My very first Jordan Harper, and I've gone and grabbed myself his backlist. I felt in good hands here, and was reminded of SA Cosby, Dennis Lehane, James Ellory, and a host of other crime greats. A trippy premise, a solid exploration of the machinations of Hollywood publicity, and general Tinsel Town depravity. Great characters and some fabulous twists that meant I was never comfy. I had a great time with it, and look forward to the movie (of course, there'll be a movie, right?).

Fantastically propul;sive slice of contemporary LA noir featuring two great lead characters, a twisty plot and enough 'behind the curtain' insight to lend authenticity. it's also a real love letter to LA and the surrounding landscape. Great fun.

i suppose the books about Hollywood underworld are quite fashionable as I read a number of them recently.
This one is an intriguing and well plotted one. Good storytelling and plot development
Recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher for this ARC, all opinions are mine

An interesting premise exploring the dark underworld and sordid acts of Hollywood, the twists and turns kept me gripped to the end.
Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for this advanced copy.

The perfect book for a holiday stateside. This author clearly knows Hollywood and the danger that can lie on the other side of the red carpet. Dark and deliciously challenging

Really liked this noir side to LA and the differences (and many similarities) between Mae and Chris and their respective roles.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for an advanced copy of the book.

I will definitely be reading more from this author. The plot had me gripped by the ending. I loved the setting in the murky world of LA. The book is reminiscent of Michael Connolly and Taylor Jenkins Reid novels and there was shades on the Manson murders there as well. Great characterisations and the plot would make a great movie. On the negative side there's a lot of LA speak - ways of dressing (westside) that were hard to picture.

Spoiler alert# shame about the ending. I would have liked a happier ending for Mae, Chris and Neveah but understand it was more credible the way it was done

An absolutely wonderful dive into Hollywood’s sick and twisted world of crisis management. Where bad people do whatever they want and pay people like Mae to cover it up and change the narrative. Everybody Knows tells us the ugly truth about what we all know deep down, but choose to believe the coverups because the truth is just too horrific. It’s like living inside CDAN blind items! Another superb novel from Jordan Harper

So... Hollywood... full of glamour and glitz and wonderful people... Perfect people, living perfect lives, perfectly. Or that's what they want you to think. Imagine a swan... graceful above the water gliding effortlessly around the lake. But look closer and, below the water, out of main view, the bird is kicking its legs for all it's worth... This book deals with that side of things. The fixers, those who whitewash everything. If you are rich and/or famous and have a problem, they are the people you call to make it all go away. Or if it has gone too far for a simple cover-up, they are also very good at spin...
Dan and Mae are two such people. But, as we first meet him, Dan is trying to persuade Mae that he has a scheme to make them both rich if she wants in. She is on her way to meet him to find out more when she hears the devastating news that Dan is dead. Shot in his car by a random bad guy. She starts to smell a rat. And being in the business, she'd know a cover up when she sees one. But who and why and what exactly was Dan's get rich quick scheme, was it the reason he is now dead...? Teaming up with her ex, Chris, an ex-cop and who now works in private security, can the two of them get to the bottom of what really happened to Dan...?
I do have to admit to struggling a bit with the first part of this book. I am not sure why. Could be the writing style, could be the characters, could be their questionable jobs, could be anything. But, having had a peak at the star rating that some of my fellow reviewers, who I trust, had given it, I knew that I had to carry on.
And I am so glad that I did... I don't think I never completely got to liking Mae or Chris. But I don't think that mattered in the end. I did find their employment distasteful but, hey, I guess someone has to do that job. It's just a shame that there are people who make that job a thing in the first place. With the way things are in the world at the moment, there is so much obfuscating going on that I hardly think anyone tells much of the truth at all... And that's sad... And, on occasion, so wrong. The lines have blurred. But that's my political soapbox and only included to speak of my mindset during reading the book. Suffice to say, parts of it annoyed the heck out of me.
But, having go through that, I was left with a cracking story that both interested and intrigued an which, once I finally clicked with it, held my attention nicely throughout. Apart from having to swallow back a few niggles, it eventually ended to my complete satisfaction.
All in all, a good solid read that I do recommend, and one I am glad I didn't give up on. My thanks go to the Publisher and Netgalley for the chance to read this book.

I enjoyed the premise of this book- something different to the norm which will make it popular I think. I did struggle with the different POVs to begin with- I wasn’t sure that the voices were different enough from one another. The setting was great and the story has made me wonder whether among the glitz this is really happening!

Described as LA Noir, this latest novel by Jordan Harper is a crime thriller that echoes James Ellroy and Raymond Chandler, although Harper infuses it with his own brand of edgy contemporary vibe.

Mae Pruett is a Blackbag publicist which means she carries out a form of crisis management to the stars, politicians and other public figures whose livelihoods depend on keeping their unsavoury misdemeanors hidden from the media.

She teams up with her ex-partner, Chris, a former sheriff’s deputy, now an undercover “enforcer” to track down “something big”, a conspiracy that made itself known with the murder of Mae’s boss early in the story and evolves into a wild ride that threatens to take them down along with the criminals.

If you like your thrillers hard-boiled, edge of the seat suspenseful with a plot that keeps you guessing from first page to last, you’ll love this. Harper’s vivid prose is an unexpected bonus. This, for example, describing a dance class: “these girls with their hair pulled tight against their skulls in harsh ponytails, sweating and wishing they weren’t, hitting their marks, all of them chasing their dreams or maybe someone else’s.”

Thanks to Faber and Faber and NetGalley for giving me an advance review copy of the book.

A publicist for an L.A PR firm, Mae Pruett works hard to stop bad publicity getting out about her clients.

When her boss, Dan, is found murdered, Mae needs to find out why.

This is a dark thriller but overall, it wasn’t really for me. I found it to be a slow burner at times and I wasn’t overly keen on the characters.

My thanks to NetGalley and Faber & Faber Ltd for a copy in exchange for my honest review.

Nobody talks, but everybody whispers.

Hollywood, glitz and glamour. The rich and the famous… the dark and the messed up. Welcome to the ugly side of the rich and the powerful. Mae is a crisis manager in PR, she stops the bad stories getting out, even when it should be told.her life is full of secrets and lies, she knows everything about those who control the city. But when her mentor is gunned down in his own car, she does not believe the narrative that he was a victim of a car jacking. She teams up with ex cop and ex lover Chris, to find out what really happened.

This takes them down a path of no return. You can’t unknowingly it once you find out and it is indeed some awful things on. They put their lives in danger to get to the truth.

Now, the main characters in this book were not likeable at all. Their entire lives were about money and the story. But it worked for this story. It is a tough read at times, really terrible things are happening.

Thanks to Faber and Faber and NetGalley for my advanced copy of this book to read. Published on September 28th

Jordan Harper's contemporary Los Angeles Noir is an edgy well written thriller that plunges the reader into the ugly horror that simmers below the superficial gloss and glamour of Hollywood and the world of the rich and powerful, where at the root of every fortune is crime, a LA where nobody talks but everybody whispers. Mae Pruett is an experienced black bag publicist, specialising in preventing bad news leaking out, working at the top and most sought out firm, Mitnick and Associates, mentored by Dan Hennigan. It is not a profession for those who have any sense of right or wrong, you have to armour yourself from feeling any sense of morality as you protect and disconnect power from responsibility. Dan has mentored Mae, teaching her the basic tenets such as it is not that the truth isn't important, it just doesn't matter, and if you want to sell a story, you have to give them heartstrings, or give them horror.

Dan now wants to bring Mae in on a getting rich beyond imagination scheme, tempting her, telling her she already does all this dirt, so she might as well do it for herself. He arranges a time to fill her in on the details, only she arrives to find him shot dead in his car. A traumatised Mae doesn't believe the official explanations, she is certain it is his planned scheme that got him killed, and she is going to find out what it was. She is joined in her inquiries by an ex-lover and ex-cop, Chris Tamburro with his phantom heart attacks, a huge, feared man, now working private security. The blood soaked nightmare they start to uncover pushes them to consider leaving their murky and amoral lives behind, but is saving themselves even a possibility? Mae and Chris are unaware of the tragedies coming, along with the danger and trouble emanating from 'the beast', the juggernaut of powers lining up against them.

Secrets are Mae's trade, as is understanding what is unsaid, a garbage world, of drugs, where the rats thrive, an LA where someone is bombing the homeless in their tent cities, and the police are corrupt killers too. She is averting her eyes as the darkness and lies she ventures into shows her how the world really is, the truth about what she is and what she does. Mae wants the impossible, to go 'back to when she could walk through this burning world without noticing it's on fire'. The sewage of humanity we encounter here are difficult to read about, hard to stomach, pure filth and poison protected by the likes of Mae and Chris. The protagonists are unquestionably unlikeable, but Mae and Chris's journey to try and redeem themselves is a riveting reading experience. This is a must read that I highly recommend! Many thanks to the publisher for an ARC.

Absolutely re me away, and I was already a huge fan. The writing is sublime, characters so vivid you can practically hear them whispering in your ears. Jordan Harper is well and truly one of the best out there these days

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.

Another new author for me and I thoroughly enjoyed the book although there are places where it is a bit confusing and I did have to go back a few times to keep myself on track.. If you are finding this as I did, please keep going as it is worth it.. Fast paced and gripping, told by two POV's, neither character particularly likeable but then in the world they live in you have to be hard to survive. Hollywood is not all beautiful and we definitely see the other side presented in this book. I will now look up more books by this author and am interested in what else he has written.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for an advanced copy of the book, all opinions are my own.