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Beat (Hayden Glass #2)

3.58 of 5 stars 3.58 · rating details · 65 ratings · 30 reviews

LAPD Robbery-Homicide Detective Hayden Glass has always had trouble controlling his urges. No longer trolling the streets looking for working girls, he has a new obsession--the Internet.Infatuated with a woman he finds on a website, Hayden Glass's sex addiction drags him to San Francisco and into a web of corruption and crime.

Glass’s search forthis womanleads him to a mass...more

Paperback, 336 pages

Published September 28th 2010 by Forge Books (first published September 11th 2010)

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Apr 06, 2012 Matt Galletta added it

Shelves: fiction, crime, detective

Beat is the second novel from Stephen Jay Schwartz, and picks up where Schwartz's first book, Boulevard, left off. Both novels feature Hayden Glass, a detective for the LAPD with a sex addiction.[return][return]In Beat, we follow Hayden through the streets of San Francisco as he tries to rescue a prostitute from the Russian mafia. Along the way, he struggles with his addiction, reconnects with a woman from his past, and deals with the lingering trauma from events that took place in the first boo...more

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Jun 11, 2011 Barry Graham rated it 1 of 5 stars

This probably isn't the worst novel I've ever read, but I can't think of any that's worse. It is a pitiful mess of a book, inept in almost every way.

The author actually shows some talent for characterization, which somehow makes it even sadder that his novel is so bad. You get the sense that he might be a capable novelist 20 years from now if he works hard at it, but he has been done a serious disservice by whoever deemed his work fit for publication now.

I really can't overstate how bad this boo...more This probably isn't the worst novel I've ever read, but I can't think of any that's worse. It is a pitiful mess of a book, inept in almost every way.

The author actually shows some talent for characterization, which somehow makes it even sadder that his novel is so bad. You get the sense that he might be a capable novelist 20 years from now if he works hard at it, but he has been done a serious disservice by whoever deemed his work fit for publication now.

I really can't overstate how bad this book is. Its premise is compelling - a homicidal, sex-addicted maniac of a cop torn between his addiction to prostitutes and his desire for redemption - but it never gets beyond being a premise. Schwartz has no idea how to tell a story - one unbelievable coincidence follows another, and there is no consistency in the characters' beliefs and motivations. It reads as though he started each scene having forgotten what he wrote in the previous scene.

Although Schwartz writes scenes of violence in fetishistic detail, it's obvious that he knows nothing about it. As the story begins, his hero gets shot in the chest, spends a few hours in the hospital, signs himself out, doesn't take care of the wound - remember, a bullet wound in the chest fired at point-blank range - and yet the injury doesn't stop him from getting in fights, getting severely beaten, compulsively masturbating, and having sex with a woman who has always loathed and feared him, but has inexplicably changed her mind.

The cartoonishness and near-incoherence of this novel might be entertaining if it weren't for its aspiration to seriousness; that its subject is underage girls being prostituted and tortured seems exploitative in a book this trashy.

When Schwartz isn't trying to write narrative or shock the reader, his writing can be engaging. When the characters are just interacting with one another, they're so three-dimensional that you care about them and want to know what will become of them. The answer, sadly, is "Not much."

This book is presented as a mystery novel, but the only mystery is that it ever found a publisher.
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Jun 10, 2011 Elizabeth Barone rated it 5 of 5 stars Recommends it for: fans of crime, thriller, and horror

Beat pulled me in and yanked me through on a ride that I couldn't get off of, even if I wanted to. The main character, Hayden, is both despicable and loveable. He has a sex addiction that has evolved from hookers to internet porn, and it rides him hard throughout the novel. Even though he is a sex addict, he falls for sex slave Cora, and vows to rescue her from her brutal captors.

I read this book in about twenty-four hours. I started it one night and put it down only to sleep, and carted it arou...more

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Dec 01, 2010 Eric_W rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: police-procedural, mysteries-and-thrillers

Second in a series of police procedurals (very loosely defined) after Boulevard, this book can’t truly be called “noir” as there is a semblance of hope at the end, but it’s about as black as one can get.

Hayden Glass, an LAPD Robbery-Homicide detective is a sex addict. After witnessing the abduction of a hooker whom he thought liked him (he learns later what an act it was,) and with whom he thought he was in love (he has difficulty separating love from lust) he follows her abductors to San Franci...more

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Nov 15, 2010 Veens rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2010-read, arc

As far as I have read, generally detectives have to be good, they can be thick-headed, full of attitude, but never have I read of a detective having sex addiction and that definitely warrants the presence of lot of sexual scenes and bad/foul language in this book. Hayden Glass is an LAPD detective who is on a forced medical leave following some real bad things he has done in the previous book, which only a few others know about. He is being treated for his sex – addiction and he is really workin...more As far as I have read, generally detectives have to be good, they can be thick-headed, full of attitude, but never have I read of a detective having sex addiction and that definitely warrants the presence of lot of sexual scenes and bad/foul language in this book. Hayden Glass is an LAPD detective who is on a forced medical leave following some real bad things he has done in the previous book, which only a few others know about. He is being treated for his sex – addiction and he is really working on it. He is even given it a name, Rufus (that really cracked me up).

But how can a person really fight an addiction like this?! He frequents porn-sites thinking that this was better than the real thing, and he won’t be addicted. He however falls when Rufus meets Cora, and that’s where his therapy goes into the bin. He starts regularly visiting Cora on the sites, then he starts meeting her up in real life in San Fransisco. He even starts taking money from people who owed him a favor to stay at SA for more days so that he can be with Cora.

But everything goes wrong, when suddenly one day Cora vanishes. And then when he finds her, Cora and he are violently attacked by a couple of Russian guys who rape Cora and take her away. What Hayden does not know earlier is that Cora would become the link between him and this huge network of sex slave trade.

I wish I had read Boulevard, the 1st in this series – just to know more about Hayden. There is obviously a scarred past that has made him the way he is. You know after the first few pages, there was no way I wanted to like Hayden, I mean this was supposed to be the good guy, the hero, right? But as much as I wanted to hate him, after a fourth of the novel was past me – in no time – I started liking him. He fights his obsession every minute of his life and that is something that speaks volumes about his character.

There is action everytime, there is no dull moment in this book- it sets a pace and keeps it moving. After I got over the graphic stuff, I was just glued to it. It is pretty evident that Stephen Jay Schwartz has done lot of research on LAPD, SAPD and FBI, more so on the sex slave trade. There is even a girl who is picked from Calcutta (India), so you can have an idea how wide spread this trade really would be.

This is a well written suspense thriller. You won’t be disappointed with this one.(less)

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Oct 11, 2010 Violet Crush rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: i-own

Beat has the makings of a typical detective novel in many ways. It has the usual ingredients, the detective of course, a complicated case and a chase with some action thrown in. What is probably different from most detective novels is the protagonist Hayden Glass.

Hayden Glass is a LAPD detective who is currently on a leave or a forced medical leave and is undergoing therapy for sex addiction. One day, after he has been clean for around 2 months he enters a video chat room after surfing a sex sit...more Beat has the makings of a typical detective novel in many ways. It has the usual ingredients, the detective of course, a complicated case and a chase with some action thrown in. What is probably different from most detective novels is the protagonist Hayden Glass.

Hayden Glass is a LAPD detective who is currently on a leave or a forced medical leave and is undergoing therapy for sex addiction. One day, after he has been clean for around 2 months he enters a video chat room after surfing a sex site for days. He enters the chat and sees a prostitute called Cora whom he instantly becomes obsessed with. After a few months of relentlessly “meeting” her online, she disappears. He follows her to San Francisco where she told him she lived and tracks her down in a hotel room.

2 heavy-set Russian guys enter the room, beat him up, rape Cora and take her with them. What follows is Hayden’s chase to find Cora. In the process he gets involved with the San Francisco Police department, the FBI and the Russian mafia with their underground sex trade.

I found the premise different and interesting with the writing flowing smoothly as well. There was a little too much Detective Jargon which I found a little difficult to follow as first but got used to later. Besides it just shows how much research and preparation the author has done. The sense of place is also very strong in Beat. I could picture the alleys and the night life of San Fransisco within the pages.

I found Hayden Glass most interesting. He revealed various shades as the novel progressed, becoming a sex addict to a detective, to a man who would risk anything for a girl, to an almost nice person at the end. He was not a black and white caricature detectives are usually portrayed as.

I wish I had read the first book Boulevard though. Beat could be called a stand alone novel but reading the first one would have given me a little more glimpse into Hayden’s life and character since most of the issues he carried with him came from the first book. Beat is not very heavy on action. It’s more of Hayden chasing the girl Cora and then uncovering various things on the way. It was a bit slow for my taste but the end more or less made up for it.

Note: A lot of violence.(less)

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Oct 07, 2010 CoffeeBook Chick rated it 4 of 5 stars

Let me first say this -- you have to have thick skin to deal with this book. It's laden with sexually graphic detail and language since the primary character is a homicide detective with an addiction to sex. Generally speaking, he's not opposed to internet porn, prostitutes, and the like. (Is this a trend for what I've been reading this week...?)

Hayden Glass is an LAPD homicide detective and in the prior book, he's encountered some fairly gruesome situations in which he's looked at as a hero by...more Let me first say this -- you have to have thick skin to deal with this book. It's laden with sexually graphic detail and language since the primary character is a homicide detective with an addiction to sex. Generally speaking, he's not opposed to internet porn, prostitutes, and the like. (Is this a trend for what I've been reading this week...?)

Hayden Glass is an LAPD homicide detective and in the prior book, he's encountered some fairly gruesome situations in which he's looked at as a hero by the public, but his file is completely sealed. Only he and a few others know what he really did. He's got some time off right now (forced medical leave), and he's making use of it by finding someone he really likes...who he happens to have met through an internet porn site, and then met in real life after obsessively traveling to San Francisco. He is a "recovering" sex addict, after all.

Cora is the girl he's met online, and he likes her a lot. He thinks there's more between them, and maybe so. Not only does he like her, but she happens to be a primary link to a sex slave trade that's run by the Russian mafia. But right now, she's gone missing after being brutally taken from Hayden right in front of him, and he wasn't able to do anything about it.

If you can get past the graphic subject matter and those first few pages particularly (literally, page two would make Tiger Woods blush), then you're in for a well written mystery/suspense/thriller. Although it's gritty and disturbing, Stephen Jay Schwartz finesses the images to keep you thoroughly unsettled but racing to find out who's behind the corruption supporting the sex slave trade, and more importantly, where Cora is. It's also a fascinating portrayal of a character who has a debilitating and ruling addiction that he's at the early stages of overcoming. Fans of Stephen Jay Schwartz and his character, Hayden Glass, won't be disappointed.

This is the second book for the Hayden Glass character, but you can read this as a stand alone. There's enough references and background provided to not make you confused and wonder what happened in the first book, but only enough to make you want to go pick it up and read it.(less)

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Oct 01, 2010 Sheila rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: suspense, current_issues

I wonder what would happen if you crossed a great crime-writer like Michael Connelly with a writer of gritty suspense movies set in the sexual underworld—something with crime and rather graphic and dark sexuality, I expect; something like Beat. I’d already read author Stephen Jay Schwartz’s short story Crossing the Line about a young LA cop assigned to vice, who learns the dark and practical way why one particular prostitute can never be arrested. When I read of Detective Hayden Glass’s sex addi...more I wonder what would happen if you crossed a great crime-writer like Michael Connelly with a writer of gritty suspense movies set in the sexual underworld—something with crime and rather graphic and dark sexuality, I expect; something like Beat. I’d already read author Stephen Jay Schwartz’s short story Crossing the Line about a young LA cop assigned to vice, who learns the dark and practical way why one particular prostitute can never be arrested. When I read of Detective Hayden Glass’s sex addiction on the back cover of The Beat, I knew what to expect. But the front cover quote from Michael Connelly is just as telling, describing Beat as a great original take on detective fiction. It has a dark and gritty mystery, a powerfully convincing protagonist, a steamy underbelly running through San Francisco and internet porn, and a hard-fought-for hope. I hope it might make a good movie one day, but the novel’s written with such convincing description, I feel like I’ve already seen it. Stephen Jay Schwartz is deservedly a Los Angeles Time Bestselling Author.

The abused women caught up in vice-torn San Francisco are only one side to this story. Protagonist Glass is a wounded soul himself, with dark secrets never wholly revealed, and a berserker anger that lies just a short way in his past (and future too perhaps). Rewarded with a medal for his valiant capture of a violent criminal, he’s also consigned to the psychiatrist’s couch for the destruction he wrought, and for his sex addiction. A cop with a beat of his own and demons to beat, Glass has not really fallen; he just falling with style he thinks, till the girl he believes he loves disappears and her captors fail to kill him. Now the search is on. Who owns whom? Whose money buys which influence? And who’s on the take?

The story is an exciting roller coaster ride as Glass follows clues, falls behind, finds hope and betrays it again. But the ride leads ever forward with Glass climbing higher after each deeper fall, till a final violent conclusion and surprise decision open the door to peaceful respite. Not a pleasant man, Glass is convincingly real and well worth saving; he has a wounded honesty that really pulls the reader to his side. Not an easy read, Beat is a powerful evocative novel of dark crime, graphic violence, and surprising depth. I’m really glad I was given the chance to read and review it for the author’s Blog Tour.
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Sep 29, 2010 Lenore Webb rated it 4 of 5 stars

Well while I was reading my latest 'Beat', I have found that I am also going to give you a chance to win one of two of this book. I was taken with Hayden Glass who is not only a robbery homicide detective with the LAPD but has his own problem with trolling the internet looking for a fix for his addiction. Yes, like too many, he has fallen prey to his own job and is addicted to pornography. (Yes, you see that word here.) Like too many, this is an area that is pushed away from the surface and look...more

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Sep 27, 2010 Cheryl rated it 3 of 5 stars

There are three types of addicts…the outer, middle and inner circles. The outer do the light stuff, more dabbing into trying things. The middle are the people do spend a little more time and money focusing on their addictions. Lastly there is the inner circle. These are the hard core people. LAPD homicide detective Hayden Glass is in the middle circle. Hayden’s addiction is sex or porn. Hayden is just about to log off his computer when he sees a link that advertisings real live women. Hayden log...more

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Nov 05, 2010 William rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: nook, police-procedural, suspense-thrillers, sex-as-power, crime-noir

Stephen Schwartz's pulp novel Beat mixes the surprising nature of its explicit sexual and violent content with an ending that somehow feels too choreographed and too cinematically-minded for the rest of the book. Having creating Hayden Glass, a gritty, believable police detective with a predilection for drugs and a clinical diagnosis of sexual addiction, Schwartz sinks him headfirst into San Francisco's world of sex trafficking -- a business in which the detective has sometimes been a willing pa...more

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Oct 08, 2010 Fiction State Of Mind (Kai Charles) rated it 3 of 5 stars

LAPD Robbery-Homicide Detective Hayden Glass has always had trouble controlling his urges. No longer trolling the streets looking for working girls, he has a new obsession--the Internet. Infatuated with a woman he finds on a website, Hayden Glass's sex addiction drags him to San Francisco and into a web of corruption and crime.

Glass’s search for this woman leads him to a massive sex slave trade, run by the Russian mafia and protected by a group of powerful and corrupt San Francisco cops. Glass...more

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Sep 16, 2012 Brett Starr rated it 4 of 5 stars

I've known about Stephen Jay Schwartz's gritty detective novels for awhile now. I remember when his debut novel Boulevard was released, but somehow I've missed out until now.

I picked up "Beat" unexpectedly at the store about a month ago. I saw the book and just happened to flip to one of the gritty scenes in the book and I knew I wanted to read it.

Schwartz's main character LAPD robbery homicide detective Hayden Glass is one for the ages. He's likeable, but no where near flawless. Actually he's a...more

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Dec 28, 2011 Zach rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: basement-library, 2011-books, mystery-procedural, noir, alternative-thrillers-lesser-known

Not as good as Boulevard!

The dark, noir feel and Hayden Glass' internal struglle which made Boulevard interesting and unique, are here but it gets a bit muddled as the tone of the book shifts abruptly.

The most effective points are the scenes
were Hayden enters the grimey underworld of sex clubs/prostitution and
reflects on his own weaknesses and demons. The scene where he visits a "John school" and realizes he is no different than the cynical, callous men who are attending as part of their pena...more

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Oct 27, 2010 Giovanni Gelati rated it 4 of 5 stars

I have to say this was a tough one for me. I am giving this 4 out 5 stars for a number of good reasons. The biggest one is that Stephen jay Schwartz knows how to write a taunt thriller. Here is the synopsis of the novel: ”LAPD robbery-homicide detective Hayden Glass has trouble controlling his urges. No longer trolling the streets looking for working girls, he has a new obsession-the internet. Infatuated with a woman he finds on a website, Hayden Glass’s sex addition drags him to San Francisco a...more I have to say this was a tough one for me. I am giving this 4 out 5 stars for a number of good reasons. The biggest one is that Stephen jay Schwartz knows how to write a taunt thriller. Here is the synopsis of the novel: ”LAPD robbery-homicide detective Hayden Glass has trouble controlling his urges. No longer trolling the streets looking for working girls, he has a new obsession-the internet. Infatuated with a woman he finds on a website, Hayden Glass’s sex addition drags him to San Francisco and into a web of corruption and crime.
Glass’s search for this woman leads him to a massive sex slave trade run by the Russian mafia and protected by a group of powerful and corrupt San Francisco cops. Glass gets co-opted by the FBI to aid in their investigation… but his presence is doing much more harm than good.”
Here is the issue for me with the one star; the content for me is just a little out there. I understand the character needs to have some type of fatal flaw or he would be just to perfect a character, but the nature of his addition just rubs me the wrong way a bit. The thing for me that pushes all that aside and makes the novel worth the read is Schwartz’s ability to put together a really good crime story, and make that the focus of the novel with his sexual proclivity being the undercurrent. I am not that naive to think that people don’t have their proclivities, I am happily married with eight wonderful children, people say we have proclivities. But I digress, you get the point, or at least I hope that you do as I dance around my uncomfortable feelings about Hayden Glass’s addictions.
When you boil down Beat and you remove the characters issues, you have a very good crime novel, filled with action and raw emotion that resonates throughout. For me it came down to a line from the movie Happy Gilmore, “block out the bad, in with the good.” I think if you want to ride the bull after reading this novel, do so with the knowledge that Stephen Jay Schwartz has given his character a twisted, bent, addiction and I mean this in a very nice way. Don’t pass this novel by. If you are a fan of this genre, pick it up and go for the ride.
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Nov 16, 2010 Harvey rated it 2 of 5 stars

This is sequel to Boulevard, which I really liked. This is high-concept "homicide detective is also a sex addict" tale which leads to rescue of teenage prostitute from evil Russian thugs.

I lost interest as it moved to predictable "heroic" ending.

Warning: very explicit sex and graphic violence.

Enjoyed setting in San Francisco but there were some egrecious geographic errors (e.g. "Knob Hill", Berkeley Hills vs. Oakland Hills).

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May 06, 2011 Rick rated it 4 of 5 stars

The first book I have read by this author and I have to say that I am wanting to read the first novel featuring the Hayden Glass character. [return]As some have said this book contains both violence and sex. While this didn't take away from the book, for me, it may bother some.

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Aug 31, 2010 Sarah rated it 2 of 5 stars

The novel was very interesting...and very erotic. Visit my full review for it at http://www.dreamworldbooks.com/2010/0....

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Jan 03, 2011 Karen rated it 4 of 5 stars

Hard edges, nice San Francisco locale, super hero protagonist. Major spoilers for earlier book Boulevard.

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Apr 11, 2012 Mayberryaftermidnight rated it 2 of 5 stars

Got the book at my company's semi-annual "Free Book Day." I really wish both Goodreads and the book itself made it more clear that this was a sequel. While not absolutely essential that you read the first book, I think things would have been clearer had I read the first book. Also, fair warning, it is extremely violent and has a lot of sex (I enjoy mysteries and thrillers and this just had more sex than the books I usually read). Good subway reading, though be prepared for some wide eyes from yo...more

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Jun 23, 2011 Sienna Mynx is currently reading it

Currently reading....
Very dark, characters are fascinating. I can't wait to leave a review!

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Dec 24, 2010 Joel rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: fiction, police-crime

some outlandish stuff - kind of like an uber-Bruce Willis with a sex addiction

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Feb 24, 2013 Robert Bravo rated it 4 of 5 stars

Didn't like it as much as Boulevard - seemed less realistic.

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Nov 28, 2010 Rodney rated it 4 of 5 stars

One of the better crime fiction novels I've read. Very gritty. Very real. Sex, murder and mayhem.

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Mar 05, 2013 Jay rated it 3 of 5 stars

This was good wonder what book 3 holds.

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Oct 31, 2010 Stacy McKitrick rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: suspense

Better than his first book, Boulevard, and that was pretty good, too!

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Apr 20, 2011 Morgan rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2011, mysteries, fiction

Intense from the get-go.

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Jan 13, 2011 Laura rated it 3 of 5 stars

I won an ARC through The book Trib. This book was pretty graphic and has a lot of strong language in it. The characters are pretty believable and it is very excited thriller, just not strong enough for me to give it more than 3 stars.

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Nov 01, 2010 Jessica B rated it 4 of 5 stars

Thoroughly enjoyed it - very dark, but complex, believable characters and I wanna read more so get busy Mr. Schwartz! Great new find thanks to twitter and tweets by independent bookstores!

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Oct 16, 2010 Spencer Seidel rated it 3 of 5 stars

Stephen writes fast-paced gritty crime novels and has an interest protagonist: a sex-addict detective. If you like your books a little dirty and violent, given him a try!

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About Stephen Jay Schwartz

STEPHEN JAY SCHWARTZ grew up in New Mexico and traveled the United States extensively before settling down in Los Angeles. There he became the Director of Development for Wolfgang Petersen, helping develop films such as Outbreak and Air Force One.

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Beat (Hayden Glass #2)

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