Those Who Trespass

Last updated

Those Who Trespass
Those Who Trespass.jpg
Author Bill O'Reilly
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Genre Crime fiction
Publisher Broadway Books (2004)
Publication date
1998, re-released in 2004

Those Who Trespass: A Novel of Television and Murder ( ISBN   0-7679-1381-7) is a 1998 novel by US television personality Bill O'Reilly. The story focuses on the revenge a television journalist exacts on network staff after disputes very similar to O'Reilly's real tensions with CBS (such as one involving Falklands War footage). The revenge takes the form of a series of graphically described murders. [1]

Contents

The novel was first published in 1998 by a small publishing house, and rereleased in 2004 by Broadway Books as a trade paperback. [2]

On July 13, 2011, in O'Reilly's "Backstage Conversation" video section of the BillOreilly.com website, he responded to a viewer who asked "Does Mel Gibson still own the rights to Those who Trespass?" O'Reilly replied, "He does not. We had two cycles with Mr. Gibson's production company—this was before he got into all the trouble—and now I own it again. So hopefully someone will step up."[ citation needed ]

Plot summary

The antagonist is a tall, "no-nonsense" television journalist named Shannon Michaels, described as the product of two Celtic parents, who is pushed out by Global News Network, and systematically murders the people who ruined his career.

Meanwhile, the protagonist, a "straight-talking" Irish-American New York City homicide detective named Tommy O’Malley, is charged with solving the murders that Michaels has committed, while competing with Michaels for the heart of Ashley Van Buren, a blond, sexy aristocrat turned crime columnist. Some reviewers have said that Michaels and O'Malley are "thinly veiled versions" of O'Reilly. [2]

Michaels' first victim is a news correspondent who stole his story in Argentina, and got him into trouble with the network. He then stalks the woman who forced his resignation from the network and throws her off a balcony. After that he murders a television research consultant who had advised the local station to dismiss him by burying him in beach sand up to his neck and letting him slowly drown. Finally, during a break in the Radio-Television News Directors Association convention, he slits the throat of the station manager. After this, he is pursued by O'Malley and Van Buren, where he attempts to lose them by crossing a runway in front of a speeding jet. Although he makes it, his car's right back tire is cut by the jet's wing, causing the car to spin, flip over, and be subsequently melted by the exhaust from the jet, which explodes. Michaels dies in extreme agony, as his contacts (used to hide his identity) burn into his eyes and a chunk of the car crushes his head in.

Reception

The New Yorker called the book O'Reilly's "most ambitious and deeply felt piece of writing. 'Those Who Trespass' is a revenge fantasy, and it displays extraordinarily violent impulses". [1] Michael Hastings, of Salon.com, commented that the book gave the reader a look inside the author's mind. "The talented talk-show host serves up characters who are paranoid, arrogant, insecure and supremely egotistical. On television, those qualities are O'Reilly's greatest assets". [2]

The satirist Stephen Colbert, who parodies O'Reilly on his show The Colbert Report , stated that his sci-fi character Tek Jansen was originally inspired by O'Reilly and Those Who Trespass. The character originated in a fictional book that his political pundit character constantly referred to and promoted on his show. Tek Jansen, an idealised version of Colbert's character on The Colbert Report, is a reference to the accusations of the characters in Those Who Trespass being based on O'Reilly. [3]

In his book Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them , former US Senator Al Franken, discussed O'Reilly's graphic depiction of a sexual encounter between Shannon Michaels and Ashley Van Buren, suggesting that this made O'Reilly guilty of hypocrisy when he later criticized rap artist Ludacris for indecent and profane lyrics in his songs. [4] The encounter is referenced throughout the novel in different forms, such as a fictional sexual relationship between Florida Secretary of State Katherine Harris and Mac Stipanovich in 2000 and a dirty story O'Reilly tells Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas in Vietnam.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bill O'Reilly (political commentator)</span> American political commentator, television host and writer

William James O'Reilly Jr. is an American conservative commentator, journalist, author, and television host.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Arthur Hastings</span> Only close friend of Hercule Poirot, the fictional detective of Agatha Christie

Captain Arthur J. M. Hastings, OBE, is a fictional character created by Agatha Christie as the companion-chronicler and best friend of the Belgian detective, Hercule Poirot. He is first introduced in Christie's 1920 novel The Mysterious Affair at Styles and appears as a character in seven other Poirot novels, including the final one Curtain: Poirot's Last Case (1975), along with a play and many short stories. He is also the narrator of several of them.

<i>Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them</i> 2003 book by Al Franken

Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them is a satirical book on American politics by Al Franken, a comedian, political commentator, and politician. It was published in 2003 by Dutton Penguin. Franken had a study group of 14 Harvard graduate students known as "TeamFranken" to help him with the research. The book's subtitle, A Fair and Balanced Look at the Right, is a parody of Fox News' tagline "Fair and Balanced." FNC sued Franken over the use of the phrase in a short-lived and unsuccessful lawsuit, which has been credited with increasing the sales of the book, an example of the Streisand effect.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alan Colmes</span> American broadcaster (1950–2017)

Alan Samuel Colmes was an American radio and television host, liberal political commentator for the Fox News Channel, and blogger. He was the host of The Alan Colmes Show, a nationally syndicated talk-radio show distributed by Fox News Radio that was broadcast throughout the United States on Fox News Talk on Sirius and XM. From 1996 to 2009, Colmes served as the co-host of Hannity & Colmes, a nightly political debate show on Fox News Channel. Beginning in 2015, Colmes supplied the voice of The Liberal Panel on Fox News Channel's The Greg Gutfeld Show.

<i>Peril at End House</i> 1932 Poirot novel by Agatha Christie

Peril at End House is a work of detective fiction by British writer Agatha Christie, first published in the US by the Dodd, Mead and Company in February 1932 and in the UK by the Collins Crime Club in March of the same year. The US edition retailed at $2.00 and the UK edition at seven shillings and sixpence (7/6).

<i>Hannity & Colmes</i> American live television show on Fox News

Hannity & Colmes was a live television show on Fox News in the United States, hosted by Sean Hannity and Alan Colmes, who respectively presented a conservative and liberal perspective. The series premiered on October 7, 1996, and the final episode aired on January 9, 2009. The show offered Hannity's conservative views and Colmes's liberal views incorporated into a current news story, or in conjunction with a featured guest.

The Al Franken Show was the flagship talk show of the former talk radio network, Air America Radio. Hosted by Al Franken, it featured commentary and interviews arguing for liberal positions on the issues of the day, and comically poking fun at the George W. Bush Administration. Franken had been a comedian, satirist, and the author of several books, including the 2003 Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them. He was a writer and performer on Saturday Night Live, where he usually teamed with fellow writer/performer Tom Davis.

<i>Three Act Tragedy</i> 1934 Poirot novel by Agatha Christie

Three Act Tragedy is a work of detective fiction by British writer Agatha Christie, first published in the United States by Dodd, Mead and Company in 1934 under the title Murder in Three Acts and in the UK by the Collins Crime Club in January 1935 under Christie's original title. The US edition retailed at $2.00 and the UK edition at seven shillings and sixpence (7/6).

<i>Dumb Witness</i> 1937 Poirot novel by Agatha Christie

Dumb Witness is a detective fiction novel by British writer Agatha Christie, first published in the UK by the Collins Crime Club on 5 July 1937 and in the US by Dodd, Mead and Company later in the same year under the title of Poirot Loses a Client. The UK edition retailed at seven shillings and sixpence (7/6) and the US edition at $2.00.

<i>Fox v. Franken</i>

Fox News Network, LLC, v. Penguin Group (USA), Inc., and Alan S. Franken was a civil lawsuit filed in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York on August 7, 2003. Fox News Channel, the plaintiff, sought to enjoin Al Franken from using Fox News's trademark phrase "fair & balanced" in the title of his then-forthcoming book, Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them: A Fair and Balanced Look at the Right. Judge Denny Chin denied Fox's motion for injunction on August 22, and the network dropped the suit three days later.

<i>Jakob the Liar</i> 1999 American film

Jakob the Liar is a 1999 American war comedy-drama film directed by Peter Kassovitz, produced by Steven Haft, Marsha Garces Williams and written by Kassovitz and Didier Decoin. The film is based on the book of the same name by Jurek Becker. The film stars Robin Williams, Alan Arkin, Liev Schreiber, Hannah Taylor-Gordon, and Bob Balaban. The film is set in 1944 in a ghetto in German-occupied Poland during the Holocaust and tells the story of a Polish-Jewish shopkeeper named Jakob Heym who attempts to raise the morale inside the ghetto by sharing encouraging rumors that he claims he has heard on a radio. It is a remake of the 1975 East German-Czechoslovak film Jakob der Lügner.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Stephen Colbert (character)</span> Persona of political satirist Stephen Colbert

The Reverend Sir Dr. Stephen T. Mos Def Colbert D.F.A., Heavyweight Champion of the World, is the fictionalized persona of political satirist Stephen Colbert, as portrayed on the Comedy Central series The Daily Show and The Colbert Report, and occasionally on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert on CBS. Described as a "well-intentioned, poorly informed high-status idiot" and a "self-important right-wing commentator", the character incorporates aspects of the real Colbert's life and interests but is primarily a parody of cable news pundits, particularly former Fox News prime time host Bill O'Reilly.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tek Jansen</span> Comics character

Tek Jansen is a fictional character featured on The Colbert Report and in a comic book series published by Oni Press. Jansen originated as a recurring joke in the form of a supposed self-published science fiction novel on the Report, reportedly as a parody of Bill O'Reilly's 1998 novel, Those Who Trespass. The character later appeared on the show in a series of animated shorts entitled Stephen Colbert Presents Stephen Colbert's Alpha Squad 7: A Tek Jansen Adventure, with Jansen voiced by Stephen Colbert, and in 2007 became the protagonist of a five-part comic series.

<i>Pretty Little Liars</i> (book series) Young adult novel series

Pretty Little Liars is a series of young adult novels by Sara Shepard. Beginning with 2006's initial novel of the same name, the series follows the lives of four girls—Spencer Hastings, Hanna Marin, Aria Montgomery and Emily Fields.

<i>TekWar</i> (TV series) TV series

TekWar is a television series, based on the TekWar novels ghost-written by Ron Goulart from outlines by William Shatner and developed for television by Stephen Roloff. The series follows Jake Cardigan, a former police officer turned private investigator working for Cosmos, a private security firm owned and operated by Walter Bascom.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Spencer Hastings</span> Fictional character in Pretty Little Liars

Spencer Jill Hastings is a fictional character, one of the five main characters who appear in the Pretty Little Liars novel series and its Freeform television adaptation. Created by American author Sara Shepard, she is a member of the group known as the Liars, and is best friend to the four other members, who are protagonists of the story. Portrayed by Troian Bellisario, the character was developed for television by the series' showrunner I. Marlene King and appeared in each of the show's 160 episodes during its seven-years-long run, from its premiere on June 8, 2010, to its finale on June 27, 2017.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alison DiLaurentis</span> Fictional character in the Pretty Little Liars book series

Alison Lauren DiLaurentis is a fictional character in the Pretty Little Liars book series, its television adaptation, and the spin-off series Pretty Little Liars: The Perfectionists. The character was created by American author Sara Shepard.

"A" is a fictional character in the Pretty Little Liars franchise. Created by author Sara Shepard in 2006, the character serves as the main antagonist in both the television and book series. "A" has also appeared in the web series Pretty Dirty Secrets (2012).

<i>Trump Tower</i> (novel) 2011 book by Jeffrey Robinson

Trump Tower is a work of fiction by Jeffrey Robinson, originally credited to Donald Trump, and billed as Trump's "debut novel" by the publisher. It was first published in 2011 by Vanguard Press. Trump had previously attempted to create a television series titled Trump Tower, modeled after Dallas, Dynasty, and Upstairs, Downstairs. He worked with MVP Entertainment, contracted a writer in Los Angeles, and successfully had Showtime Networks develop a television pilot. After receiving a payment for television rights to Trump Tower, he marketed the idea to Lifetime. The book by this title was developed in 2011 listing Trump, but when released in 2012 credited Robinson as sole author.

References

  1. 1 2 Nicholas Lemann: The Wayward Press: Fear Factor The New Yorker , March 27, 2006
  2. 1 2 3 Hastings, Michael (February 17, 2004). ""Those Who Trespass" by Bill O'Reilly". Salon. Retrieved May 26, 2017.
  3. Wu, Annie (July 26, 2006). Stephen Colbert's comic book adventures. TV Squad. Retrieved on January 19, 2008.
  4. Franken, Al: Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them. Plume, 2004, ISBN   978-0-452-28521-7