Risky Business A new novel, 'Shining City,' casts a satirical eye on L.A.

"Shining City" features a stream of hilarious bit players, such as the Samoan hit man who's studying the Torah and finally has to leave L.A. because it's just too crazy.

Greenland, an Angeleno whose first novel ("The Bones") was another fantastical Hollywood cautionary tale, is also a playwright and screenwriter. He's a satirist who takes glee in the disconnect between our familiar, sunny city and the desperate times in which we live. His tone is infectious. What else can we do but laugh?--

"Shining City," Bloomsbury USA, 320 pages, $24.95