Book description
'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…
Why read it?
3 authors picked The Last King of California as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?
Luke Crosswhite, the sensitive non-violent son of brutal imprisoned gang leader Bobby Crosswhite, is thrown into his father’s vicious world when the family mob, The Combine, is threatened by neo-Nazi gang Aryan Steel. Helped by his childhood friend Callie, Luke gets a taste for his father’s business.
Brutal but beautifully written by former rock journalist Harper, best known for his work on TV shows The Mentalist and Gotham.
From Garry's list on gripping stories from the criminal underbelly.
Everybody recommended Jordan Harper to me. This can be both a blessing and a curse; could expectations be met? Of course, they were. Exceeded and then some.
This book tells the story of Luke, visiting family for the first time in years and discovering that The Combine, a gang run by his uncle, no longer feels like home. But as he tags along with his childhood friend, Callie, he gets caught up in a gang war and is forced to join them in order to save everything he holds dear.
Harper is an exquisite writer with a distinctive style all…
Perhaps perplexingly for a Londoner who writes about China I have a fascination and obsession with reading Grit Noir.
2023 was a good year with new books from Grit Noir masters like Chris Offutt and SA Cosby but Jordan Harper’s The Last King of California really won out for me. The story of Luke, a young man who has been estranged from his father's family and his gang and will he want in or out.
But the real heart of the story, for me, was what it just might be like to grow up and live among violent, compulsive sociopaths.…
If you love The Last King of California...
December on 5C4
Magical realism meets the magic of Christmas in this mix of Jewish, New Testament, and Santa stories–all reenacted in an urban psychiatric hospital!
On locked ward 5C4, Josh, a patient with many similarities to Jesus, is hospitalized concurrently with Nick, a patient with many similarities to Santa. The two argue…
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