I read this guy's last book Everybody Knows. Dead journalists, crooked cops, traumatized pop stars, elaborate conspiracy in the spider web of Los Angeles. Kind of a poppier James Ellroy if you've read his LA Quartet or Underworld USA series. This next one is his take on Epstein with some serial killer stuff thrown in for good measure.

A city ready to explode: A Hollywood pedophile is arrested, and is ready to tear down the city to get his freedom.

Longer Synopsis + Pre-Order

I’m excited for this. Everybody Knows was really good.

I didn't read She Rides Shotgun but I did watch the movie. Hopefully Everybody Knows gets an adaptation as well. It read like it was made for the screen.

If you like well-written crime fiction, try James Kestrel’s Five Decembers. It’s like hardboiled detective mystery meets historical epic.

Will do. Best crime novel I read last year was Dark Wings Has My Angel by Elliot Chaze. Classic

I want to read a Harper novel

In

@lilbiglil @SOLARIS @shaleirose

Out tomorrow

“I want this one,” he said, “to be even louder, even more violent, even more over the top.”
First impressions of Harper do not prepare you for this. He comes across like a Criterion Collection archivist — calmly self possessed, a little nerdy, nobody’s idea of a rabble-rouser. Asked whether his amiable demeanor matched his interior state, he grinned and scratched his left elbow, revealing a tattoo of a scorpion with oversized claws.
“There’s a lot of anger inside me,” he said. “I just think it’s getting closer to the surface now.”

archive.ph/kqctY

Pre order
hachettebookgroup.com/titles/jordan-harper/a-violent-masterpiece/9780316458405

@lilbiglil @SOLARIS @shaleirose

https://www.mediafire.com/file/cxloj1ycjr70tof/AViolent_Masterpiece__A_Novel-_Jordan_Harper.epub/file?dkey=cxloj1ycjr70tof

My library came through and got a bunch more digital copies. Just finished the first three chapters and, though it's nothing too different from Everybody Knows thus far, I'm enjoying it.

There are crossover characters and storylines. Idk if you've read the LA Quartet but I think it's The Big Nowhere that feels kinetic. This one has that velocity to it.

I actually didn’t know it was set in the same world as Everyvbody Knows so it was a nice surprise seeing it was within the first few pages.

The Ellroy influence is still there for sure. I don’t think he has Ellroy’s skill as a stylist though.

We read Ellroy at a remove and always have. Harper doesn't have the benefit of being a period writer. The present is like fluorescent lighting to me. I'm curious how people will look at his writing in time. In a warmer light.

I think Ellroy is more buttoned down if anything. Harper is writing a movie treatment.

Ellroy is definitely is coming from a more literary place which makes total sense when you consider Harper is/was a TV writer.

Im about 20% done with A Violent Masterpiece and am enjoying it but they really undersold how much of a follow-up it is to Everybody Knows in the publicity for it. Regardless, it's a great read.

I actually watched the adaptation they did of She Rides Shotgun. Didn't love it turning into an action movie, but the ending was really touching. Unfortunately, I could see these being a TV show.

As for the connections, reading them back to back would probably be the move. I'm around 55% in, and I'm expecting hell to break loose in part III. All the pieces are set up. Gonna probably tear through the third act. Writing for the screen pays off there.

@lilbiglil really enjoyed the end. Harper writes great set pieces. Picking up on all of the quotes and lyrics and allusions to films was fun too. Hopefully the third book gets into government stuff. Missing piece of the puzzle imo

I kinda chugged the second half this past weekend to beat the library return date but I enjoyed it. I think Everybody Knows is considerably better ultimately but it's definitely still worth a read for anybody who likes crime fiction/thrillers.

I was already a bit mystified as to why Harper hasn't made this a formal series before Mae Pruett returned, at which point, I started thinking that it was because the publisher just thought it being a second book in a series would scare new readers off.

Read Everybody Knows off the recc of this thread and while I found it highly enjoyable in general and very propulsive, last 40-50 pages were iffy for me

turned into a damn fakemink song on the last page!

I definitely experience a push and pull with Harper. He's not subtle at all. In my review I call it "culture writing laundered through crime fiction for want of an expose".

I do normally like where he builds to though. His set pieces always hit with me. The fire in the tent city rips. Better pay off than some monologue explaining the conspiracy.