Prime logo Prime members: New to Audible?
Get 2 free audiobooks during trial.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
Premium Plus auto-renews for $14.95/mo after 30 days. Cancel anytime.
The Choirboys  By  cover art

The Choirboys

By: Joseph Wambaugh
Narrated by: Oliver Wyman
Try for $0.00

$14.95/month after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Buy for $24.95

Buy for $24.95

Pay using card ending in
By confirming your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and Amazon's Privacy Notice. Taxes where applicable.

Publisher's summary

Partners in the Los Angeles Police Department, they’re haunted by terrifying dark secrets of the nightwatch - shared predawn drink and sex sessions they call choir practice. Each wears his cynicism like a bulletproof jockstrap - each has his horror story, his bad dream, his night shriek. He is afraid of his friends–he is afraid of himself.

©1975 Joseph Wambaugh (P)2010 Audible, Inc.

Critic reviews

"Stark...orgiastic...brilliant. Wambaugh's finest book." ( Los Angeles Times)
  • Top 100 Mysteries of All Time (Mystery Writers of America)
100 Must-Read Thrillers (International Thriller Writers)

What listeners say about The Choirboys

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 4 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    144
  • 4 Stars
    75
  • 3 Stars
    31
  • 2 Stars
    14
  • 1 Stars
    17
Performance
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    153
  • 4 Stars
    43
  • 3 Stars
    17
  • 2 Stars
    6
  • 1 Stars
    6
Story
  • 4 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    131
  • 4 Stars
    44
  • 3 Stars
    24
  • 2 Stars
    12
  • 1 Stars
    10

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

Sort by:
Filter by:
  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Definitely Funny, Probably Offensive

Would you listen to The Choirboys again? Why?

I will listen to The Choirboys again; it's memorably funny and fast paced. As the novel is a series of vividly portrayed incidents involving various members of the LAPD nightwatch, it's easy to smile or wince at a particular anecdote - and then move on.

The narrator is especially good; his voice acting is incredible. He captures the different characters precisely. It's easy to distinguish the main characters from each other and fun to do so. Frankly, the narration adds so much to the book that I'd listen again to other books the narrator has performed.

What was one of the most memorable moments of The Choirboys?

It's hard to say which is the most memorable moment - there are so many intense ones. There's the time Roscoe Rules learned a lesson the hard way in "The Time My Balls Blew Up". There's Harold Bloomguard's hilarious footrace with two prostitutes who refused to surrender. Or Roscoe's macabre performance at the scene of a tragic auto accident. And there are the choir practices where some of the LAPD nightwatch share their experiences, cynicism and disillusions.

I read The Choirboys twenty years ago and I was amazed at how many scenes, expressions, quotes were still familiar to me. From the Roscoe's repeated threats to put a choke-hold on someone making them "do the chicken" (referring to their spasms) to Whaddayamean Dean's drunken questions. They were still familiar to me when I listened to the audio book. I read one to two books a week and it's rare that I have such strong recollections of so many scenes as I do with this novel.

Which scene was your favorite?

That's very difficult to say. I'll go with the scene where Roscoe Rules and his partner arrive at what might have become a fistfight between a Black man and a Hispanic man - but which is calming down and dissipating - and Roscoe manages to enrage everyone. A beat down occurs but it's Roscoe who's on the receiving end.

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

There was a painfully vivid moment in one officer's background while working child abuse cases. All of the officers go to the drunken choir practices to let off steam and vent their emotions as a way of dealing with issues civilians rarely experience - but some incidents are more disturbing than others.

Any additional comments?

The officers are raunchy, vulgar and politically incorrect. Their attitudes with respect to women, civilians, homosexuals, racial minorities is dated; to put it mildly. They're not bad men though; they have taken a job that most of us could not handle for even a day and they generally get it done. The personal cost, though, is brutal and destructive. If it were not for Wambaugh's masterful black comedic timing the book would be hard to finish.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

7 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Wambaugh's Best

wambaugh's best fiction book about a watch of dysfunctional Patrol officers comes to life thanks to Oliver Wyman's great narration and character work. I must listen for fans of wambaugh.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

3 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

A Wambaugh classic.

Entertaining, humorous and thought provoking while still an easy read. Evocative narration, with good characterization.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

3 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

The Start of a Great Writing Career

Joe Wambaugh used this book to climb out of the patrol car and into the libraries, movie screens and TV's of America.
Wambaugh was a LAPD street cop when he crafted this great novel of policemen, perps and after work parties. Written in the late 1970's,without the censorship of political correctness we now suffer under, Wambaugh makes you laugh and share the pain.
Hopefully you listen to any of Wambaughs more modern novels of Hollywood Station, but this is where he started and it is worth a brief detour into the 70's to listen.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

3 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Not Politically Correct

Great story by Wambaugh and well narrated by Wyman. If you're offended by anything politically incorrect than this is not the book for you. Otherwise it's an entertaining work of fiction that's hard to put down,

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Good Solid Story

If you could sum up The Choirboys in three words, what would they be?

Brutally honest humans

What other book might you compare The Choirboys to and why?

Glitter Dome, same author- more about old style police and LA cops.

Have you listened to any of Oliver Wyman’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

N/A

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

Yes

Any additional comments?

Good listen, held my attention.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Great Reading

I've read this book manytimes. Joseph Wambaugh has many great titles like ("Walkin drum" )and many others. Read any one of them for a great sit down.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

It soothed me

The story, the narration .. I've listened to it more than once. The characters are endearing and genuine.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

train wreck

Would you listen to The Choirboys again? Why?

this is an earlier wambaugh ... dark, edgy, not as humerous or zany as the later Hollywood series ... narrator is excellent ... story is a character study, or, rather, multiple character studies (each of which is given a unique signature by Oliver Wyman) ... there are a lot of comic elements that don't appeal to me, personally, but will appeal to other senses of humor. thought provoking. you hope no law enforcement agency operated like this, but you fear some just might have.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Excellent Novel and Narrator, Missing Prologue

One of the best audiobooks I've heard. Unfortunately, they seem to have accidentally failed to include the two-page prologue. It takes place during the Vietnam War - two unnamed Marines, one tall and one short, are hiding in a cave hoping not to be discovered by the enemy. The tall one nearly freaks out and reveals their hiding place, but the short one quiets him with a hug, a pat on the shoulder, and the words, "Hush now, I'm right here. You're not alone." Then as the novel progresses, the reader figures out which pair of police officers these Marines are.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!