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Viper's Dream
For fans of Colson Whitehead and Wild Women and the Blues , Viper's Dream is a gritty, daring look at the vibrant jazz scene of midcentury Harlem, and one man’s dreams of making it big and finding love in a world that wants to keep him down.
Harlem, 1936. Clyde “The Viper” Morton boards a train from Alabama to Harlem to chase his dreams of being a jazz musician. When his talent fails him, he becomes caught up in the dangerous underbelly of Harlem’s drug trade. In this heartbreaking novel, one man must decide what he is willing to give up and what he wants to fight for.
Viper's Dream is a fast-paced story that is charged with suspense. A snappy, provocative voice and a stark look at Viper’s Black American experience weave with endless plot twists to offer readers a stunningly original, achingly beautiful read.
Harlem, 1936. Clyde “The Viper” Morton boards a train from Alabama to Harlem to chase his dreams of being a jazz musician. When his talent fails him, he becomes caught up in the dangerous underbelly of Harlem’s drug trade. In this heartbreaking novel, one man must decide what he is willing to give up and what he wants to fight for.
Viper's Dream is a fast-paced story that is charged with suspense. A snappy, provocative voice and a stark look at Viper’s Black American experience weave with endless plot twists to offer readers a stunningly original, achingly beautiful read.
202 pages, Kindle Edition
First published September 15, 2021
21 people are currently reading
684 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 98 reviews
April 17, 2023
Franco-American writer Jake Lamar’s novel is a hard-boiled, jazz noir that plays out in Harlem from the 1930s through to the early sixties. Lamar opens in 1961, Clyde Morton, known as the Viper, is holed up at the Cathouse, a jazz club owned by a controversial heiress. Clyde has three hours to flee before he’s arrested for murder, a crime that forces him to reflect on his life and his choices. Clyde first arrived in Harlem during the Great Migration, ending up as an enforcer for local gangster Mr O. Now he runs an organisation that deals in weed and has a hand in a variety of criminal activities.
Clyde’s story is also the story of the seamier side of Harlem’s past. He’s an eye witness to Harlem’s shifting, twisting history particularly its changing music scene from trad jazz to bebop and beyond. Throughout everything there are two constants, Clyde’s refusal to trade in heroin and his ill-fated obsessional love for singer Yolanda, known as Yo-Yo, the woman who’s always just out of reach. First revered, later feared, Lamar’s narrative charts Clyde the Viper’s rise and possible fall, building in cameos from real-life Harlem figures like Miles Davis, John Coltrane and Thelonius Monk. Lamar’s compelling tale carries convincing echoes of Chester Himes and Walter Mosley. It’s a fast-paced, well-researched, atmospheric piece, although I found the final reveal - in which Clyde’s forced into a reckoning with the world he left behind - a little contrived and verging on melodramatic.
Thanks to Netgalley and publisher Oldcastle/No Exit Press for an ARC.
Rating: 3.5
Clyde’s story is also the story of the seamier side of Harlem’s past. He’s an eye witness to Harlem’s shifting, twisting history particularly its changing music scene from trad jazz to bebop and beyond. Throughout everything there are two constants, Clyde’s refusal to trade in heroin and his ill-fated obsessional love for singer Yolanda, known as Yo-Yo, the woman who’s always just out of reach. First revered, later feared, Lamar’s narrative charts Clyde the Viper’s rise and possible fall, building in cameos from real-life Harlem figures like Miles Davis, John Coltrane and Thelonius Monk. Lamar’s compelling tale carries convincing echoes of Chester Himes and Walter Mosley. It’s a fast-paced, well-researched, atmospheric piece, although I found the final reveal - in which Clyde’s forced into a reckoning with the world he left behind - a little contrived and verging on melodramatic.
Thanks to Netgalley and publisher Oldcastle/No Exit Press for an ARC.
Rating: 3.5
April 10, 2023
Thank you to the author Jake Lamar, publishers Crooked Lane Books, and as always NetGalley, for an advance digital copy of VIPER'S DREAM.
Viper is an aspiring musician in 1940s Harlem, still needing to pay the rent while he waits for his big break. He starts selling marijuana to his friends, eventually making connections in the underworld and establishing himself. He even falls in love again. When a new drug everyone calls "smack" shows up on the jazz scene, Viper takes notice. He refuses to sell the deadly heroin. But that doesn't stop it from threatening everything he holds close.
I love the grittiness of this book. It's so dark and moody, so much texture. I couldn't place the genre for a while but it's these elements, the character names, club heavy setting, and unfortunately the misogyny, that make me realize it's noir. I don't read much nor, but this example gets me interested in the genre.
VIPER'S DREAM calls a great deal of attention to a very important issue, the proliferation of heroin and other intravenous drugs in Black USian communities in the 40s through 60s. This seems to be the central theme of VIPER'S DREAM, and Lamar handles the sensitive topic with palpable courage.
Rating: 🎷🎷🎷🎷 / 5 blues players
Recommend: Yes
Finished: March 19 2023
Read this if you like:
👠 film noir
🕴🏾 gangster stories
🔪 revenge stories
🕰 historical fiction
🎙 jazz and blues music
Viper is an aspiring musician in 1940s Harlem, still needing to pay the rent while he waits for his big break. He starts selling marijuana to his friends, eventually making connections in the underworld and establishing himself. He even falls in love again. When a new drug everyone calls "smack" shows up on the jazz scene, Viper takes notice. He refuses to sell the deadly heroin. But that doesn't stop it from threatening everything he holds close.
I love the grittiness of this book. It's so dark and moody, so much texture. I couldn't place the genre for a while but it's these elements, the character names, club heavy setting, and unfortunately the misogyny, that make me realize it's noir. I don't read much nor, but this example gets me interested in the genre.
VIPER'S DREAM calls a great deal of attention to a very important issue, the proliferation of heroin and other intravenous drugs in Black USian communities in the 40s through 60s. This seems to be the central theme of VIPER'S DREAM, and Lamar handles the sensitive topic with palpable courage.
Rating: 🎷🎷🎷🎷 / 5 blues players
Recommend: Yes
Finished: March 19 2023
Read this if you like:
👠 film noir
🕴🏾 gangster stories
🔪 revenge stories
🕰 historical fiction
🎙 jazz and blues music
February 26, 2023
What a treat this is for fans of classic noir.
Written with the highly stylised verve of the pulp legends of the past, it tells the story of Clyde 'Viper' Morton, a country boy who arrives in Harlem in 1936 with a trumpet and a dream... Only to find his true destiny lies with Sweet Mary Jane.
We follow Clyde across 25 years as he builds a drug empire, mingles with the big names in the New York jazz scene, and negotiates a doomed on-off relationship with a beautiful singer, Yolanda.
Structured around the three murders he commits in his life, this is a brilliant throwback to the writing of the past and an absolute breath of fresh air among contemporary crime writing. I loved it.
Written with the highly stylised verve of the pulp legends of the past, it tells the story of Clyde 'Viper' Morton, a country boy who arrives in Harlem in 1936 with a trumpet and a dream... Only to find his true destiny lies with Sweet Mary Jane.
We follow Clyde across 25 years as he builds a drug empire, mingles with the big names in the New York jazz scene, and negotiates a doomed on-off relationship with a beautiful singer, Yolanda.
Structured around the three murders he commits in his life, this is a brilliant throwback to the writing of the past and an absolute breath of fresh air among contemporary crime writing. I loved it.
March 6, 2023
Novel set in 1940s to 1960s Harlem about an aspiring jazz musician, Viper. Realising he won't make it on the NY Jazz scene his life takes a turn when he meets some unsavory characters. Interesting plot with some good characters involving American history, drugs and murder - all centered around a love story. Thanks NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.
February 23, 2023
This story has really good bones, unfortunately I felt that I never got enough of Viper's inner life to get invested in him as a character or on his love for Harlem after he initially fell in love with it to get invested in the setting. I saw the things he did but it all felt clinical and it only rarely felt engaging even though a lot of tragic events happed to him. I assume the intent was to convey Viper's own sense of disconnect from his own actions but the result wasn't convincing for me.
I ended up being more invested in Yolanda whom I found to be a tragic but sweet character and Pork Chop who seemed to have a richer inner life but sadly we don't get their side of the story.
I received a review copy of this book through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
I ended up being more invested in Yolanda whom I found to be a tragic but sweet character and Pork Chop who seemed to have a richer inner life but sadly we don't get their side of the story.
I received a review copy of this book through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
November 9, 2025
„Also Viper“, sagte die Baroness, „was sind deine drei Wünsche?“. (Auszug S. 9)
Mit dieser ungewöhnlichen Frage beginnt dieser historische Jazz-/Gangsterroman und setzt stilistisch und strukturell die Vorgabe für diesen vom Umfang zwar schmalen, aber inhaltlich sehr prallen Kriminalroman. Die Frage stellt die Baroness Pannonica de Koenigswarter, eine reiche, adlige Europäerin und Mäzenin der New Yorker Jazzszene der 1950er bis 1980er Jahre, an Clyde Morton, genannt Viper, einflussreicher Gangster und Geschäftsmann in Harlem und eng mit der Jazzszene verbandelt. Wir sind im November 1961 im sogenannten Cathouse, einem Refugium der Jazzszene und hunderter Katzen in Newark. Wir erfahren auf den ersten Seiten, dass Viper vor Kurzem seinen dritten Mord begangen hat und sich ins Cathouse zurückgezogen hat, anstatt die Flucht zu ergreifen, wie ihm sein Geschäftspartner und Kontaktmann Detective Carney beim NYPD nahegelegt hat. Stattdessen raucht Viper Marihuana, wie die meisten im Cathouse, und grübelt über sein Leben. Die Baroness stellt ihm diese Frage und Viper wird diese im Laufe des Buches beantworten. Allerdings stellt die Baroness am Ende fest:
„…du wünscht dir nichts, du bereust.“ „Wo ist der Unterschied?“, sagte Viper. „Gute Nacht, Nica.“ (Auszug S.201)
Über einen unbekannten Erzähler wird nun abwechselnd aus dem Cathouse 1961 und von der Vergangenheit von Clyde Morton alias Viper erzählt. Clyde beschließt 1936 als junger Mann Alabama und seine schwangere Freundin Hals über Kopf zu verlassen, weil ihm sein Onkel in den Kopf gesetzt hat, er könne in New York als Trompeter Geld verdienen. In Harlem angekommen betritt er den nächsten Nachtclub und erhält sofort die Rückmeldung, dass er sich eine Karriere als Musiker abschminken kann. Doch er wird quasi direkt in die Welt des Marihuanas eingeführt, daher erhält Clyde vom zischenden Geräusch des Zugs am Joint auch den Spitznamen Viper. Wenig später wird Viper dem jüdischen Geschäftsmann, Clubbesitzer und Drogenhändler Orlinsky vorgestellt, der in seiner Organisation auch direkt einen Platz für ihn findet.
Clyde war begeistert. Fühlte sich mächtig. Noch nie in seinem Leben hatte er einem Weißen ins Gesicht geschlagen. Falls das der Job war, für den ihn Mr. O angeheuert hatte… daran konnte er sich gewöhnen. Und noch etwas kam hinzu. Nach langer Zeit hatte Clyde Morton sich endlich für den Mord an seinem Vater gerächt. (Auszug S. 43)
Und so begleiten wir Clyde Morton, wie er sich in der Gangster- und Jazzszene in Harlem bewegt und sein Einfluss immer weiterwächst, bis er eines Tages mit der richtigen Mischung aus Geschäftssinn und Härte an der Spitze der Nahrungskette angekommen und zum wichtigsten Händler von Dope aufgestiegen ist. Doch die Luft ist rau in Harlem, zudem kommt der Krieg dazwischen und außerdem gibt es da noch diese unglaublich attraktive Jazzsängerin Yolanda, Vipers große, aber äußerst tragisch verlaufende Liebe.
Autor Jake Lamar hatte im letzten Jahr seinen Durchbruch im deutschsprachigen Raum, als er mit „Das schwarze Chamäleon“ den deutschen Krimipreis gewann. Lamar lebt seit 1993 in Paris und ist dort Dozent für Kreatives Schreiben. „Viper’s Dream“ erschien tatsächlich zunächst 2021 in der französischen Übersetzung, erst zwei Jahre später im Original und gewann 2024 den Dagger für den besten historischen Kriminalroman.
Bei Jazz bin ich wahrlich kein Experte. Und dennoch war ich sehr begeistert, wie Lamar hier eine Geschichte der New Yorker Jazzszene der 1930er bis Anfang der 1960er Jahre im einem Gangsterroman erzählt. Immer wieder betreten ganz natürlich Jazzgrößen wie Miles Davis, Charlie Parker und Thelonious Monk die Szene. Großes Thema ist unter anderem die Drogenszene rund um die Jazzmusiker und die Bedrohung des Jazz durch das aufkommende Heroin. Viper versucht mit aller Macht die Verbreitung dieses tödlichen Gifts in seinem Revier zu verhindern. Vergeblich.
Und auch die Anfangsfrage von Baroness „Nica“ de Koenigswarter hat einen historischen Hintergrund. Tatsächlich stellte die Baroness den Jazzkünstlern in den 1960ern diese Frage mit den drei Wünschen, verwahrte ihre Antworten und schoss zudem zahlreiche Polaroids, um diese Jahre zu dokumentieren. Zu ihren Lebzeiten wurde das Projekt allerdings nicht mehr umgesetzt. Erst 2006 veröffentlichte ihre Großnichte die Dokumentation „Die Jazzmusiker und ihre drei Wünsche“.
„Viper’s Dream“ ist ein historischer Gangsterroman, in dem der Autor sowohl visuell als auch musikalisch den Schauplatz Harlem auferstehen lässt. Jake Lamar hat eine umfangreiche Playlist am Ende des Romans ergänzt, die in den einschlägigen Streamingplattformen ebenfalls gefunden werden kann. Dabei gerät die Verbindung zwischen Krimi und Jazz niemals gezwungen, sondern wirkt sehr organisch. Dieser Kriminalroman ist eine sehr lesenswerte Mischung aus flirrendem Jazz, melancholischer Nabelschau eines grübelnden Gangsters und hartgesottener Erzählung von den rauen Straßen von Harlem. Große Leseempfehlung.
Mit dieser ungewöhnlichen Frage beginnt dieser historische Jazz-/Gangsterroman und setzt stilistisch und strukturell die Vorgabe für diesen vom Umfang zwar schmalen, aber inhaltlich sehr prallen Kriminalroman. Die Frage stellt die Baroness Pannonica de Koenigswarter, eine reiche, adlige Europäerin und Mäzenin der New Yorker Jazzszene der 1950er bis 1980er Jahre, an Clyde Morton, genannt Viper, einflussreicher Gangster und Geschäftsmann in Harlem und eng mit der Jazzszene verbandelt. Wir sind im November 1961 im sogenannten Cathouse, einem Refugium der Jazzszene und hunderter Katzen in Newark. Wir erfahren auf den ersten Seiten, dass Viper vor Kurzem seinen dritten Mord begangen hat und sich ins Cathouse zurückgezogen hat, anstatt die Flucht zu ergreifen, wie ihm sein Geschäftspartner und Kontaktmann Detective Carney beim NYPD nahegelegt hat. Stattdessen raucht Viper Marihuana, wie die meisten im Cathouse, und grübelt über sein Leben. Die Baroness stellt ihm diese Frage und Viper wird diese im Laufe des Buches beantworten. Allerdings stellt die Baroness am Ende fest:
„…du wünscht dir nichts, du bereust.“ „Wo ist der Unterschied?“, sagte Viper. „Gute Nacht, Nica.“ (Auszug S.201)
Über einen unbekannten Erzähler wird nun abwechselnd aus dem Cathouse 1961 und von der Vergangenheit von Clyde Morton alias Viper erzählt. Clyde beschließt 1936 als junger Mann Alabama und seine schwangere Freundin Hals über Kopf zu verlassen, weil ihm sein Onkel in den Kopf gesetzt hat, er könne in New York als Trompeter Geld verdienen. In Harlem angekommen betritt er den nächsten Nachtclub und erhält sofort die Rückmeldung, dass er sich eine Karriere als Musiker abschminken kann. Doch er wird quasi direkt in die Welt des Marihuanas eingeführt, daher erhält Clyde vom zischenden Geräusch des Zugs am Joint auch den Spitznamen Viper. Wenig später wird Viper dem jüdischen Geschäftsmann, Clubbesitzer und Drogenhändler Orlinsky vorgestellt, der in seiner Organisation auch direkt einen Platz für ihn findet.
Clyde war begeistert. Fühlte sich mächtig. Noch nie in seinem Leben hatte er einem Weißen ins Gesicht geschlagen. Falls das der Job war, für den ihn Mr. O angeheuert hatte… daran konnte er sich gewöhnen. Und noch etwas kam hinzu. Nach langer Zeit hatte Clyde Morton sich endlich für den Mord an seinem Vater gerächt. (Auszug S. 43)
Und so begleiten wir Clyde Morton, wie er sich in der Gangster- und Jazzszene in Harlem bewegt und sein Einfluss immer weiterwächst, bis er eines Tages mit der richtigen Mischung aus Geschäftssinn und Härte an der Spitze der Nahrungskette angekommen und zum wichtigsten Händler von Dope aufgestiegen ist. Doch die Luft ist rau in Harlem, zudem kommt der Krieg dazwischen und außerdem gibt es da noch diese unglaublich attraktive Jazzsängerin Yolanda, Vipers große, aber äußerst tragisch verlaufende Liebe.
Autor Jake Lamar hatte im letzten Jahr seinen Durchbruch im deutschsprachigen Raum, als er mit „Das schwarze Chamäleon“ den deutschen Krimipreis gewann. Lamar lebt seit 1993 in Paris und ist dort Dozent für Kreatives Schreiben. „Viper’s Dream“ erschien tatsächlich zunächst 2021 in der französischen Übersetzung, erst zwei Jahre später im Original und gewann 2024 den Dagger für den besten historischen Kriminalroman.
Bei Jazz bin ich wahrlich kein Experte. Und dennoch war ich sehr begeistert, wie Lamar hier eine Geschichte der New Yorker Jazzszene der 1930er bis Anfang der 1960er Jahre im einem Gangsterroman erzählt. Immer wieder betreten ganz natürlich Jazzgrößen wie Miles Davis, Charlie Parker und Thelonious Monk die Szene. Großes Thema ist unter anderem die Drogenszene rund um die Jazzmusiker und die Bedrohung des Jazz durch das aufkommende Heroin. Viper versucht mit aller Macht die Verbreitung dieses tödlichen Gifts in seinem Revier zu verhindern. Vergeblich.
Und auch die Anfangsfrage von Baroness „Nica“ de Koenigswarter hat einen historischen Hintergrund. Tatsächlich stellte die Baroness den Jazzkünstlern in den 1960ern diese Frage mit den drei Wünschen, verwahrte ihre Antworten und schoss zudem zahlreiche Polaroids, um diese Jahre zu dokumentieren. Zu ihren Lebzeiten wurde das Projekt allerdings nicht mehr umgesetzt. Erst 2006 veröffentlichte ihre Großnichte die Dokumentation „Die Jazzmusiker und ihre drei Wünsche“.
„Viper’s Dream“ ist ein historischer Gangsterroman, in dem der Autor sowohl visuell als auch musikalisch den Schauplatz Harlem auferstehen lässt. Jake Lamar hat eine umfangreiche Playlist am Ende des Romans ergänzt, die in den einschlägigen Streamingplattformen ebenfalls gefunden werden kann. Dabei gerät die Verbindung zwischen Krimi und Jazz niemals gezwungen, sondern wirkt sehr organisch. Dieser Kriminalroman ist eine sehr lesenswerte Mischung aus flirrendem Jazz, melancholischer Nabelschau eines grübelnden Gangsters und hartgesottener Erzählung von den rauen Straßen von Harlem. Große Leseempfehlung.
October 13, 2025
Also eigentlich het mir das buech ganz guet gfalle, aber mis hauptproblem mit krimis isch, dass sie praktisch nie literarisch öpis hergebet, was bi dem au nöd de fall gsi isch, au wenn’s sicher kein 0815 krimi isch.
Es gaht um drogehandel, korruption, jazz und zeichnet es (glaub) wahrheitsgetreus bild vo harlem ide 40-60 jahr.
Was het mir gfalle?
- het sich schnell glese, het es guets tempo
- wie scho gseit, es isch kein "standard" krimi
- historische bezug, es werded viel jazz legende erwähnt und es het en musighistorische inhalt
Was het mir nöd gfalle?
- teilwiis zu unlogischi passage
- verhalte vo de chrakter idch für mich nöd immer nahvollziehbar gsi
- s‘sprachliche lvl isch mir chli z‘eifach gsi, was für teilwiis monotoni sätz gsorgt het
Alles ih allem en coole krimi für lüt, wo öpis eifachs, aber nöd basics lese wend:)
Es gaht um drogehandel, korruption, jazz und zeichnet es (glaub) wahrheitsgetreus bild vo harlem ide 40-60 jahr.
Was het mir gfalle?
- het sich schnell glese, het es guets tempo
- wie scho gseit, es isch kein "standard" krimi
- historische bezug, es werded viel jazz legende erwähnt und es het en musighistorische inhalt
Was het mir nöd gfalle?
- teilwiis zu unlogischi passage
- verhalte vo de chrakter idch für mich nöd immer nahvollziehbar gsi
- s‘sprachliche lvl isch mir chli z‘eifach gsi, was für teilwiis monotoni sätz gsorgt het
Alles ih allem en coole krimi für lüt, wo öpis eifachs, aber nöd basics lese wend:)
January 21, 2024
Actuellement en train de viber sur la playlist de Jake Lamar tel Louis dans la Princesse et la Grenouille.
September 12, 2023
Please note - I listened to the audiobook version that is not currently an option on Goodreads.
Great thanks to Dreamscape Media, the American Library Association, and Libro.fm for the ALC.
The prose is interminably dull to the point of being lifeless. Descriptions are bland and repetitive (e.g - Viper "makes sweet love" to his girlfriend, the only way the act is ever described every time it happens). I could never tell if the author was trying to tell a hardboiled crime story or some kind of impressionistic historical fiction, but the lack of conviction towards either end added up to nothingness. There's mentions of many real-life jazz musicians, but they're barely even set dressing and add nothing to the story. The entirety of the second World War passes by in a few paragraphs, adding nothing to any of the characters and seemingly only mentioned as a way for the author to skip ahead six years.
The main character has absolutely no agency to speak of, again, to the point of being lifeless. He simply floats from plot point to plot point. Upon arriving in Harlem to chase his dream of being a jazz musician, That's indicative of the character's entire life as presented in the book. Someone else does something and he just goes along with it. Never does he seem like the "Machiavellian" (another word that gets overused) crime lord that he is said to be. I'm not sure there was a single example of him showing any kind of personal thought at all, in fact.
If this was all the book was, I would have given it 2* and accepted that I just didn't like it. However, in the final chapter there was a "shock" twist ending so pointless, so egregious, that my distaste for the book became disdain.
Dreadful. Just dreadful.
Great thanks to Dreamscape Media, the American Library Association, and Libro.fm for the ALC.
The prose is interminably dull to the point of being lifeless. Descriptions are bland and repetitive (e.g - Viper "makes sweet love" to his girlfriend, the only way the act is ever described every time it happens). I could never tell if the author was trying to tell a hardboiled crime story or some kind of impressionistic historical fiction, but the lack of conviction towards either end added up to nothingness. There's mentions of many real-life jazz musicians, but they're barely even set dressing and add nothing to the story. The entirety of the second World War passes by in a few paragraphs, adding nothing to any of the characters and seemingly only mentioned as a way for the author to skip ahead six years.
The main character has absolutely no agency to speak of, again, to the point of being lifeless. He simply floats from plot point to plot point. Upon arriving in Harlem to chase his dream of being a jazz musician, That's indicative of the character's entire life as presented in the book. Someone else does something and he just goes along with it. Never does he seem like the "Machiavellian" (another word that gets overused) crime lord that he is said to be. I'm not sure there was a single example of him showing any kind of personal thought at all, in fact.
If this was all the book was, I would have given it 2* and accepted that I just didn't like it. However, in the final chapter there was a "shock" twist ending so pointless, so egregious, that my distaste for the book became disdain.
Dreadful. Just dreadful.
April 20, 2023
Wonderfully vivid story telling by the author. I was whisked back to the world of gangsters and jazz in 1930’s to 1960’s Harlem.
We meet Viper In the ‘present’ where he is asked to write down three wishes. We look back on his life, on his highs and lows. The murders. The music. The drugs. The love.
Viper (Clyde Morton) leaves his home and his fiancée in Alabama heading to Harlem to follow his dream of becoming a famous musician. Auditioning on his first day for Pork Chop Bradley he is told in no uncertain terms that he has absolutely no musical talent.
Pork Chop takes him under his wing though, and Viper gets involved with Mr O, who is in to all sorts of bad things.
He becomes well known in Harlem over the years, both loved and feared. Then war comes and things change.
I thoroughly enjoyed this dark and gritty read which had me completely immersed from the beginning to the end.
We meet Viper In the ‘present’ where he is asked to write down three wishes. We look back on his life, on his highs and lows. The murders. The music. The drugs. The love.
Viper (Clyde Morton) leaves his home and his fiancée in Alabama heading to Harlem to follow his dream of becoming a famous musician. Auditioning on his first day for Pork Chop Bradley he is told in no uncertain terms that he has absolutely no musical talent.
Pork Chop takes him under his wing though, and Viper gets involved with Mr O, who is in to all sorts of bad things.
He becomes well known in Harlem over the years, both loved and feared. Then war comes and things change.
I thoroughly enjoyed this dark and gritty read which had me completely immersed from the beginning to the end.
February 23, 2024
It was mildly amusing at times but this book never felt like it had a cohesive plot. To the point where in the very last chapter there's a big twist but the foundation isn't properly laid down for it so it feels pointless. It started out very promising as the tale of a starry eyed man who moves to Harlem to become a famous musician and then gets a dose of reality. It felt like he just moved from plot point to plot point with no real emotional connection to anything. He was never quite the menacing overlord people thought he was. And then there was so much repetition with the woman he was in love with. She was portrayed as a faithless whore who would constantly reconnect with him when she needed something.
December 22, 2024
Set in the jazz scene of Harlem between 1936 and 1961, Lamar includes many actual musicians of the day in this neo-noir, thereby managing to create such an atmosphere that the plot almost takes second place.
It is the story of how a failed trumpeter, Clyde ‘the Viper’ Morton, becomes one of the most feared gangsters in New York. Though it begins in 1961, the story recalls the Harlem of the late 1930s, with a hint of Chester Himes to the writing. Jazz is a crucial part of the novel, there are frequent appearances from Count Basie, Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Dizzy Gillespie and Thelonius Monk. At the outset the Viper is about to kill for the third time, and as that unravels, through flashbacks the full backstory of the Viper is revealed.
Lamar is an American living in Paris, whose previous novels, through originally written in English, were translated immediately into French and only published in France. This is an entertaining hardboiled thriller that benefits from well-placed dark humour. Its real strength though is as a glimpse into the dysfunctional world of jazz in Harlem in the early 60s.
And there's even a playlist in the afternotes..
It is the story of how a failed trumpeter, Clyde ‘the Viper’ Morton, becomes one of the most feared gangsters in New York. Though it begins in 1961, the story recalls the Harlem of the late 1930s, with a hint of Chester Himes to the writing. Jazz is a crucial part of the novel, there are frequent appearances from Count Basie, Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Dizzy Gillespie and Thelonius Monk. At the outset the Viper is about to kill for the third time, and as that unravels, through flashbacks the full backstory of the Viper is revealed.
Lamar is an American living in Paris, whose previous novels, through originally written in English, were translated immediately into French and only published in France. This is an entertaining hardboiled thriller that benefits from well-placed dark humour. Its real strength though is as a glimpse into the dysfunctional world of jazz in Harlem in the early 60s.
And there's even a playlist in the afternotes..
"Round Midnight": performed by Thelonious Monk, original 1948 recording
"Round Midnight": performed by the Miles Davis Quintet, 1957 recording
"Viper's Dream": performed by Django Reinhardt
"Stardust": performed by Louis Armstrong
"West End Blues": performed by Louis Armstrong
"St. Louis Blues": performed by Louis Armstrong
"The Man I Love": performed by Billie Holiday
"Strange Fruit": performed by Billie Holiday
"Strange Fruit": performed by Nina Simone
"Moten Swing": performed by Bennie Moten's Kansas City Orchestra
"Jumpin' at the Woodside": performed by Count Basie and His Orchestra
"Lester Leaps In": performed by Count Basie's Kansas City Seven with Lester Young on saxophone
"Draftin' Blues": performed by Count Basie and His Orchestra
"If You're a Viper": performed by Fats Waller
"Sing Sing Sing": performed by Benny Goodman and His Orchestra
"Body and Soul": performed by Coleman Hawkins
"Take the A Train": performed by Ella Fitzgerald
"The Mooche": performed by Duke Ellington and His Orchestra
"Caravan": performed by Duke Ellington and His Orchestra
"Jungle Nights in Harlem": performed by Duke Ellington and His Orchestra
"Prelude to a Kiss": performed by Duke Ellington and His Orchestra
"Such Sweet Thunder": performed by Duke Ellington and His Orchestra
"In the Mood": performed by Glenn Miller and His Orchestra
"Ko-Ko": performed by Charlie Parker's Reboppers
"Now's the Time": performed by Charlie Parker's Reboppers
"Night in Tunisia": performed by the Charlie Parker Septet
"Parker's Mood": performed by Charlie Parker's All Stars
"Lover Man": performed by the Charlie Parker Quintet
"Salt Peanuts": performed by Dizzy Gillespie and His All-Star Quintet
"Manteca": performed by Dizzy Gillespie and His Orchestra
"Dance of the Infidels": performed by Bud Powell
"Nica's Dream": performed by Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers
"Rhythm in a Riff": performed by Billy Eckstine and His Orchestra
"My One and Only Love": performed by Art Tatum and Ben Webster
"Si Tu Vois Ma Mère": performed by Sidney Bechet
"April in Paris": performed by Sarah Vaughan
"So What": performed by Miles Davis
"Naima": performed by John Coltrane
"St. Thomas": performed by Sonny Rollins
"Django": performed by the Modern Jazz Quartet
"Take Five": performed by the Dave Brubeck Quartet
"Lonely Woman": performed by Ornette Coleman
"Goodbye Pork Pie Hat": performed by Charles Mingus
"The Black and Crazy Blues": performed by Rahsaan Roland Kirk
"The Inflated Tear": performed by Rahsaan Roland Kirk
"Green Onions": performed by Booker T. and the M.G.'s
"In a Sentimental Mood": performed by Duke Ellington and John Coltrane
"In Walked Bud": performed by Thelonious Monk
"Pannonica": performed by Thelonious Monk
"Crepuscule with Nellie": performed by Thelonious Monk
August 17, 2023
I don’t typically go for books like this but the historical Harlem setting intrigued me. That part didn’t disappoint me but I really didn’t like the main character and the story itself was just ok. Maybe not for me but others will totally dig it.
September 10, 2023
Namedropped.
April 29, 2024
Very easy to read, but so so cheesy. Author felt the need to over explain things throughout.
November 19, 2023
Thank you NetGalley and Dreamscape Media for accepting my request to read and review Viper's Dream.
Narrator: Leon Nixon
Four solid stars. This is my hands down goto genre, historical fiction.
I thoroughly enjoyed the narrator, Leon Nixon.
This is midcentury Harlem. The drugs, and oh boy the drugs to choose from. There was the mention of Jazz greats, wow. The storylines/mentions surprised me. I'm loving going away from WW II. The historical elements in Viper's Dream flow seamlessly through Viper's storyline.
All the characters were likeable and I had empathy for everyone.
The author has written using language of the time. At first it was uncomfortable and distracting. I understood and saw the reasoning for his choices. I paused and put my head into the historical elements and enjoyed the storytelling.
I didn't like the ending and found it farfetched; thus four stars.
Narrator: Leon Nixon
Four solid stars. This is my hands down goto genre, historical fiction.
I thoroughly enjoyed the narrator, Leon Nixon.
This is midcentury Harlem. The drugs, and oh boy the drugs to choose from. There was the mention of Jazz greats, wow. The storylines/mentions surprised me. I'm loving going away from WW II. The historical elements in Viper's Dream flow seamlessly through Viper's storyline.
All the characters were likeable and I had empathy for everyone.
The author has written using language of the time. At first it was uncomfortable and distracting. I understood and saw the reasoning for his choices. I paused and put my head into the historical elements and enjoyed the storytelling.
I didn't like the ending and found it farfetched; thus four stars.
November 28, 2023
The story opens with Clyde "Viper" Morton having killed his third person, and waiting to be picked up by police. He reflects on his violent life from eager young man arriving in Harlem to the current moment, and all the choices, good and bad, that brought him here.
Clyde Morton arrives in New York City from Alabama with the dream of making it as the next Louis Armstrong. That dream goes down in flames almost immediately, and Clyde's life takes a left turn into something more nefarious when he's convinced to work for a small time drug dealer.
The dealer's boss, Mister O, a wealthy Jewish man with multiple business interests, quickly takes notice of Clyde, and makes him his henchman. Along the way, Clyde secures his name, "Viper", for his increasingly dangerous reputation, and for his first kill: a rival businessman bringing heroine into Harlem. Mister O, and consequently Viper, are strongly opposed to dealing or using heroine, despite its growing popularity amongst the various genius jazz musicians making names for themselves in Harlem.
Viper also falls for Mister O's maid Yolanda, a woman eager to make her name as a singer. Their lives become inextricably tied together and keep intersecting over the years as Viper becomes obsessed with Yolanda, to his detriment.
Author Jake Lamar charts the changing times in Harlem from the 1930s to the 1960s, and while different from Colson Whitehead's "Harlem Shuffle", I can almost imagine Viper's life happening in parallel to Ray Carney's dad's. We see the way various influences on Harlem, from its jazz scene, its real estate, fashion, and to its crime, shape that part of New York City, as well as Viper's, whose life in Harlem is transformed from one of hope (at his arrival) to a trajectory of crime, wealth, violence and disillusionment.
The novel is fast-paced, full of atmosphere, and great dialogue. I was a little less happy with the twist that is revealed most of the way through the book, but I could appreciate it was an attempt to show how Viper needed to confront his much younger self's past. That said, I liked this book, and particularly liked that open ending, where one is left to wonder what choice will Viper make next in his life.
Thank you to Netgalley and to Crooked Lane Books for this ARC in exchange for my review.
Clyde Morton arrives in New York City from Alabama with the dream of making it as the next Louis Armstrong. That dream goes down in flames almost immediately, and Clyde's life takes a left turn into something more nefarious when he's convinced to work for a small time drug dealer.
The dealer's boss, Mister O, a wealthy Jewish man with multiple business interests, quickly takes notice of Clyde, and makes him his henchman. Along the way, Clyde secures his name, "Viper", for his increasingly dangerous reputation, and for his first kill: a rival businessman bringing heroine into Harlem. Mister O, and consequently Viper, are strongly opposed to dealing or using heroine, despite its growing popularity amongst the various genius jazz musicians making names for themselves in Harlem.
Viper also falls for Mister O's maid Yolanda, a woman eager to make her name as a singer. Their lives become inextricably tied together and keep intersecting over the years as Viper becomes obsessed with Yolanda, to his detriment.
Author Jake Lamar charts the changing times in Harlem from the 1930s to the 1960s, and while different from Colson Whitehead's "Harlem Shuffle", I can almost imagine Viper's life happening in parallel to Ray Carney's dad's. We see the way various influences on Harlem, from its jazz scene, its real estate, fashion, and to its crime, shape that part of New York City, as well as Viper's, whose life in Harlem is transformed from one of hope (at his arrival) to a trajectory of crime, wealth, violence and disillusionment.
The novel is fast-paced, full of atmosphere, and great dialogue. I was a little less happy with the twist that is revealed most of the way through the book, but I could appreciate it was an attempt to show how Viper needed to confront his much younger self's past. That said, I liked this book, and particularly liked that open ending, where one is left to wonder what choice will Viper make next in his life.
Thank you to Netgalley and to Crooked Lane Books for this ARC in exchange for my review.
August 26, 2023
This book is so fucking cheesy. I've never read something that talks so much about music and drugs without saying a damn thing. It's clear the author is highly reverent of jazz, and knowledgeable of the scene's history and relationship to drugs, crime, and NYC. Unfortunately this familiarity does not translate to good writing. There's a lot that goes almost well, and some of the characters are quite enjoyable archetypes, but this quality is always in the plot, and never the prose.
Descriptions of key moments are loose and figurative; not an issue until all the boring stuff is given explicit detail. Likewise, any time the Lamar gets too close to giving any real account of the jazz scene, he skitters away, almost in fear. Maybe knowing it so well makes one afraid to put into words what makes it so powerful.
It was enlightening to discover — on the final page of the book — that this was simultaneously produced as a French audio drama. Perhaps it's less grating to hear a man yell in pain, at least compared to being forced to read things like "AAAAAACCHHHH!" And "Aarrrrrgghhh." Some of the cheesier lines ("KABOOM! Payback in Hiroshima.") might've benefitted from suitable delivery, and the excessive repetition of "I am speaking now of...." to denote change of period might've been less groan-inducing.
Plotwise, this did the job, I guess. It's one of the two reasons I kept going, really; the plot and setting were suitably pulpy, and every so often some insight into New York's jazz scene was fascinating. Once you get past the dull framing device of the main character listing his wishes (his regrets), it manages to survive its comparatively-epic scale, and the twists that made it in worked. There's the usual level of sexualisation and lack of agency in the sparse female characters, but given how two-dimensional everyone is this almost feels like a null point. This is probably the most annoying level of quality in a book — just enough to keep me hoping it'll change for the better, but nothing sufficient to make me happy I finished it. I always try to quit a book if I don't think it'll end up with at least a 3-star, but it fooled me til the end. Anyone interested in what I've described would probably be better off reading a good biography. I wish I had.
Descriptions of key moments are loose and figurative; not an issue until all the boring stuff is given explicit detail. Likewise, any time the Lamar gets too close to giving any real account of the jazz scene, he skitters away, almost in fear. Maybe knowing it so well makes one afraid to put into words what makes it so powerful.
It was enlightening to discover — on the final page of the book — that this was simultaneously produced as a French audio drama. Perhaps it's less grating to hear a man yell in pain, at least compared to being forced to read things like "AAAAAACCHHHH!" And "Aarrrrrgghhh." Some of the cheesier lines ("KABOOM! Payback in Hiroshima.") might've benefitted from suitable delivery, and the excessive repetition of "I am speaking now of...." to denote change of period might've been less groan-inducing.
Plotwise, this did the job, I guess. It's one of the two reasons I kept going, really; the plot and setting were suitably pulpy, and every so often some insight into New York's jazz scene was fascinating. Once you get past the dull framing device of the main character listing his wishes (his regrets), it manages to survive its comparatively-epic scale, and the twists that made it in worked. There's the usual level of sexualisation and lack of agency in the sparse female characters, but given how two-dimensional everyone is this almost feels like a null point. This is probably the most annoying level of quality in a book — just enough to keep me hoping it'll change for the better, but nothing sufficient to make me happy I finished it. I always try to quit a book if I don't think it'll end up with at least a 3-star, but it fooled me til the end. Anyone interested in what I've described would probably be better off reading a good biography. I wish I had.
February 12, 2024
Clunky and repetitive…and name dropping loads of infamous jazz musicians with no back story to any of them didn’t add anything to the book. They were just backdrop. Very cheesy writing, flat characters, stereotypes, terrible dialogue. Total let down of an ending…it was ridiculous. Really disappointing as this had the makings of a good story.
March 21, 2023
This is a must read of 2023.
Jazz, drugs, murder - loved it.
Jazz, drugs, murder - loved it.
August 28, 2024
In ‘Viper’s Dream’, Jake Lamar tells the story of Clyde ‘The Viper’ Morton, who moves from Alabama to Harlem with dreams of becoming a jazz trumpeter. From his very first audition it’s clear that he hasn’t got the chops to fulfill his dreams and instead finds himself working in the criminal underworld. We follow The Viper’s path from the 30’s to the 60’s, from his beginnings as an enforcer for his Jewish boss Mr O to his rise as he becomes the biggest distributor of ‘weed’ in New York. Not only is this a crime novel but it’s also a love story, as Clyde falls in love with Mr O’s maid Yolanda but the path of true love is not a straight one and although their lives intersect at various points in time, there is always an obstacle in their way.
This is a brilliantly written noir novel which is played out against the backdrop of the Harlem jazz scene and where fictional characters intermingle with the jazz greats of the time, such Charlie Parker, Miles Davis and Thelonious Monk, to name but a few. Having also just read Colson Whitehead’s Harlem Shuffle, this is a bit like a companion piece to that novel, as this one tells the story of Harlem in the preceding years to Whithead’s novel.
I found this to be a great slice of noir writing that has a truly tragic and heartbreaking breaking final twist, that really turns the story on its head.
This is a brilliantly written noir novel which is played out against the backdrop of the Harlem jazz scene and where fictional characters intermingle with the jazz greats of the time, such Charlie Parker, Miles Davis and Thelonious Monk, to name but a few. Having also just read Colson Whitehead’s Harlem Shuffle, this is a bit like a companion piece to that novel, as this one tells the story of Harlem in the preceding years to Whithead’s novel.
I found this to be a great slice of noir writing that has a truly tragic and heartbreaking breaking final twist, that really turns the story on its head.
January 2, 2024
I actually listened to the audiobook. This is historical fiction set mainly in Harlem from the early 1940's to early 1960's. It involves music, drugs and crime. A noir tale, it's still very compelling.
Read
September 13, 2023Riveting. Honestly couldn't put it down, it was well written and captivating throughout. It isn't a book I normally read but I was pulled right in
September 15, 2025
This was great.
June 6, 2024
Plot driven. Too light on description for me.
December 13, 2023
A taut, atmospheric ride through Harlem in the time of Charlie Parker. We follow Viper from his arrival to NYC with big trumpet dreams through his evolution into a very different career. Conks and jazz and bebop and drugs… Love, betrayal. Great stuff
November 9, 2023
Loved this book!
April 3, 2023
The storyline follows Clyde Morton a black, country hick and his adult journey from Meachum Alabama to becoming a big player in the Big Apple, New York. It is told through two strands, a night of reckoning in 1961 and a back story from him catching the train to New York in 1936 which catches up to the present.
Clyde has been fed stories by his crazy uncle Wilton that he can find fame and fortune as a jazz trumpeter. So he ditches his pregnant fiancé (who threatens suicide) on the platform and catches the train to his future. Alas, the dream is very short lived. At his first audition with Pork Chop Bradley he is told that he can’t play, but it introduced to ‘Mary Warner’ (marijuana) and so makes two lifelong friends. Pork Chop gets Clyde a job at Gentleman Jack’s barbershop and from there he is introduced to Abraham Orlinsky known as Mr O, a prominent businessman in Harlem, even though he is white and Jewish. Chauffeured around, the best tailoring and grooming, Clyde becomes an enforcer and associate within Mr O’s crime empire. This is a journey that will be mirrored twenty years later.
Clyde falls under the spell of Yolanda who he first meets working as a maid for Mr O. Yolanda, Yo-Yo to her friends, is from a poor creole family who just wants to sing and dreams of stardom. Their paths keep crossing with disastrous results, made for each other but seemingly destined never to be together, Yolanda is a true femme fatale.
This is a short novel, 192 pages, but the reader is in no way short changed. The storytelling is intense, the prose rich like a reduced French jus from Yolanda’s stay in Paris. Broad descriptive strokes at times, but more than enough to get a feel for Harlem, 52nd and Midtown, this is very focussed writing.
The characterisation is wonderful, particularly with the portrayal over the twenty five years as they mature and change. Crooks, chancers, dope heads, heavies, bent police and lawyers are all there and whilst a little cliched at times all have a purpose. Police corruption is as old as they come but we all know it goes on for these empires to form.
The dialogue is as sharp as Big Al’s cutthroat razor and feels an authentic voice. The nicknames are on point, varying from the sublime to the ridiculous, but it’s a scene where everyone who is anyone had to have one.
The plot is the journey of final self-reflection that Viper must take on what builds up as his judgement day. A simple device, a poser from Baroness Pannonica (Nica) de Koenigswarter who held jazz parties, if you had three wishes what would they be? Miles Davis only needed one, to be white. Viper ponders over his choices. He faces a night of reflection taking almost three hours and the reader gets insight into why he makes choices he did.
Fans of jazz will love the cameo appearances of Parker, Monk, Gillespie et al and Nica’s parties are a perfect vehicle with the lazy late-night jams amidst the cigarette smoke. You’ll wish you were there but the best you can do is listen to the 50-track play list curated by the author.
Throughout there is the theme of good versus bad but often seen through a distorting lens. Viper’s boys don’t deal heroin because its evil and kills but they deal marijuana. There is a sense of a code of honour, a little like the Mafia, but justice is their form, vicious and summarily handed out, these short, intense bursts of violence may shock or take your breath away. The question posed is it better to rule by love or hate or is it possible to rule with both?
Clyde has been fed stories by his crazy uncle Wilton that he can find fame and fortune as a jazz trumpeter. So he ditches his pregnant fiancé (who threatens suicide) on the platform and catches the train to his future. Alas, the dream is very short lived. At his first audition with Pork Chop Bradley he is told that he can’t play, but it introduced to ‘Mary Warner’ (marijuana) and so makes two lifelong friends. Pork Chop gets Clyde a job at Gentleman Jack’s barbershop and from there he is introduced to Abraham Orlinsky known as Mr O, a prominent businessman in Harlem, even though he is white and Jewish. Chauffeured around, the best tailoring and grooming, Clyde becomes an enforcer and associate within Mr O’s crime empire. This is a journey that will be mirrored twenty years later.
Clyde falls under the spell of Yolanda who he first meets working as a maid for Mr O. Yolanda, Yo-Yo to her friends, is from a poor creole family who just wants to sing and dreams of stardom. Their paths keep crossing with disastrous results, made for each other but seemingly destined never to be together, Yolanda is a true femme fatale.
This is a short novel, 192 pages, but the reader is in no way short changed. The storytelling is intense, the prose rich like a reduced French jus from Yolanda’s stay in Paris. Broad descriptive strokes at times, but more than enough to get a feel for Harlem, 52nd and Midtown, this is very focussed writing.
The characterisation is wonderful, particularly with the portrayal over the twenty five years as they mature and change. Crooks, chancers, dope heads, heavies, bent police and lawyers are all there and whilst a little cliched at times all have a purpose. Police corruption is as old as they come but we all know it goes on for these empires to form.
The dialogue is as sharp as Big Al’s cutthroat razor and feels an authentic voice. The nicknames are on point, varying from the sublime to the ridiculous, but it’s a scene where everyone who is anyone had to have one.
The plot is the journey of final self-reflection that Viper must take on what builds up as his judgement day. A simple device, a poser from Baroness Pannonica (Nica) de Koenigswarter who held jazz parties, if you had three wishes what would they be? Miles Davis only needed one, to be white. Viper ponders over his choices. He faces a night of reflection taking almost three hours and the reader gets insight into why he makes choices he did.
Fans of jazz will love the cameo appearances of Parker, Monk, Gillespie et al and Nica’s parties are a perfect vehicle with the lazy late-night jams amidst the cigarette smoke. You’ll wish you were there but the best you can do is listen to the 50-track play list curated by the author.
Throughout there is the theme of good versus bad but often seen through a distorting lens. Viper’s boys don’t deal heroin because its evil and kills but they deal marijuana. There is a sense of a code of honour, a little like the Mafia, but justice is their form, vicious and summarily handed out, these short, intense bursts of violence may shock or take your breath away. The question posed is it better to rule by love or hate or is it possible to rule with both?
October 30, 2023
Reminiscent of James Baldwin and his love of jazz music and musicians this book was amazing. Love. Murder. Friendship. Loyalty. Amazing!
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