The Last King of California
The FAST-PACED crime fiction read from the bestselling author
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4.0 • 5 Ratings
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- £2.99
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- £2.99
Publisher Description
Sometimes to find yourself, you have to go back to where you came from. You just might not like what you find. . . A searing thriller about family, redemption and revenge, from the award-winning author of A Lesson in Violence.
'Beautifully written' S. A. Cosby
‘Burns bright and fast’ Peter Swanson
‘Darkly irresistible’ Megan Abbott
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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.
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Reader's cannot get enough of The Last King of California . . .
***** 'Good lord, this book was everything i wanted and needed.'
***** 'This is the first of author Jordan Harper’s books I have read and it won’t be the last!'
***** 'My likely pick for book of the year. Ferocious writing and storytelling.'
***** 'A noir tour-de-force.'
***** 'Such a brilliant writer and a great story.'
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More praise for Jordan Harper . . .
‘When I say The Last King of Californiasubverts 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
'Urgent and beautiful' Lauren Beukes
'Fast-paced and gritty' Amy Engel
'Truly astounding' Robin Wasserman
'Easily one of the best things I'll read this year. Visceral and violent. An exploration o family and loyalty. Reads like poetry. Bravo!' Chris McDonald
'[A] gripping and emotional journey . . . Authors paint pictures with words, and like the Mona Lisa or Van Gogh's Sunflowers, some of their books are instant masterpieces sure to inspire readers and elicit envy from fellow wordsmiths.The Last King of California is simply that good. Jordan Harper wields words like weapons .. . It is like poetry on the page' BoloBooks Top Read of 2022
'Blistering, brutal, with a big beating (black) heart,The Last King of California confirms Harper as one of the finest writers of noir today, with what's easily a best-of-the-year book' James. D. F. Hannah, Shamus-winning author of the Henry Malone novels
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Edgar winner Harper (Everybody Knows) combines mythic motifs and hardboiled crime tropes in this powerful California noir. After flunking out of college, 19-year-old Luke Crosswhite returns to his family's San Bernardino compound. Twelve years earlier, Luke watched his father, crime boss Big Bobby, kill a man; scarred by the incident, Luke's not sure he's ready to face the past, but he's run out of alternatives. Though Big Bobby is in prison, he continues to call the shots for the Devore Combine syndicate. When the leader of a rival gang insists that Devore pony up 10% of its ill-gotten gains in protection money, it leads to all-out war, pulling a reluctant Luke into the fray. Meanwhile, Luke's cousin, Callie, sets in motion his plan to escape the syndicate, making a large drug purchase that goes disastrously wrong. As the stakes for Luke's family escalate, wildfires rage across San Bernardino. Harper makes the story's familiar elements feel exceptionally fresh, drawing each of his characters with remarkable nuance and pulling the percussive prose of Raymond Chandler into the 21st century ("Thrash metal napalm-burns from the speakers" as Luke drives home from his hotel job). Harper's hot streak remains intact.
