful dual meaning. This book was some of what I thought it was going to be and also people getting killed, often, in large numbers... Just for fun I have attempted to gather a list of some of the people killed in this book that you might have heard of. Lots of characters get killed in various ways. Including
James Franco
Bella Thorne
Seth Rogan
Courtney Cox
Billy Bob Thornton
William Shatner
Sonny Skrillex Moore
Cara Delevinge
David Lee Roth
Kelly Osbourne
Meat Loaf
Tobey Maguire
Larry The Cable Guy
The drummer from 5 seconds of summer
Taylor Lautner
Adam Levine
Vince Vaughan
Gary Sinese
Ben Affleck
Bruce Willis
Sean Penn
Jeremy Renner
Kevin Sorbo
Ice T
Ted Nugent
Miranda Lambert
Kid Rock
Ryan Reynolds
Dana Carvey
Adele
Jessica Simpson
Seth MacFarlane
a bunch of victorias secret models
Amy Schumer
Justin Long
Macklemore
two of the jonas brothers
four cast members from modern family
Anna Kendrick
Calvin Harris
Chelsea Clinton
Bradley Cooper
Kendall Jenner
Drake
Blake Lively
John Mayer
Lorde
There were many more deaths but I think you get the picture. There is a bit of fun and abandon in reading a fictional tale about celebrities being killed after Nathan Allen properly set up this tale. Although its largely satire he does a great job of pointing out certain truths that make these fictional deaths a little easier to read about. I don't think its mean spirited either but I took it to be sort of zany.
Here is a quote from the book that I liked quite a bit.
“Ordinary, unremarkable people who had cultivated huge online followings for no discernible reason. The possessed no unique talents, nor had they done anything to to benefit anyone other than themselves. There was nothing particularly interesting about any of them. In fact, most appeared to be simply horrible people – self centered, Shallow, vindictive, and extraordinarily vain. Of greater concern was that this sort of behavior was actively rewarded.”
This is something that I think has occurred to all of us at some point so its almost impossible to disagree with that assessment. It almost makes you want to nod your head. I found that his critiques are always true but sometimes they are also really funny. Here is another quote that I liked.
“He saw young people pouting into the camera, shots in a mirror's reflection, post-workout images, point-of-view- beach snaps, and innumerable instances of people who believed that having their tongue hanging out of their mouths somehow made them edgy or subversive. [Side note: Hanging Tongue Syndrome is a condition prevalent in many types of dogs. It is caused by inbreeding.]”
Hollywood Hack Job also has the kind of wild almost comical violence that I enjoyed from his other books. Here is another quote that I picked out.
“He clasped a handful of bloodied hair extensions and lifted the pop star's disembodied head into the air. Screams of terror rippled around the auditorium as her lifeless eyes opened up and stared back into the crowd.”
This book includes many characters in different social and financial brackets. Including a murderous priest, murderous screenwriters, Hollywood producers and actors right down to low life petty criminals. It includes some of what might be seen as extreme religion. It includes what is definitely one of the biggest conspiracy theories about a cult that many people think exists in Hollywood. It may or may not actually have a character that is Satan. Their stories start in different places but often their tales later meet and weave into each other in unexpected ways. Sometimes there are satisfying twists depending on how you look at it.
It might sound strange to say that this particular book is fun but I think it is. I really enjoy Nathan Allen's wit as well as his sense of poetic justice and I think he has very interesting ideas. I have always preferred an underdog and I love the way he turns the status quo on its head.
I also enjoy his subtle clash of themes like the older generations versus the younger generations and new technologies. Like celebrities versus normal working class people. Finally, I enjoy his unique fictional ideas of good people doing good things versus bad people doing bad things and how that line and the possibilities can shift and move or get erased completely depending on someone's personal beliefs and worldview.
This book is fiction, its blatantly fiction, its fun and wild and it can get pretty crazy. It is also thought provoking. I think it has a great pace and I was very entertained. Objectively I rated this book FIVE stars but I also liked it on a personal level. I can imagine that a lot of people wouldn't like this book and I imagine a lot of people would be offended. I don't know if this book is for everyone and I would probably recommend this book to someone who would actually be interested in these themes.
October 6, 2023
satire. I had a hard time at first due to the murders and violence which i knew was a satire of Hollywood horror films and in general how stars are made by media without people really doing anything but posing on various vapid media outlets. Frankly i have noticed over the last 15 years that young people have a much shorter attention span and really people are pretty numb to violence in horror films and now in threats in politics. After i got going though i found the humor again. Still gross violence but i'm not into horror and violence even if it is satire. At the end of the book he asked if one liked it leave a review and if not, put it on the banned book list. That spoke volumes to me. I'm a fan of Nathan Allen's books and still am. Besides he's right about the horror industry and the media stars and the banning of books. And i shall read more of his books. And I shall read whatever banned books that i haven't read yet.
November 6, 2019
Fr. Gerdtz has been preaching to his shrinking congregation for many years. He is desperate for a way to reach more people and he prays mightily to God. His prayers are answered, he thinks, by a crack of thunder and a package left on his front porch, which contains a .500 S & W Magnum. The good father knows what to do. If he kills all the insta-stars, the false idols that people worship on social media, then the people will realize that they were indeed false idols and return to the worship of God.
It's told in three parts, each of which blends in with the one before.
It's well written, even if it is a bit bloody.
I would have given it 5 stars, but Nathan killed off too many people that I like.
It's told in three parts, each of which blends in with the one before.
It's well written, even if it is a bit bloody.
I would have given it 5 stars, but Nathan killed off too many people that I like.
January 30, 2018
A mixed bag this time out.
This is the third book I have read b y this author. This was a bit disturbing. I thoroughly enjoyed the other two books. This time is was disappointed. I am bothered by how divisive this country has become politically. The author has chosen to insert his politics into the story with no benefit to the story. It doesn't matter if I am in agreement or not, blatant and needless political rants lessening the story.
This is the third book I have read b y this author. This was a bit disturbing. I thoroughly enjoyed the other two books. This time is was disappointed. I am bothered by how divisive this country has become politically. The author has chosen to insert his politics into the story with no benefit to the story. It doesn't matter if I am in agreement or not, blatant and needless political rants lessening the story.
June 17, 2024
Interesting read
My first read by this author, Nathan Allen. A collection of 3 short stories, all equally as good as the next.
Each story focusing on the dark side of humanity within Hollywood and each with a subtle link to eachother.
Excellent storytelling makes you feel immersed within the drama and horror of each tale.
A solid ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
My first read by this author, Nathan Allen. A collection of 3 short stories, all equally as good as the next.
Each story focusing on the dark side of humanity within Hollywood and each with a subtle link to eachother.
Excellent storytelling makes you feel immersed within the drama and horror of each tale.
A solid ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
September 24, 2020
The writer ,Nathan Allen kinda exposed how Hollywood works . From the singers , actors , writers, producers . Especially the fans who followed blindly those who they deemed to be idol .
December 23, 2023
It took me a bit to understand but I really really really enjoyed this book. I have fallen in love with Nathan Allen's writing and im glad to have discovered him!
January 31, 2025
"Get Off My Lawn: The Novel".
June 29, 2025
This is a 3.5 🌟 read rounded ⬆️ to 4 🌟.
Yet another to mark off my "Have The Book - TBR" Goals list.
Yet another to mark off my "Have The Book - TBR" Goals list.
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews