Those Who Trespass
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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]
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[edit] 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 claimed that Michaels and O'Malley are "thinly veiled versions" of O'Reilly.[2]
Michael's 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 and 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.
[edit] Cultural references
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- The satirist Stephen Colbert, known for his parody of O'Reilly and other political pundits on his show The Colbert Report, claims 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]
- Al Franken (D-MN), Former liberal radio host, comedian and U.S. Senator from Minnesota [4], in his book Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them, criticized O'Reilly for organizing a boycott of Pepsi for using the rap artist Ludacris as a spokesperson. Franken suggested that O'Reilly was guilty of hypocrisy for criticizing Ludacris for indecent and profane lyrics in his songs, while having himself penned the equally lurid storyline of Those Who Trespass. Franken refers to O'Reilly's graphic depiction of a sexual encounter between Shannon Michaels and Ashley Van Buren throughout the book.
[edit] Footnotes
- ^ The Wayward Press: Fear Factor: The New Yorker
- ^ "Those Who Trespass" by Bill O'Reilly - Salon.com
- ^ Wu, Annie (July 26, 2006). Stephen Colbert's comic book adventures. TV Squad. Retrieved on 2008-01-19.
- ^ ^ a b "Minnesota Senate Seat Election Contest". Minnesota Courts (2009-01-06). Retrieved on 2009-01-06.
