From the acclaimed author of A Lesson in Violence, comes a blistering collection that unsparingly confronts the extreme, brutal parts of the human heart. Hard-edged but with the fresh, complex humanity of Breaking Bad and Reservoir Dogs, this is an unforgettable debut from an electrifying new voice.
A man runs away from his grave and into a maelstrom of bullets and fire. A Hollywood fixer finds love over the corpse of a dead celebrity. A morbidly obese woman imagines a new life with the jewel thief who is scheming to rob the store where she works. A man earns the name ‘Mad Dog’ and lives to regret it.
All are thirsting for something seemingly just beyond their reach. Some are on the run, pursued by the law or propelled relentlessly forward by a dangerous past. 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 point and beyond, driven to extremes they never imagined.
Praise for Jordan Harper:
'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. Reading Jordan Harper’s A Lesson in Violence is 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
‘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
'A Lesson in Violence is quite simply 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
‘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
‘A wholly original take on the relationship between fathers and daughters, this fast-paced and gritty page turner explores the ways in which love can both brutalize and redeem us. I cared about these characters and imagine other readers will be just as drawn to Nate and Polly’ Amy Engel, author of The Roanoke Girls