Jordan Harper

A gritty, propulsive debut about a father, a daughter, and the hardest lessons in life. 'If nowhere was safe for her, then the only place he could let her be was with him' Meet Polly: eleven years old and smart beyond her years. But she's a loner, always on the outside, until she is unexpectedly reunited with her father. Meet Nate: fresh out of jail and driving a stolen car, Nate takes Polly from the safety of her quiet existence into a world of robbery, violence and the constant threat of death. And he does it to save her life. A Lesson in Violence is a gripping and emotionally wrenching novel that upends even our most long-held expectations about heroes, villains and victims. Nate takes Polly to save her life, but in the end it may very well be Polly who saves him. 'One of the best debuts I've ever read. Beautifully and lyrically written, it's like a perfect song you hear for the first time and feel like you've always known it. It's an instant classic and if I read a better novel this year I will be amazed' Simon Toyne, author of Sunday Times bestseller Solomon Creed 'An electrifying thriller, a shattering family tragedy, and a pitch-black coming of age story, all rolled into one. The language is searing, the action relentless, the beauty wrenched from ugliness truly astounding--this book will grab you by the throat and hang on tight until you've greedily swallowed every last word....like taking a taser to your heart' Robin Wasserman, author of Girls on Fire 'An exquisitely violent father-daughter story, burns bright and fast. I kept waiting for the inevitable slow-down, but it never came. An extremely impressive debut' Peter Swanson, author of Sunday Times bestseller The Kind Worth Killing 'In Polly McClusky, the eleven-year-old girl at the heart of his darkly irresistible debut novel, Jordan Harper gives us a hero for our times. With shades of Mattie Ross but an intelligence and fervor all her own, she is unforgettable' Megan Abbott, author of You Will Know Me 'Has more kicks than any crime fiction out there, sure, but it's also got a heart that'll keep you up nights, slapping your head and pacing. Don't try to tell me this is a debut novel; I won't hear anything but Jordan Harper's a master' Benjamin Whitmer, author of Cry Father 'Confident, brutal, but always human, it's a violent parable of family and sacrifice. The best debut novel that I've read this year' Johnny Shaw, Anthony Award-winning author of Big Maria 'A dark, original take on the chase novel and a strangely touching portrait of a father-daughter relationship framed in barbed wire' Booklist (starred review) 'Visceral' Publishers Weekly (starred review) 'The characters' loyalty, love, and struggle for redemption grip the reader and don't let go' Kirkus **A LESSON IN VIOLENCE is published in the US as SHE RIDES SHOTGUN**

She Rides Shotgun

Everybody Knows

Denizens of the shadows who live outside the law—from the desolate meth labs of the Ozark Mountains to the dog-fighting rings of Detroit to the lavish Los Angeles hotels where the famous run wild—the characters in Love and Other Wounds all thirst for something seemingly just beyond their reach. Some are on the run, pursued by the law or propelled relentlessly forward by a dangerous past that is disturbingly close. Others are searching for a semblance of peace and stability, and even love, in a fractured world defined by seething violence and ruthless desperation. All are bruised, pushed to their breaking points and beyond, driven to extremes they never imagined. Crackling with cinematic energy, raw and disquieting yet filled with pathos and a darkly vital humor, Love and Other Wounds is an unforgettable debut from an electrifying new voice, and a welcome addition to the pulp poetry canon.

Stories

Love and Other Wounds

*WINNER OF A 2018 EDGAR AWARD FOR BEST DEBUT NOVEL* *WINNER OF AN ALEX AWARD FROM THE ALA* NAMED A BEST BOOK OF 2017 BY St. Louis Post-Dispatch • Booklist A propulsive, gritty novel about a girl marked for death who must fight and steal to stay alive, learning from the most frightening man she knows—her father. Eleven-year-old Polly McClusky is shy, too old for the teddy bear she carries with her everywhere, when she is unexpectedly reunited with her father, Nate, fresh out of jail and driving a stolen car. He takes her from the front of her school into a world of robbery, violence, and the constant threat of death. And he does it to save her life. Nate made dangerous enemies in prison—a gang called Aryan Steel has put out a bounty on his head, counting on its members on the outside to finish him off. They’ve already murdered his ex-wife, Polly’s mother. And Polly is their next target. Nate and Polly’s lives soon become a series of narrow misses, of evading the bad guys and the police, of sleepless nights in motels. Out on the lam, Polly is forced to grow up early: with barely any time to mourn her mother, she must learn how to take a punch and pull off a drug-house heist. She finds herself transforming from a shy little girl into a true fighter. Nate, in turn, learns what it’s like to love fiercely and unconditionally—a love he’s never quite felt before. But can their powerful bond transcend the dangerous existence he’s carved out for them? Will they ever be able to live an honest life, free of fear? She Rides Shotgun is a gripping and emotionally wrenching novel that upends even our most long-held expectations about heroes, villains, and victims. Nate takes Polly to save her life, but in the end it may very well be Polly who saves him.

A Novel

A fearless black-bag publicist exposes the belly of the L.A. beast in "one of the best LA noir novels I've ever read" (Attica Locke) from Edgar Award-winning author Jordan Harper. Welcome to Mae Pruett’s Los Angeles, where “Nobody talks. But everybody whispers.” As a “black-bag” publicist tasked not with letting the good news out but keeping the bad news in, Mae works for one of LA’s most powerful and sought-after crisis PR firms, at the center of a sprawling web of lawyers, PR flaks, and private security firms she calls “The Beast.” They protect the rich and powerful and depraved by any means necessary. After her boss is gunned down in front of the Beverly Hills Hotel in a random attack, Mae takes it upon herself to investigate and runs headfirst into The Beast’s lawless machinations and the twisted systems it exists to perpetuate. It takes her on a roving neon joyride through a Los Angeles full of influencers pumped full of pills and fillers; sprawling mansions footsteps away from sprawling homeless encampments; crooked cops and mysterious wrecking crews in the middle of the night. Edgar Award-winner Jordan Harper’s EVERYBODY KNOWS is addicting and alarming, a “juggernaut of a novel” and “an absolute tour de force.” It is what the crime novel can achieve in the modern age: portray the human lives at the center of vast American landscapes, and make us thrill at their attempts to face impossible odds. "The book everybody's been waiting for" —Michael Connelly "An absolute tour de force"—S. A. Cosby "The best mystery novel I've read in years" —James Patterson

'Beautifully written' S. A. Cosby Sometimes to find yourself, you have to go back to where you came from. You just might not like what you find. After failing in his new life, Luke decides to go home, back to the one place where he’d once felt he belonged. But that was a long time ago and now he has to face the life that he chose to run away from: The Combine. The gang that his uncle now leads, but which his father still runs from prison. Brutal, unforgiving . . . family. Reunited with his childhood friend Callie and tagging along on jobs with her and her boyfriend Pretty Baby, Luke soon discovers that he might have a place back home after all. When another gang try to encroach on their turf, The Combine and Luke must go to war to save all that they know. But in trying to be someone you’re not, can you ever find out who you really are? Family is everything and blood is love. Praise for Jordan Harper: ‘When I say The Last King of California subverts the stereotypical American Outlaw Mythos, it's the highest praise I can give it. No one is thinking deeper about what crime fiction is than Jordan Harper’ S. A. Cosby ‘Burns bright and fast’ Peter Swanson ​‘Darkly irresistible’ Megan Abbott 'Urgent and beautiful' Lauren Beukes 'Fast-paced and gritty' Amy Engel 'Truly astounding' Robin Wasserman

The Last King of California

This epic crime novel tells a story of Los Angeles power brokers and those at the edge—and a single shattering incident that threatens to bring it all crashing down. Los Angeles, right now. America with its back up against the wall. This Frankenstein's monster of crimes and lurid dreams sewn together into something like a city. A city ready to explode: A Hollywood pedophile is arrested, and is ready to tear down the city to get his freedom. A young woman goes missing—and men in black rubber gloves who look like cops clean out her apartment in the middle of the night. And the serial killer known as the LA Ripper is on the loose, leaving tragic/graphic/brutal crime scenes in his wake. Three people trying to keep their heads above the dirty water will find themselves coming together to unite these strands into one enormous, unspeakable crime ... Jake Deal is a gonzo live-streaming nightcrawler, beaming the city's chaos straight to his audience of blood-hungry subscribers, giving them the view from the top of the mushroom cloud—until a job he can't refuse drags him back into his old life of Hollywood glamour, drugs, sex and sleaze. Armed with cameras and hidden mics, he'll infiltrate private clubs, gather high-class dirt—and stumble onto a conspiracy woven into the center of LA's most powerful men, who call themselves “The Kids in the Candy Store.” Doug Gibson is a street lawyer, who fights for his clients against the army of cops, prosecutors and judges—he is the knife they bring to the gunfight. But when he's hired by a Hollywood pedophile ready to sell out his friends for a chance for freedom, he'll take on a fight bigger than he could have imagined. And when his client “commits suicide” in prison, Gibson will have to stop being a weapon—and become a warrior. Kara Delgado works for an underground private concierge company—a make-a-wish foundation for the terminally rich. She scores drugs, makes connections, and plans multi-million dollar sex parties.She has learned the secret truth of this world: there are no rules, only prices. Her best friend Phoebe has gone missing, and Kara's the only person who knows that Phoebe's place was wiped clean of evidence by men in black rubber gloves. But when she begins to unravel the mystery of what happened to Phoebe, and its connection to the killer known as the LA Ripper, it will drag her into the dark heart of the city. As Jake, Doug and Kara all investigate these crimes, they'll encounter ketamine-addled sitcom stars, bloody riots, homeless gangsters, a killer cop on death row, secret vaults in Beverly Hills, tech-bro orgies, medical cannibals, true crime junkies, private security wet-work teams, reality shows, street takeovers, car chases, coyotes, a sadistic Tarzan, and a three day, fifty million dollar wedding, before everything is revealed and they must each make their choice about how to fight back in this violent world before the bloody, blazing conclusion.

A Violent Masterpiece

A bold and brutal new voice in crime fiction. A collection of short stories by Jordan Harper that blurs the line between pulp and literature. Harper's bloody stories combine a virtuoso prose style, vivid characters and a hardboiled heart.

Stories by Jordan Harper

American Death Songs

*** WINNER OF THE BEST FIRST NOVEL AWARD AT THE EDGARS 2018*** 'Striking...visceral, violent and utterly compelling, it nevertheless shines with humanity' Daily Mail 'Burns bright and fast' Peter Swanson, author of Sunday Times bestseller Her Every Fear A GRITTY, PROPULSIVE DEBUT ABOUT A FATHER, A DAUGHTER, AND THE HARDEST LESSONS IN LIFE... ‘If nowhere was safe for her, then the only place he could let her be was with him’ Meet Polly: eleven years old and smart beyond her years. But she’s a loner, always on the outside, until she is unexpectedly reunited with her father. Meet Nate: fresh out of jail and driving a stolen car, Nate takes Polly from the safety of her quiet existence into a world of robbery, violence and the constant threat of death. And he does it to save her life. A Lesson in Violence is a gripping and emotionally wrenching novel that upends even our most long-held expectations about heroes, villains and victims. Nate takes Polly to save her life, but in the end it may very well be Polly who saves him. ‘This fast-paced and gritty page turner explores the ways in which love can both brutalize and redeem us’ Amy Engel, author of The Roanoke Girls ‘Urgent and beautiful. The writing is as sharp as broken glass but it’s the characters who will stay with you, bloody hearts pinned on their sleeves and struggling for redemption and towards each other’ Lauren Beukes, author of The Shining Girls 'One of the best debuts I've ever read' Simon Toyne, author of Sunday Times bestseller Solomon Creed 'The language is searing, the action relentless, the beauty wrenched from ugliness truly astounding' Robin Wasserman, author of Girls on Fire 'An extremely impressive debut' Peter Swanson, author of Sunday Times bestseller The Kind Worth Killing 'Darkly irresistible...in Polly McClusky, the eleven-year-old girl at the heart of his , Jordan Harper gives us a hero for our times’ Megan Abbott

A Lesson in Violence

*** WINNER OF THE BEST FIRST NOVEL AWARD AT THE EDGARS 2018 *** 'Striking...visceral, violent and utterly compelling, it nevertheless shines with humanity' Daily Mail 'Burns bright and fast' Peter Swanson, author of Sunday Times bestseller Her Every Fear A GRITTY, PROPULSIVE DEBUT ABOUT A FATHER, A DAUGHTER, AND THE HARDEST LESSONS IN LIFE... 'If nowhere was safe for her, then the only place he could let her be was with him' Meet Polly: eleven years old and smart beyond her years. But she's a loner, always on the outside, until she is unexpectedly reunited with her father. Meet Nate: fresh out of jail and driving a stolen car, Nate takes Polly from the safety of her quiet existence into a world of robbery, violence and the constant threat of death. And he does it to save her life. A Lesson in Violence is a gripping and emotionally wrenching novel that upends even our most long-held expectations about heroes, villains and victims. Nate takes Polly to save her life, but in the end it may very well be Polly who saves him. 'This fast-paced and gritty page turner explores the ways in which love can both brutalize and redeem us' Amy Engel, author of The Roanoke Girls 'Urgent and beautiful. The writing is as sharp as broken glass but it's the characters who will stay with you, bloody hearts pinned on their sleeves and struggling for redemption and towards each other' Lauren Beukes, author of The Shining Girls 'One of the best debuts I've ever read' Simon Toyne, author of Sunday Times bestseller Solomon Creed 'The language is searing, the action relentless, the beauty wrenched from ugliness truly astounding' Robin Wasserman, author of Girls on Fire 'An extremely impressive debut' Peter Swanson, author of Sunday Times bestseller The Kind Worth Killing 'Darkly irresistible...in Polly McClusky, the eleven-year-old girl at the heart of his , Jordan Harper gives us a hero for our times' Megan Abbott

Jordan Harper

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