The Last King of California
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4.2 • 6 Ratings
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- $14.99
Publisher Description
Jordan Harper's "darkly irresistible" novel, a tragic, Hamlet-esque noir for readers of S.A. Cosby and Don Winslow, now available for the first time in the United States. (Megan Abbott)
This stirring and brutal bildungsroman tells the story of young Luke Crosswhite, who after years apart from his criminal family returns to their flock deep in the California desert. Luke’s father is serving time for a brutal murder that Luke himself witnessed; now, his uncle vies for power and rival biker gangs encroach on the family’s various criminal enterprises. A sensitive boy grown hard man, Luke navigates the vicious pressures of “home,” and the loyalties to his old friend, Cassie, who has hatched a scheme with her boyfriend Pretty Baby to escape the control of the gang, the Combine. Hanging over these desperate, lonesome parties is the gang’s motto, tattooed indelibly across the heart: Blood is Love.
The Last King of California is a story of the West unlike any you will read.
"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
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.
