American Death Songs

by Jordan Harper

A bold and brutal new voice in crime fiction.

From the California high desert to a Texas prison yard, from Ozarks dive bars to the shadows of Hollywood, these stories burst with gutter grandeur and criminal mythology. Harper burns through prison-tatted flesh to expose his characters’ hardened, scarred but still beating hearts. And he does it with a virtuoso prose style that brews pulp panache and literary flare into pure nitroglycerin.

“A harrowing, hallowing ode to those whose options boil down to a bullet, a bank or a strange stretch of highway. American Letters has found in Harper an agent worthy to take the crime fiction tradition into the 21st century.” – Hardboiled Wonderland

Genres: Short Stories, Crime, Fiction, Thriller, Mystery, American, Anthologies

165 pages, Paperback

First published December 31, 2012

About the author

Jordan Harper is the Edgar-Award winning author of SHE RIDES SHOTGUN, THE LAST KING OF CALIFORNIA, EVERYBODY KNOWS and the short story collection LOVE AND OTHER WOUNDS. He lives in Los Angeles, where he works as a writer and producer for television.

Reviews

[Melki · Rating 5 out of 5]

I do not believe in the devil or the sanctity of Jesus Christ, but I'm telling you that something greater than you or me put that song on the radio at just that moment, just that moment when the cop hit his cherries and filled the night with swirling blue and red. The timing was too right to be anything but a message. A message meant for me. I got the message. I understood what it was asking. And I said hell yes.

And so it begins . . .

Harper spews forth a fantastic collection of hard-hearted, razor-sharp stories that will curl your toes and put hair on your chest. You will meet hotheads and meth-heads, shapely temptresses who lead men into all sorts of sin, and a cleaner who makes problems go away. You will witness botched robberies, drug-deals gone bad and murders both bizarre and shocking.


I've read stories that made me laugh out loud. These made me say "Holy Shit!" aloud.

Will I read anything this Harper character cares to dream up?

I say hell yes.

[Brian · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've just now finished reading these 165 pages of tremendous stories aloud to my wife - done in a single sitting of recited malfeasance committed by denizens of a Grit-laden world. Most of the stories are based in the Ozarks, all of them are finely crafted to make the reader believe these people have as many words for violence as Inuits do for snow.

Many thanks to friend karen for pointing out this author to us GRers - Harper has a novel coming out this year that I will definitely read.

[Paul Bryant · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another great set of terminal stories of extreme violence to put right alongside Ravenna Gets by Tony Burgess and Crimes in Southern Indiana by Frank Bill – you guys keep cranking them out and I’ll keep reading! and while I’m reading I’m always thinking yeah, this is the real stuff, not that Henry James shit and then I feel shameful and don’t want to meet people’s eyes, but who wouldn’t love a writer with a prose style like

There was something there in the back of the skull telling me that God made up his mind long ago that I’m not that lucky and the strings you can’t see usually turn to chains.

Or – here’s Henry Shermer, first day out in the recreation yard at the pen :

Scan, scan. White men playing handball. But no go – AB tats on a back show them as Aryan Brotherhood : peckerwoods too fucked up on crank and the rep built by better men to be real soldiers. Perry Mashburn broke with the AN ten years ago, sick of setting up meth deals with wetbacks in the name of the white race. He formed Aryan Steel and they built a castle out of corpses. Each shank-specked corpse another brick in the wall. Shermer needs that wall. He knows brother Steels are on the yard somewhere – scan, scan, scan.

So if reading about hillbilly methheads from the Ozarks – no, we can be more specific, neo-Nazi hillbilly Ozark methheads – is not your thing, avoid Jordan Harper. These stories are not genteel, not at all. These neo-Nazi methheads, you know, they are often not kindly disposed to one another and could not infrequently be described as hasty, irritable, and intemperate. They display the less winning sides of their personalities by means of free play with sharpened implements, ball peen hammers, broken bottles and the like. It’s a hold on to your guts kind of ride. I want more. If this guy writes a novel, I’m buying.


***

This book was recommended to me by my GR friend Jeanne, who I see is currently reading The Complete Fairy Tales of Oscar Wilde. Hah! Anyway, thanks Jeanne.

[Dave · Rating 5 out of 5]

This collection of thirteen gems I read and I have a definite opinion on: Good stuff. Hell, you know if a book is going to be good from page one, don't you. Some books you want to skip ahead to find out what's going to happen. Not this one. You want to savor every sentence about
meth- head friends who somehow convince the narrator to drive a stolen car to a drug deal. Midnight Rider is the first selection and that's what it's about. A taste of life on high octane gas. Like Riding a Moped is story número two. Forget all the jokes about chubby chasers. Now you know. Story three is Agua Dulce. It teaches that you don't buy meth on credit, just make down payments on a slow motion suicide. Figure it out. A meth filled
shoot out in the High Desert with a brand of Nazis like it's the end of
the world. Wow. Next up is "Playing Dead." It's kind of about a drug deal gone bad and
survival tactics in the big city Red Hair and Black Leather" begins with the line: "She had an ass like a Heart turned upside down and cut in half." Jackie owns a bar but
when a piece like that walks in he might just be closed for the day. Plan C" is a modern version of Pacino in Dog Day Afternoon. Other stories are about the underbelly of Hollywood and the necessity
to have someone who can clean up messes ("Beautiful Trash"), vigilante justice ("Johnny Cash Is Dead"), prison gangs ("Heart Check"), college philosophy classes ("Ad Hominem"), paying the tab
("Always Thirsty"), difficult women ("just Look What the Bitch Made You Do"), and living up to your nickname ("I Wish They Never Named Him Mad Dog"). The stories take place in bars, in prison yards, in
bedrooms, and other killing fields. They are filled with blood and guts and booze and tattoos. They are filled with pain and sadness and mad crazy energy.
Every one of the thirteen stories in this volume is top quality gritty crime fiction. This book is fantastic. Whatever else Jordan Harper is doing he needs to quit and devote himself to writing more of this stuff.

[Tim · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am in awe of Jordan Harper. I've been reading a fair number of short story collections in the crime genre lately and American Death Songs is easily the most consistently satisfying collection so far. The stories themselves are all well-plotted and entertaining enough, but it's Harper's command of voice and tone that really sets these tales apart from the crowd for me. In story after story, the words, the voice, is pitch perfect. Harper deals in the "Said" and the "Unsaid." There is much that is explicit on the page, but there is often much more in what the narrator doesn't say outright. And yet, every story feels totally complete.

This is the real deal. American Death Songs is a great collection introducing a great writer. I look forward to more.

[Edward · Rating 5 out of 5]

American Death Songs. How cool is that title? Normally I don't give five stars to short story collections because there are always a couple stories that just don't do anything for me. But in Jordan Harper's every single story hits the right note. Stories like Agua Dulce about a man racing through the desert trying not to get killed by a white supremecist gang known as Aryan Steel. Or the one about dirty Hollywood secrets and the guy they call to clean it up. The story about Jackie Blue, a bar owner with a serious reputation who lives up to that rep with ease. In prison a legendary member of Aryan Steel must prove that he has heart to hang with the gang inside, but he proves he should have shown more heart on the outside. And the last story about Mad Dog McClure was especially good featuring a character from the previous story. I know that sounds vague but I don't want to spoil anything. All and all American Death Songs is a great collection and I will be waiting impatiently for a full length novel from Mr. Jordan Harper.

[Claudia · Rating 5 out of 5]

There are no happy endings in these stories but knowing how even the most meticulous plans can get screwed up, the endings are exactly what you wanted. The stories circle around and come back to a biker bar known as Jackie Blue's and a group of men who call themselves Aryan Steel. These are tough guys, the kind no one wants to mess with but they aren't immune to a back handed justice. When they mess up, they end up paying the price, sometimes by another's hand and sometimes by their own. There are some lines that simply can't be crossed without having to pay the consequences. These are hard, gritty tales that will keep you reading well into the night.

[Suz Jay · Rating 5 out of 5]

This collection, which includes a number of stories from LOVE AND OTHER WOUNDS, covers a variety of crimes. Along with the author’s fluid writing style, the strength of the stories is found in the well developed characters.

Crime stories often have less than happy endings, but they sometimes render justice in the form of bloody retribution, killer karma, or show the protagonist haunted by their choices. The protagonist of “Like Riding a Moped” is a severe departure from society’s beauty standard, but she’s smart and savvy, and well used to being used. “Midnight Rider,” in which a pair of criminals are running from the cops, finds messages in the song of the same name by the Allman Brothers and the hell of being unable to change the channel when things go south.

The protagonist of “Agua Dulce” is an addict whose debts to dealers exceed his ability to barter his drug mule services. In this most cinematic of the stories, John goes to great lengths to protect a child, a child who he brought as a plus one to a drug deal. The kid’s mother isn’t physically in the story, yet Harper deftly paints a picture of her and her sketchy priorities.

My favorite story of the collection is “Beautiful Trash,” which follows a cleaner and a publicist charged with managing celebrity scandals. Harper is a master of story openings and this one is no exception: “They meet over the body of a beautiful dead boy. Green likes her right away. Her hands don’t shake. She doesn’t make bad jokes or cry or act cold. A lot of people wouldn’t handle their fear so well. After all, it is her first corpse.”

[Megan · Rating 4 out of 5]

American Death songs is the fourth book I have won in a Goodreads Giveaway. I usually pass the books along to Goodwill, but I'm saving this one. Harper is a talented writer. This book is a compilation of crime fiction short stories. It's perfect for someone like me who can't sit still and read for long periods of time. Each story can easily be read in one sitting.

My favorite story was "Beautiful Trash." This one reminds me of a Bret Easton Ellis novel mixed with Showtime's Californication. It takes the reader into the seedy underworld of Hollywood/celebrity culture. Green Daniels is a "cleanup" guy. He takes care of business, making sure no celebrity is left with his ass showing. He's done some pretty awful deeds for the sake of "the industry", but even he has to draw the line somewhere, and he takes revenge on all of those fake fucks on his way down.

Speaking of revenge. The revenge theme runs through and through. Fans of Quentin Tarantino flicks can look forward to some good ol' fashioned vigilante justice. (See "Heart Check")

This book is not for everyone. Avoid this book if you are offended by: profanity, bank robberies, stabbings, shootings, drug deals/use, motorcycle gang ass whoopings, etc.

It's a winner in my book, and I hope Jordan Harper continues to be successful in his literary career.

[Aj · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brutal and brilliant collection of tales of the grim reaper and the way he collects each of the story tellers. From Hollywood to back water swamps and Movie Stars to Arayan Bikers and most all stops in between. When you start this one don't plan to go anywhere until The End pops up. Stunning.

[Nicole Dillie · Rating 4 out of 5]

((Edit:)) Added a star bc it has been three years since I read this book and I still remember the character Geat, despite however many stories and novels I've read in the interim and that is worth something. -N

I tried for a while after I finished this to describe how it made me feel. The word I kept landing on was numb. The violence of the stories is almost as relentless as the brutality of the writing. Some stories are very accomplished technically,but you're not likely to feel happy after reading this.

This is something that should have been read in small doses.

The individual stories are a mixed bag, in some sense. While they suffer from their proximity in the constant pounding of the themes of death and violence, the skill with which they express these themes can vary a good bit. Some stories, like "Plan C" and "Agua Dulce" get so caught up in being about violent death they never great realize what they want to say on that theme. "Ad Hominem Attack, or I Refute This" suffers the most from the sense of gimmick, but some stories, like "Heart Check" are so fully themselves and so gripping on the surface, I can't be upset if they don't have much more.

Overall, there was one thing I found lacking in the collection as a whole, besides a breath of fresh air from the unending ruthlessness of these stories: a female perspective. One story has a female lead, but in "Like Riding a Moped" the protagonists great accomplishment before being shot is essentially knowing that her fatness makes her unloveable and planning accordingly. "Red Hair and Black Leather" is named for a woman, more specifically what about her interests the story. Besides being attractive, her only qualities are to be afraid and a thief. "Beautiful Trash" offers a moment of hope on the female front. The narrator acknowledges the awfulness of what he does to a prostitute who has been attacked by a celebrity and the publicist wearing the skull-print scarf, Sarah, is probably the only human woman in the book, but the ending of the story brings that all crashing down. "Just Look What the Bitch Made You Do" could almost go without comment on the female front, except I have to give a special dishonorable mention to anything that uses the term "slit."

I knew going in that these stories were set in a man's word kind of locale -this isn't so much American Death Stories as Ozark Death Stories- and I don't have any problem with those kinds of books. It's only fair with all the chick lit out there. I do however find the women who are in this book disturbing because you're not always sure reading these stories that you're supposed to see women in a different way. "Look What That Bitch Made You Do" is a second-person story, putting all those thoughts about revenge against a man who slept with your "bitch" right in the reader's head.

On a positive side, I really enjoyed the story "I Wish They'd Never Named Him Mad Dog." Geat is such a likeable character, it's easy to go along with his thuggish lifestyle and the conclusion is funny-sad. The narrator of "Red Hair and Black Leather" makes his story work with a similar gruff charm that upholds the content of the story and kept me reading beyond the first words: "She had an ass like a heart turned upside down and cut in half- and that's what we call foreshadowing friend."

The second half of that sentence does a great job showing why you'll keep reading these stories: there's something likeable beneath the bluster and brutality. I only wish there'd been a little more.

The stories are for the most part tightly written. Some read like mini thrillers. Like any other book, what you get out of this book, will depend on what you were looking for heading in.

[Joe · Rating 5 out of 5]

Mesmerizing. Can't think of a better word to describe this collection, which is a dizzying achievement in both craft and voice. What's remarkable is how Harper manages to make each selection unique in its telling. Though these stories are all tied together with the very appropriate title of American Death Songs, the writing is so original and fresh, each one feels like it was written by a different, yet equally skilled, author. "Like Riding a Moped," "Beautiful Trash," "Aqua Dulce," and "I Wish They'd Never Named Him Mad Dog" are probably my favorites, but that could easily change based on my mood. The collection reads like your favorite band's greatest hits record, not a clunker among them. Sometimes short story writing feels like a dying art. And most of the ones I read I soon forget. That will not be the case here. Comparing a collection to the masterful Knockemstiff by Donald Ray Pollock is not a compliment I throw around lightly. It is a deserved mantle here. This will be one of the best collections you ever read, guaranteed.

[Benoit Lelièvre · Rating 5 out of 5]

I do not recall, from memory, an author more talented than Jordan Harper at picturing violence in fiction. Something about the pacing he established and the voyeuristic distance he takes from his characters is troubling in the utmost satisfying way like an object coiling around your neck and choking you into auto-erotic bliss.

AMERICAN DEATH SONGS is a strange, poetic and obscure title to a collection, but it's also oddly accurate. It could've been called DARK AMERICAN MYTHS or LEGENDS OF THE NEW FAR-WEST for that Harper's tone is often epic, borderline biblical. My favorite story was AGUA DULCE, which might just be my favorite shootout scene ever written, but several other stories stood out such as: MIDNIGHT RIDER, PLAYING DEAD and HEART CHECK. I'm usually not a fan of collected stories, but this is worth your time. Great authors write cohesive material whether they are aware of it or not and Harper really is great.

[Brittany · Rating 4 out of 5]

I won this book for free from the Goodread's First Reads giveaway.

"American Death Songs" is a fiction crime collection of 14 short stories. I rated each short story individually so I could average out an accurate rating. I really liked this collection! I found the stories to be well written with great and unique plots. Just to give a heads up, a lot of people may find these stories to be gruesome and shocking.
Some of my favourite stories were "Agua Dulce", "Plan C", and "Beautiful Trash". I finished this book quickly as I did not want to put it down!
The only thing I can truly criticize, which I must as I'm a vet tech, is the quote "drowned like a kitten in a bathtub". That was not cool.

Overall though, I am extremely impressed with this book. Jordan Harper is now one of my favourite authors in the short story genre. I absolutely recommend this book to everyone.

[Rory Costello · Rating 4 out of 5]

This collection came highly recommended by another author whose own collection I had just finished and enjoyed a lot. So I dug into Jordan Harper's work with great anticipation. I wasn't let down at all, for these are truly good and well-constructed stories -- but something held me back from a total connection. It's not the bleakness; that isn't a problem for me at all. As I reflect, I'd like to have seen more variety in themes (the title could almost as easily have been "American Meth Songs") and some dashes of humor for balance and relief.

[Dan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent collection of gritty crime stories from Jordan Harper. The writing is vivid and sharp, and the descriptions clearly drop us in this nasty world.

[Daniel Sheen · Rating 4 out of 5]

My 4th Jordan Harper of the year, making him my most read author this year so far. This is his debut collection of short stories, and it was fascinating to see where his three novels have come from and to read the stories that so clearly inspired them. I just love the way he writes, what can I say. There's something magical about the immediacy of it, the mad-crazy energy, the pulpy, yet lyrical nature of his prose. The way he makes you care about terrible people doing terrible things. Because as the (very cool) title implies, here we have a loosely connected collection of stories centred around Harper's signature American underworld - prison inmates, biker gangs, corner boys, crime lords, neo-Nazi meth heads, etc. From California to New York to the Ozarks, it's always great to see a collection that is held together by a single cohesive idea - the mythology of violence. Suffice to say, I am now a proper Harper fanboy, and I can't wait until book 5 is out next year.

[Robnrel · Rating 5 out of 5]

The first story was called ‘Midnight Rider’…. You had me from there. A fascinating cast of miscreants are featured throughout this incredible short story collection. If violence and intensity and odd loyalties and Southern Rock and bad guys who feel oddly like good guys are your thing, there is so much to devour here. I could have read a hundred more tales from this world.

[Rich Osburn · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is well paced with a well executed pace and narrative voice. Strong prose and immersion. Morally unhinged characters and authentic motives will always hook me, and this book is no exception. A solid read

[eric · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5

[Joseph Zillmer · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazing... poignant

[Mysticpt · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5

[Jason Beech · Rating 4 out of 5]

Jordan Harper’s American Death Songs is an intense, warped, brain-frazzling collection of short stories, up there with Steve Rasnic Tem’s Ugly Behavior collection in terms of dragging you through terrible settings populated by total bastards. Whether many can stomach it, I don’t know, but it’s definitely my kind of thing. High stakes run through every story, and if you enjoyed the stomach ache most episodes of Breaking Bad gave you, with the knot twisting your stomach at every bad move, then you have to get your eyes on this beast.
It all kicks off with Midnight Rider, a cracking story about a couple of low lives riding the streets when a cop flashes his sirens for them to stop. Unfortunately for the passenger, The Allman Brothers’ Midnight Rider kicks in on the radio, making the protagonist stamp the accelerator. A classic car chase ensues, each guitar lick encasing his determination in concrete. It’s a beauty, punctuated by The Carpenters.
Great start, then, but it only gets better. Like Riding a Moped follows a self-confessed “fat” woman who allows a handsome man to seduce her, enjoying the ride, thrilling at the “bitch” looks from prettier, thinner women, but never allowing herself to fully fall under his spell, knowing that the man has worked his magic only for her role in the jewellery store she works security for. It’s a great character piece. She knows what she is, she works against it, sometimes fails, and tries harder for her new man. But her guard doesn’t really drop, and you hope, all the way through, she gets what she’d like.
Just when you settle in for an excellent collection, the stakes blow you through the roof. I’ve never read a short story like Agua Dulce, which burns you up as much as the California desert, with its rampaging Nazis, blazing cattle, useless junkies, and a man whose life is useless, except for the son he now seems to value as his life faces the fire shooting through this insane bit of fiction. It’s about how instinct forces you to hang on to life even when you think you’ve given it up as a bad job.
Playing Dead almost matches Agua Dulce for forcing you to hold on to something very comforting as our man survives a bathroom massacre, protected by the bodies of his friends he’s tied to in the shower, as bullets rain down on them. It’s nightmarish, makes humanity look shoddy and bleak, and is just plain ugly. But it’s brilliant.
There’s plenty more of this throughout, from the bank robbery which goes “shit, shit, shit” in Plan C, to the excellent Ad Hominem Attack about a man eavesdropping on a conversation between a pretentious student and his friend. The fart looks down his nose at his friend and argues that there is no such thing as reality; that nobody can trust words or their own senses. Our man follows the student into the night and makes him confront a sharp knife’s reality.
I zoned out a little for the last two stories, but if you love reading about lunatics, losers, and bad people doing bad things and making wrong turns, you’ll really get into this.
Great collection.

[Stephen Bush · Rating 1 out of 5]

Despite the 3 star rating, I did really enjoy this book, especially as my first giveaway from Goodreads. Overall, the stories are easy to read and usually end with a nice ironic twist, but the best stories were about Jackie Blue and Green Daniels.

So why the 3? Perhaps I'm just being persnickety, but I debated for a long time about a 3 versus a 4, and I ended up with a 3 for two reasons: 1) I've read Flannery O'Connor, and this reminds me more of Dan Brown (not a compliment); and 2) I don't feel like the book lived up to its name.

*** minor spoilers ahead -- no endings, just basic plot & style elements ***


I know I can't compare every collection of short stories to Flannery O'Connor -- that just wouldn't be fair. After all, the writing isn't bad, just around a junior high reading level, but it's not consistent. One of my pet peeves when reading Dan Brown is his tendency to ignore plot points that he set up, for instance a character described as being of average intelligence and moderate education waxing eloquent about Plato. In "American Death Songs", you don't get a wide variety of protagonist -- they're pretty much all males who probably drive an old, beat-up pickup with a Confederate flag in the window. Yet somehow, despite some level of substance abuse, they manage relatively clear and effective reasoning. Still, there are still great characters, like Jackie Blue and Green Daniels, who are well written and consistent.

The overall tone and style doesn't really change much between each story either; there are narrative changes, from first and third to even second, but these do little to separate the stories. The first two stories are an excellent example -- the first is told from the view of a completely wasted guy running from the cops, and the second is narrated by an overweight woman, but you can't tell the difference between the characters. The two characters sound exactly alike.

Which brings me to my last point: "American" is far to broad. I think you could replace "American" with "Southern" (maybe even "Confederate") without any problem. I mentioned it above, so I won't harp the point anymore other than to say this: these stories could all be about a single town or even about a single person.

That said, I did enjoy them, but I think I would rather read a full book about Jackie or Green. They both are fun to read about, and it seems like most of the book is somehow related to Jackie anyway. I wouldn't be surprised if the stories started with Jackie, but the plot never developed into anything big enough.

The point: read it, read it for fun with an open mind, and don't start with the first two stories.

[Joseph plasan · Rating 5 out of 5]

I give this novel 5 stars because the author lives in a close proximity and scares the *** out of me. It WAS a good read full of many entertaining short stories by a talented writer--- I am careful with my stars and this really deserves 4 stars at most--- but I am afraid of losing an ear in a knife fight with this man.
I have already recommended this wonderful book--- to my friends in prison. It is a nice stocking-stuffer for those lusting after guitar string tattoo-needles, moonshine, and platic prison shanks this X-mas.

[Angie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Shoooot. I really did not think I had the cojones to finish this book, but the next time I looked up, I was done. A solid nod to Thompson's "The Killer Inside Me," these stories are graphic without being gratuitously so. I'm too weak-kneed to be a huge fan of noir but if you think a short, deft diversion into the pits of hell might offset the ennui of bland modern lit... strap in and hold on tight. Try to get through a few stories before you bail.

[Tracy Robertson · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked it a lot, though I didn't love it as much as I did after only reading the first couple of stories. While they are all intense, I could not understand the motivation for all of the crimes, and a lot of the stories were too similar to each other to be great to me. I did love the way some of the stories were connected to others, and there was never a dull moment in the action.

[Jeanne · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read these slowly, taking at least a couple days break in between. These stories stay with you. I am sure the characters and situations will cross my mind randomly for years to come, similar to how I find myself thinking about a Raymond Carver story I read over 10 maybe 15 years ago. As others have said, not for the squeamish.

I wish they'd never named him Mad Dog...

[Max · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastic. Absolutely top notch. Highly recommended!