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A Violent Masterpiece
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Expected 28 Apr 26Win a free print copy of this book!
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The next epic crime novel from Jordan Harper, a story of Los Angeles power brokers and those at the edge, and a single shattering incident that threatens to bring it all crashing down.
Los Angeles, right now. America with its back up against the wall. This Frankenstein's monster of crimes and lurid dreams sewn together into something like a city.
A city ready to explode: A Hollywood pedophile is arrested, and is ready to tear down the city to get his freedom. A young woman goes missing -- and men in black rubber gloves who look like cops clean out her apartment in the middle of the night. And the serial killer known as the LA Ripper is on the loose, leaving tragic/graphic/brutal crime scenes in his wake. Three people trying to keep their heads above the dirty water will find themselves coming together to unite these strands into one enormous, unspeakable crime ...
JAKE DEAL is a gonzo live-streaming nightcrawler, beaming the city's chaos straight to his audience of blood-hungry subscribers, giving them the view from the top of the mushroom cloud -- until a job he can't refuse drags him back into his old life of Hollywood glamour, drugs, sex and sleaze. Armed with cameras and hidden mics, he'll infiltrate private clubs, gather high-class dirt -- and stumble onto a conspiracy woven into the center of LA's most powerful men, who call themselves "The Kids in the Candy Store."
DOUG GIBSON is a street lawyer, who fights for his clients against the army of cops, prosecutors and judges - he is the knife they bring to the gunfight. But when he's hired by a Hollywood pedophile ready to sell out his friends for a chance for freedom, he'll take on a fight bigger than he could have imagined. And when his client "commits suicide" in prison, Gibson will have to stop being a weapon - and become a warrior.
KARA DELGADO works for an underground private concierge company - a make-a-wish foundation for the terminally rich. She scores drugs, makes connections, and plans multi-million dollar sex parties. She has learned the secret truth of this world: there are no rules, only prices. Her best friend Phoebe has gone missing, and Kara's the only person who knows that Phoebe's place was wiped clean of evidence by men in black rubber gloves. But when she begins to unravel the mystery of what happened to Phoebe, and its connection to the killer known as the LA Ripper, it will drag her into the dark heart of the city.
As Jake, Doug and Kara all investigate these crimes, they'll encounter ketamine-addled sitcom stars, bloody riots, homeless gangsters, a killer cop on death row, secret vaults in Beverly Hills, tech-bro orgies, medical cannibals, true crime junkies, private security wet-work teams, reality shows, street takeovers, car chases, coyotes, a sadistic Tarzan, and a three day, fifty million dollar wedding, before everything is revealed and they must each make their choice about how to fight back in this violent world before the bloody, blazing conclusion.
Los Angeles, right now. America with its back up against the wall. This Frankenstein's monster of crimes and lurid dreams sewn together into something like a city.
A city ready to explode: A Hollywood pedophile is arrested, and is ready to tear down the city to get his freedom. A young woman goes missing -- and men in black rubber gloves who look like cops clean out her apartment in the middle of the night. And the serial killer known as the LA Ripper is on the loose, leaving tragic/graphic/brutal crime scenes in his wake. Three people trying to keep their heads above the dirty water will find themselves coming together to unite these strands into one enormous, unspeakable crime ...
JAKE DEAL is a gonzo live-streaming nightcrawler, beaming the city's chaos straight to his audience of blood-hungry subscribers, giving them the view from the top of the mushroom cloud -- until a job he can't refuse drags him back into his old life of Hollywood glamour, drugs, sex and sleaze. Armed with cameras and hidden mics, he'll infiltrate private clubs, gather high-class dirt -- and stumble onto a conspiracy woven into the center of LA's most powerful men, who call themselves "The Kids in the Candy Store."
DOUG GIBSON is a street lawyer, who fights for his clients against the army of cops, prosecutors and judges - he is the knife they bring to the gunfight. But when he's hired by a Hollywood pedophile ready to sell out his friends for a chance for freedom, he'll take on a fight bigger than he could have imagined. And when his client "commits suicide" in prison, Gibson will have to stop being a weapon - and become a warrior.
KARA DELGADO works for an underground private concierge company - a make-a-wish foundation for the terminally rich. She scores drugs, makes connections, and plans multi-million dollar sex parties. She has learned the secret truth of this world: there are no rules, only prices. Her best friend Phoebe has gone missing, and Kara's the only person who knows that Phoebe's place was wiped clean of evidence by men in black rubber gloves. But when she begins to unravel the mystery of what happened to Phoebe, and its connection to the killer known as the LA Ripper, it will drag her into the dark heart of the city.
As Jake, Doug and Kara all investigate these crimes, they'll encounter ketamine-addled sitcom stars, bloody riots, homeless gangsters, a killer cop on death row, secret vaults in Beverly Hills, tech-bro orgies, medical cannibals, true crime junkies, private security wet-work teams, reality shows, street takeovers, car chases, coyotes, a sadistic Tarzan, and a three day, fifty million dollar wedding, before everything is revealed and they must each make their choice about how to fight back in this violent world before the bloody, blazing conclusion.
384 pages, Hardcover
Expected publication April 28, 2026
8 people are currently reading
6578 people want to read
About the author
Jordan Harper
32 books1,031 followersJordan 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.
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Displaying 1 - 28 of 28 reviews
November 9, 2025
Wow! A contemporary noir masterpiece. Adrenaline-filled pacing that cranks up and up and up and never stops. Almost every sentence is a gut punch. It’s brutal, disgusting, violent, and filled with nasty people. Put it all in a blender and mix in some Epstein-like characters with Armie Hammer’s scandal , TMZ and a bit of Silicon Valley sociopaths and you’ll get the plot. If you’ve ever needed a content warning on a piece of writing, this book is not for you.
Harper is an immediate buy author for me. He gets better and better with each book. I was lucky to get an early look at this one from NetGalley and Mulholland Books.
Harper is an immediate buy author for me. He gets better and better with each book. I was lucky to get an early look at this one from NetGalley and Mulholland Books.
January 17, 2026
A Violent Masterpiece is a brutal, propulsive thriller that never lets up. Jordan Harper packs the pages with violence, moral ambiguity, and enough plotting to keep readers turning pages. If you enjoy adrenaline-driven crime fiction, this delivers.
That said, the novel juggles a large cast and many moving parts; occasionally the number of characters and subplots made the narrative feel crowded and, at times, slightly confusing. A leaner focus in places would have sharpened the impact.
Overall I found it an engaging, if imperfect, read—gritty and entertaining but not without flaws. I’m giving it three stars and will watch for Harper’s next release. Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC so I could give an honest review
That said, the novel juggles a large cast and many moving parts; occasionally the number of characters and subplots made the narrative feel crowded and, at times, slightly confusing. A leaner focus in places would have sharpened the impact.
Overall I found it an engaging, if imperfect, read—gritty and entertaining but not without flaws. I’m giving it three stars and will watch for Harper’s next release. Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC so I could give an honest review
September 26, 2025
If it were any other author, I'd say a book titled "A Violent Masterpiece" is a sign of hubris. But this is Jordan Harper, who writes on a level that most authors simply cannot touch on their best days.
Think about this: An Edgar Award for Best First Novel for She Rides Shotgun. He followed that with The Last King of California, which up until now was his finest work. Then there was Everybody Knows, a more accessible novel detailing the seamier side of a black-bag Hollywood PR agency. In A Violent Masterpiece, the styles of Last King and Everybody Knows meld together in what may be a perfect book.
The setting? Los Angeles in all its lurid glory, put on the page in a way we've rarely seen. This isn't your sanitized LA that Michael Connelly writes about — no disrespect to him — but instead it is a guided gutter tour behind the scenes of Hollywood elite. No one wants to see "where the sausage is made," but you can't look away when Harper takes you by the hand and says, essentially, "Hey, wanna see some fucked up shit?"
The answer is yes, of course you do.
The crimes? Outlandish serial killer shit. Cannibalism. Abductions and assaults. A dead woman no one can find. Drugs and dregs and the rotten bloated underbelly of the entertainment industry ripped open for you to observe. A true garden of earthly delights.
The characters? A streamer who makes his living driving the surface streets of LA after dark, giving hungry looky-loos a taste of the grime after the crime, picking up photos of bodies before the police can move them, selling the pics on his website or to a slick celeb-centric website tabloid (think TMZ but even shadier). There's a crusading defense attorney who's fighting spirit has been neutered by his need to save his own life, and a young woman who works as a 'concierge' of sorts, getting the rich and powerful everything the need or want.
And the language? It defies description. The reader is boiled in oil and lightning-struck, all at the same time. You fall into the setting, breathe in the smog-soaked air. You hear the wails of the sirens and you wonder how Los Angeles survives through the night. On the very first page there is a beautiful description of a dead-but-rising-again zombie LA, and it sets the mood for the rest of the book.
I've never read anything like it.
I normally read very fast. But Harper's violent masterpiece — and it IS a masterpiece on so many levels — is so good that I could only read it in chunks. Very rarely do I feel like I've gone ten rounds in a boxing ring after reading a book. But A Violent Masterpiece is so good and so intense that I had to close the book every few pages simply to absorb and heal from the hits I took.
In A Violent Masterpiece, Jordan Harper shows us the far side of the possible. He's like Voyager 1 ... on the far side of the galaxy now, sending back a steady signal, telling us "this is the way."
All we have to do is follow.
Think about this: An Edgar Award for Best First Novel for She Rides Shotgun. He followed that with The Last King of California, which up until now was his finest work. Then there was Everybody Knows, a more accessible novel detailing the seamier side of a black-bag Hollywood PR agency. In A Violent Masterpiece, the styles of Last King and Everybody Knows meld together in what may be a perfect book.
The setting? Los Angeles in all its lurid glory, put on the page in a way we've rarely seen. This isn't your sanitized LA that Michael Connelly writes about — no disrespect to him — but instead it is a guided gutter tour behind the scenes of Hollywood elite. No one wants to see "where the sausage is made," but you can't look away when Harper takes you by the hand and says, essentially, "Hey, wanna see some fucked up shit?"
The answer is yes, of course you do.
The crimes? Outlandish serial killer shit. Cannibalism. Abductions and assaults. A dead woman no one can find. Drugs and dregs and the rotten bloated underbelly of the entertainment industry ripped open for you to observe. A true garden of earthly delights.
The characters? A streamer who makes his living driving the surface streets of LA after dark, giving hungry looky-loos a taste of the grime after the crime, picking up photos of bodies before the police can move them, selling the pics on his website or to a slick celeb-centric website tabloid (think TMZ but even shadier). There's a crusading defense attorney who's fighting spirit has been neutered by his need to save his own life, and a young woman who works as a 'concierge' of sorts, getting the rich and powerful everything the need or want.
And the language? It defies description. The reader is boiled in oil and lightning-struck, all at the same time. You fall into the setting, breathe in the smog-soaked air. You hear the wails of the sirens and you wonder how Los Angeles survives through the night. On the very first page there is a beautiful description of a dead-but-rising-again zombie LA, and it sets the mood for the rest of the book.
I've never read anything like it.
I normally read very fast. But Harper's violent masterpiece — and it IS a masterpiece on so many levels — is so good that I could only read it in chunks. Very rarely do I feel like I've gone ten rounds in a boxing ring after reading a book. But A Violent Masterpiece is so good and so intense that I had to close the book every few pages simply to absorb and heal from the hits I took.
In A Violent Masterpiece, Jordan Harper shows us the far side of the possible. He's like Voyager 1 ... on the far side of the galaxy now, sending back a steady signal, telling us "this is the way."
All we have to do is follow.
January 12, 2026
I am a fan of Jordan Harper because his books are gritty, emotional, and intense. I did not read the synopsis of the book going into it. This book started out as a real chore for me with getting introduced to the characters and the story. Each evolving chapter is titled by character who tells their part of the story. Early into it, my progress % was creeping as usually one or two chapters was enough for me. The cover and title were very intriguing to me and the book takes place in one of my favorite places to visit: southern California. I will say that it then started to click for me whereby I really savored each intense chapter. By the end, I wanted to know how this wild ride was going to end and wrap up. I definitely feel some readers won’t like it nearly as much as me but I now can’t wait for whatever comes next from him.
Note: This book does have graphic scenes.
Thank you to NetGalley, the publisher, and the author for providing this book for review consideration. All opinions are my own.
Note: This book does have graphic scenes.
Thank you to NetGalley, the publisher, and the author for providing this book for review consideration. All opinions are my own.
Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
Harper makes brutality sing
A Violent Masterpiece does what the best LA noir does: it takes the city's rot and makes it mythic without ever prettying it up. Harper's working with the same raw materials as the headlines: Epstein's apparatus, the Hammer family's generational sickness, all that blood money and complicity. But he's not just doing a roman à clef. He's synthesizing it, finding the through-lines, showing how power and depravity aren't aberrations in Hollywood but features of the architecture.
The prose is what elevates this beyond crime fiction into something else entirely. People throw Ellroy's name around with any LA crime book, and sure, there's that percussive energy here, but Harper actually lets his sentences breathe. The rhythm's there but it serves the story instead of overwhelming it. Every line does work: descriptive, propulsive, thematic. He can make violence lyrical without romanticizing it, which is a hell of a trick.
What impressed me most was how he braids real-world horror into fiction without it feeling exploitative or cheap. The scaffolding is recognizable if you've been paying attention to the news, but he's built something new on top of it. Something that asks real questions about art, complicity, and what we're willing to ignore when genius is involved.
Dark as hell. Not for everyone. But if you want crime fiction that's actually literature, that takes risks and lands them, this is essential. Harper's the real thing.
A Violent Masterpiece does what the best LA noir does: it takes the city's rot and makes it mythic without ever prettying it up. Harper's working with the same raw materials as the headlines: Epstein's apparatus, the Hammer family's generational sickness, all that blood money and complicity. But he's not just doing a roman à clef. He's synthesizing it, finding the through-lines, showing how power and depravity aren't aberrations in Hollywood but features of the architecture.
The prose is what elevates this beyond crime fiction into something else entirely. People throw Ellroy's name around with any LA crime book, and sure, there's that percussive energy here, but Harper actually lets his sentences breathe. The rhythm's there but it serves the story instead of overwhelming it. Every line does work: descriptive, propulsive, thematic. He can make violence lyrical without romanticizing it, which is a hell of a trick.
What impressed me most was how he braids real-world horror into fiction without it feeling exploitative or cheap. The scaffolding is recognizable if you've been paying attention to the news, but he's built something new on top of it. Something that asks real questions about art, complicity, and what we're willing to ignore when genius is involved.
Dark as hell. Not for everyone. But if you want crime fiction that's actually literature, that takes risks and lands them, this is essential. Harper's the real thing.
December 8, 2025
✨COMING APRIL 28th 2026✨
YES YES YES YES
5/5 🍒
This book features 3 POV’s. Kara, Doug and Jake. Kara works for a company that gets rich people whatever they want, Doug is a lawyer, and Jake is a nightcrawler (someone who chases crime to be the first to report it). They all live in LA. The city of the Angels. Or is it the city of Devils?
There is a serial killer on the loose in LA, the media doesn’t want it put out that it’s an actual serial killer. Jake wants everyone to know about the LA Ripper and does his best to begin investigating the murders by taking his subscribers on said journey.
Doug is a lawyer for people who need help. He wants to make a difference and suddenly a situation falls in his lap when a man convicted of some horrific crimes against children wants him to represent him in court. This is against everything Doug believes in. But after the man tells him things, will Doug even be able to say no?
Kara works for an exclusive membership only company that helps rich people get whatever they want. When I say whatever I mean whatever. She numbs herself daily with drugs and alcohol. After her friend went missing she felt no spark in her life anymore. She is just moving through the motions because her job requires it of her.
These three people’s worlds collide in a very abrupt manner. Whether they want it to or not. Everything that is supposed to be under the crust of LA starts digging its way out and these three people will have a hand in whatever is coming to the surface. Will their world implode? Or will they keep the firs put out before they start?
This is my first book from Jordan Harper and it will NOT be my last. His writing style drew me in from the jump and I was hooked. If I had 4 hours that first night to slam through this book I would have. I’m so excited for everyone to read this book. It will be in my top 10 of 2026 100%. Thank you Jordan Harper and Mulholland Books for the ARC copy of this book!
YES YES YES YES
5/5 🍒
This book features 3 POV’s. Kara, Doug and Jake. Kara works for a company that gets rich people whatever they want, Doug is a lawyer, and Jake is a nightcrawler (someone who chases crime to be the first to report it). They all live in LA. The city of the Angels. Or is it the city of Devils?
There is a serial killer on the loose in LA, the media doesn’t want it put out that it’s an actual serial killer. Jake wants everyone to know about the LA Ripper and does his best to begin investigating the murders by taking his subscribers on said journey.
Doug is a lawyer for people who need help. He wants to make a difference and suddenly a situation falls in his lap when a man convicted of some horrific crimes against children wants him to represent him in court. This is against everything Doug believes in. But after the man tells him things, will Doug even be able to say no?
Kara works for an exclusive membership only company that helps rich people get whatever they want. When I say whatever I mean whatever. She numbs herself daily with drugs and alcohol. After her friend went missing she felt no spark in her life anymore. She is just moving through the motions because her job requires it of her.
These three people’s worlds collide in a very abrupt manner. Whether they want it to or not. Everything that is supposed to be under the crust of LA starts digging its way out and these three people will have a hand in whatever is coming to the surface. Will their world implode? Or will they keep the firs put out before they start?
This is my first book from Jordan Harper and it will NOT be my last. His writing style drew me in from the jump and I was hooked. If I had 4 hours that first night to slam through this book I would have. I’m so excited for everyone to read this book. It will be in my top 10 of 2026 100%. Thank you Jordan Harper and Mulholland Books for the ARC copy of this book!
December 16, 2025
A Violent Masterpiece delivers as both an exceptional story and living up to its own title. A work so beautiful yet brutal. The prose is another step up for Crime fiction’s best author who still seems inconceivably like a secret to the masses.
Through the eyes of three cynical characters doing their level best to simply stay alive, Harper shows us the true underbelly of the rich-controlled world we’re living in and the sickness it produces. There are so many standout moments in this novel but know that one scene and its consequences will live on in my head for the foreseeable future.
Highly, highly recommend. Thank you to the publisher for an advance copy to read and review.
Through the eyes of three cynical characters doing their level best to simply stay alive, Harper shows us the true underbelly of the rich-controlled world we’re living in and the sickness it produces. There are so many standout moments in this novel but know that one scene and its consequences will live on in my head for the foreseeable future.
Highly, highly recommend. Thank you to the publisher for an advance copy to read and review.
October 25, 2025
This is a crazy novel involving many people--including victims and suspects! Jake has a police scanner and livestreams on his Creepy Crawl station as viewers will pay to hear these gruesome stories. And then we have Gibson, a public defender who takes on clients as he finds them. The book is replete with violence, torture, and entitled people who think money can buy anything. It's fascinating but pretty gruesome so beware if you tend to be sqeamish!
Thanks to NetGalley for this ARC!
Want to read
October 25, 2025A huge thank you to the author and publisher for providing an e-ARC via Netgalley. This does not affect my opinion regarding the book.
November 21, 2025
A Violent Masterpiece
I have a lot to say about this novel, both good and bad, but I lack the motivation to write it all down. I'd be happy to discuss it over coffee sometime.
The book is good, especially if you're an Ellroy or Harper fan. You’ll enjoy it. The narrative is brilliant, and the writing is so mechanically rhythmic that the pages fly by. Harper set out to do exactly what he wanted, and this novel very much feels like it was written by a master.
My few minor qualms are for this type of crime fiction, or anything in the LA noir Ellroy vein. Many of my complaints are similar to those I have with Ellroy as well.
The character voices, although more distinct than in "Everyone Knows," still sound quite similar. Maybe that’s the point. And perhaps that’s what you like. Who’s to say what’s right or wrong?
I felt more empathy for these characters than I did in the previous work, especially the lawyer.
My biggest issue is the narrator’s voice, which seeps into everything. Toward the end of the NetGalley copy I have, the same nonsensical phrase is repeated over and over—and honestly, I don’t get the nihilistic metaphor, other than it being dark, nihilistic, and graphic. That’s the overall feel of the book, mainly because of the voice.
Finally, and this may be a small gripe, but the narrator’s disdain for the rest of the country—anyone who doesn’t live in LA—was a bit of a turnoff. It borders on unnecessary to the narrative, as if it only could have come from the author’s deep recesses. Maybe. Who knows?
I have a lot to say about this novel, both good and bad, but I lack the motivation to write it all down. I'd be happy to discuss it over coffee sometime.
The book is good, especially if you're an Ellroy or Harper fan. You’ll enjoy it. The narrative is brilliant, and the writing is so mechanically rhythmic that the pages fly by. Harper set out to do exactly what he wanted, and this novel very much feels like it was written by a master.
My few minor qualms are for this type of crime fiction, or anything in the LA noir Ellroy vein. Many of my complaints are similar to those I have with Ellroy as well.
The character voices, although more distinct than in "Everyone Knows," still sound quite similar. Maybe that’s the point. And perhaps that’s what you like. Who’s to say what’s right or wrong?
I felt more empathy for these characters than I did in the previous work, especially the lawyer.
My biggest issue is the narrator’s voice, which seeps into everything. Toward the end of the NetGalley copy I have, the same nonsensical phrase is repeated over and over—and honestly, I don’t get the nihilistic metaphor, other than it being dark, nihilistic, and graphic. That’s the overall feel of the book, mainly because of the voice.
Finally, and this may be a small gripe, but the narrator’s disdain for the rest of the country—anyone who doesn’t live in LA—was a bit of a turnoff. It borders on unnecessary to the narrative, as if it only could have come from the author’s deep recesses. Maybe. Who knows?
November 12, 2025
Ever since I read She Rides Shotgun 7 or 8 years ago, I’ve looked forward to every new Jordan Harper that has come out. When I still owned my bookstore, his books were always included on my “staff picks” shelf. I now wish I still had the store just so I could Staff Pick Harper’s latest!
This is a brilliant addition to Harper’s Southern California noire. No longer in rural areas, the story brings us to the glitter and false lights of Beverly Hills and Hollywood where the rich and powerful get away with far more than they should. An interesting cast of main characters, some truly horrid villains, and a stomach-turning denouement. Highly recommend.
Thanks to NetGalley and Mulholland Books for the advance copy.
This is a brilliant addition to Harper’s Southern California noire. No longer in rural areas, the story brings us to the glitter and false lights of Beverly Hills and Hollywood where the rich and powerful get away with far more than they should. An interesting cast of main characters, some truly horrid villains, and a stomach-turning denouement. Highly recommend.
Thanks to NetGalley and Mulholland Books for the advance copy.
December 19, 2025
Jordan Harper penned A Violent Masterpiece with gasoline in his veins. This book blazes across Los Angeles’s wicked underbelly at the story-level and the sentence-level, careening from scene-to-scene, and from character-to-character. The only time you draw breath is when you stop to admire the craft.
Ellroy lovers will love it, but it’s not Ellroy. A Violent Masterpiece doesn’t so much transcend the form as it takes an off-ramp and hammers the pedal in a new direction. This is a hard five star.
Thank you Mulholland Books for the advance copy.
Ellroy lovers will love it, but it’s not Ellroy. A Violent Masterpiece doesn’t so much transcend the form as it takes an off-ramp and hammers the pedal in a new direction. This is a hard five star.
Thank you Mulholland Books for the advance copy.
Want to read
October 15, 2025my most anticipated of 2026!!!!
Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
Jordan Harper’s A Violent Masterpiece is an unflinching descent into the underbelly of contemporary Los Angeles, a city rendered not as a place of reinvention or glamour but as a moral abyss where power, money, and celebrity operate without conscience or consequence. Harper writes in the hard-boiled noir tradition, yet strips away any lingering romanticism; what remains is a world steeped in violence, corruption, and degradation, described with relentless intensity and little reprieve.
As a reader who generally appreciates noir—and who admires the moral heft and emotional resonance found in S.A. Cosby’s work—I approached this novel with measured anticipation. Yet I found A Violent Masterpiece difficult to endure, not because it lacks craft, but because it so thoroughly immerses the reader in its bleak vision. Harper’s Los Angeles is populated by predators and casualties alike: pedophiles, serial killers, fixers, and celebrities move through the narrative as if protected by an invisible shield, insulated from accountability by their proximity to wealth and influence. The effect is suffocating. There is no counterbalancing force of justice or redemption to temper the brutality.
The prose itself mirrors this environment. Harper’s language is coarse, vulgar, and deliberately abrasive, reinforcing the sense that civility has long since evaporated. Violence, drugs, and sexual exploitation are not merely plot devices but the atmosphere of the novel, pressing down on the reader with cumulative force. While this approach is arguably honest—perhaps even necessary—to the story Harper wants to tell, it also demands a high tolerance for sustained depravity.
Structurally, the novel follows three distinct characters whose lives become increasingly entangled as the narrative advances. This fractured perspective allows Harper to explore different strata of the city’s moral decay, and there is technical skill in how these threads are ultimately woven together. Yet even as the plot tightens, the emotional experience remains punishing. The conclusion offers resolution in a narrative sense, but little in the way of moral or emotional catharsis.
For readers who seek noir in its most unadulterated form—raw, confrontational, and viscerally unsettling—A Violent Masterpiece will likely feel both powerful and necessary. It is a book that aims to shake, disturb, and implicate its audience rather than entertain or console. For this reader, however, the darkness proved overwhelming. While I can acknowledge Harper’s ambition and command of the genre, the novel’s unrelenting bleakness ultimately eclipsed my ability to fully engage with it.
In the end, A Violent Masterpiece lives up to its title: it is violent in subject, tone, and effect. Whether it is a masterpiece will depend largely on one’s appetite for noir that offers no handholds, no soft edges, and no easy way out.
Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for an ARC in return for an honest review
As a reader who generally appreciates noir—and who admires the moral heft and emotional resonance found in S.A. Cosby’s work—I approached this novel with measured anticipation. Yet I found A Violent Masterpiece difficult to endure, not because it lacks craft, but because it so thoroughly immerses the reader in its bleak vision. Harper’s Los Angeles is populated by predators and casualties alike: pedophiles, serial killers, fixers, and celebrities move through the narrative as if protected by an invisible shield, insulated from accountability by their proximity to wealth and influence. The effect is suffocating. There is no counterbalancing force of justice or redemption to temper the brutality.
The prose itself mirrors this environment. Harper’s language is coarse, vulgar, and deliberately abrasive, reinforcing the sense that civility has long since evaporated. Violence, drugs, and sexual exploitation are not merely plot devices but the atmosphere of the novel, pressing down on the reader with cumulative force. While this approach is arguably honest—perhaps even necessary—to the story Harper wants to tell, it also demands a high tolerance for sustained depravity.
Structurally, the novel follows three distinct characters whose lives become increasingly entangled as the narrative advances. This fractured perspective allows Harper to explore different strata of the city’s moral decay, and there is technical skill in how these threads are ultimately woven together. Yet even as the plot tightens, the emotional experience remains punishing. The conclusion offers resolution in a narrative sense, but little in the way of moral or emotional catharsis.
For readers who seek noir in its most unadulterated form—raw, confrontational, and viscerally unsettling—A Violent Masterpiece will likely feel both powerful and necessary. It is a book that aims to shake, disturb, and implicate its audience rather than entertain or console. For this reader, however, the darkness proved overwhelming. While I can acknowledge Harper’s ambition and command of the genre, the novel’s unrelenting bleakness ultimately eclipsed my ability to fully engage with it.
In the end, A Violent Masterpiece lives up to its title: it is violent in subject, tone, and effect. Whether it is a masterpiece will depend largely on one’s appetite for noir that offers no handholds, no soft edges, and no easy way out.
Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for an ARC in return for an honest review
Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
Lurid Life of Tinseltown Vice
It reads like today’s headlines and ongoing news stories. Powerful people mingling with aspiring young actors, actresses and a network of wannabes with the resources to cover up whatever the consequences of their indulgences.
And it is not for the faint of heart.
Jordan Harper’s 2026 dark underworld thriller, “A Violent Masterpiece”, is a hypnotizing dive into the tawdry scene of the rich and not so famous in today’s Los Angeles, though it might have been from pages of yesteryear noir novels.
The plot is developed from the alternating perspectives of three different people, initially with no connection to each other, whose lives will become intertwined in pursuit of a missing woman appearing to be a victim of a mysterious killer dubbed the “LA Ripper” by the media:
• Jake Deal, a video blogger who chases crime scenes while broadcasting from his car with a dashcam as the Creepy Crawl
• Doug Gibson, independent attorney, sometimes public defender, who has been retained to defend Eric Algar, former child actor on the downhill side of success but hinting at incriminating evidence of widespread corruption going to the top
• Kara, who with her partner Phoebe Butterfield, now missing, works for a very specialized entertainment company, Sub Rosa, described as “The Make-A-Wish Foundation for the terminally rich…we are pimps, drug dealers, and a general one-stop-shop freak factory for the high-worth and very high-worth individual.”
As their stories unfold, they will unexpectedly come in touch with each other and find themselves entangled in a web of perversion and cover up with a sinister clean up squad called the Black Guards.
Harper’s plot pacing and writing are punctuated with a speed of short graphic phrases, street lingo and sardonic wit totally immersing the reader in the new world of Los Angeles nightlife – an updated take on Raymond Chandler’s novels.
The ending begs the question: did the 1940s noir drama connection between the seamy side of the streets and the prurient tastes of the wealthy take a break before this rebirth, or was it always there just below the surface?
It reads like today’s headlines and ongoing news stories. Powerful people mingling with aspiring young actors, actresses and a network of wannabes with the resources to cover up whatever the consequences of their indulgences.
And it is not for the faint of heart.
Jordan Harper’s 2026 dark underworld thriller, “A Violent Masterpiece”, is a hypnotizing dive into the tawdry scene of the rich and not so famous in today’s Los Angeles, though it might have been from pages of yesteryear noir novels.
The plot is developed from the alternating perspectives of three different people, initially with no connection to each other, whose lives will become intertwined in pursuit of a missing woman appearing to be a victim of a mysterious killer dubbed the “LA Ripper” by the media:
• Jake Deal, a video blogger who chases crime scenes while broadcasting from his car with a dashcam as the Creepy Crawl
• Doug Gibson, independent attorney, sometimes public defender, who has been retained to defend Eric Algar, former child actor on the downhill side of success but hinting at incriminating evidence of widespread corruption going to the top
• Kara, who with her partner Phoebe Butterfield, now missing, works for a very specialized entertainment company, Sub Rosa, described as “The Make-A-Wish Foundation for the terminally rich…we are pimps, drug dealers, and a general one-stop-shop freak factory for the high-worth and very high-worth individual.”
As their stories unfold, they will unexpectedly come in touch with each other and find themselves entangled in a web of perversion and cover up with a sinister clean up squad called the Black Guards.
Harper’s plot pacing and writing are punctuated with a speed of short graphic phrases, street lingo and sardonic wit totally immersing the reader in the new world of Los Angeles nightlife – an updated take on Raymond Chandler’s novels.
The ending begs the question: did the 1940s noir drama connection between the seamy side of the streets and the prurient tastes of the wealthy take a break before this rebirth, or was it always there just below the surface?
Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
In “A Violent Masterpiece,” Jordan Harper continues his exploration of the intersection of how power and corruption in Los Angeles sustain themselves.
The book focuses primarily on Kara, a woman working for SubRosa, a company that basically provides the uber-rich and powerful with whatever they want (no matter how bizarre and/or illegal); Jake, “the Creepy Crawler,” a man who provides a livestream play-by-play of crime in LA for an online audience; and Thomas Gibson, a criminal defense attorney who represents mostly the poor and powerless until he ends up representing Eric Algar, a children’s TV producer mired in scandal. Their paths cross when they all begin to realize that the problem is much deeper and more sinister than they could’ve realized.
Ultimately, the book is about the moral compromises people without power sometimes have to make to survive. Each of the protagonists is ultimately forced to confront his or her role, however small, in the systemic corruption and to decide whether to put themselves at risk to fight it, however quixotic the fight may be.
Like “Everybody Knows,” this book owes a debt to “Chinatown” and, to a lesser degree, “Day of the Locust.” All address the people at the top of the LA pyramid, but are really about the people who keep the system running, who, whether for money or access, compromise themselves to provide the rich and powerful with immunity.
This honest review was given in exchange for an Advanced Reader Copy from Hachette Book Group and Net Galley.
The book focuses primarily on Kara, a woman working for SubRosa, a company that basically provides the uber-rich and powerful with whatever they want (no matter how bizarre and/or illegal); Jake, “the Creepy Crawler,” a man who provides a livestream play-by-play of crime in LA for an online audience; and Thomas Gibson, a criminal defense attorney who represents mostly the poor and powerless until he ends up representing Eric Algar, a children’s TV producer mired in scandal. Their paths cross when they all begin to realize that the problem is much deeper and more sinister than they could’ve realized.
Ultimately, the book is about the moral compromises people without power sometimes have to make to survive. Each of the protagonists is ultimately forced to confront his or her role, however small, in the systemic corruption and to decide whether to put themselves at risk to fight it, however quixotic the fight may be.
Like “Everybody Knows,” this book owes a debt to “Chinatown” and, to a lesser degree, “Day of the Locust.” All address the people at the top of the LA pyramid, but are really about the people who keep the system running, who, whether for money or access, compromise themselves to provide the rich and powerful with immunity.
This honest review was given in exchange for an Advanced Reader Copy from Hachette Book Group and Net Galley.
December 3, 2025
Review of Digital Galley Edition
Jake Deal, immersed in Los Angeles night-crawling, streams crimes for those who follow his exploits while lawyer Doug Gibson gives his best for his clients and Kara Delgado helps the entitled uber-rich. Their individual stories converge as Los Angeles endures serial killers, kidnappings, assaults, drugs, torture, violence, and more.
=========
Told from multiple points of view . . . Jake Deal, Doug Gibson, and Kara Delgado . . . the unfolding story is dark, gruesome, violent, and yet, hopeful.
The language is often crude [and the overuse of a particularly offensive expletive lowers the rating for the book]; the tale, though bleak, paints Los Angeles in true colors.
Readers who enjoy crime fiction are likely to find themselves captivated by a story that races toward a denouement no one will see coming.
I received a free copy of this eBook from Little, Brown and Company / Mulholland Books and NetGalley and am voluntarily leaving this review.
#AViolentMasterpiece #NetGalley
Jake Deal, immersed in Los Angeles night-crawling, streams crimes for those who follow his exploits while lawyer Doug Gibson gives his best for his clients and Kara Delgado helps the entitled uber-rich. Their individual stories converge as Los Angeles endures serial killers, kidnappings, assaults, drugs, torture, violence, and more.
=========
Told from multiple points of view . . . Jake Deal, Doug Gibson, and Kara Delgado . . . the unfolding story is dark, gruesome, violent, and yet, hopeful.
The language is often crude [and the overuse of a particularly offensive expletive lowers the rating for the book]; the tale, though bleak, paints Los Angeles in true colors.
Readers who enjoy crime fiction are likely to find themselves captivated by a story that races toward a denouement no one will see coming.
I received a free copy of this eBook from Little, Brown and Company / Mulholland Books and NetGalley and am voluntarily leaving this review.
#AViolentMasterpiece #NetGalley
November 20, 2025
READ MY FULL REVIEW AT Best Thriller Books
A Violent Masterpiece is a crime novel unlike anything you’ve ever read before. Dark, wicked, sinful, and tragic, yet also bitterly hopeful and infused with the defiant fighting spirit of the underdog. A journey to hell and back that leaves you feeling a mixture of dirty and clean, beat down and triumphant, melancholy and tranquil.
Do yourself a favor and make sure you read this book, but don’t dive into the details of the plot before you open it. Because it’s best to experience it knowing as little as possible. Experiencing it as if being on a voyeuristic ride-along where anything and everything might happen as you prowl the streets and dark rooms of a city on the brink.
It's another tape-measure home run of a novel by Jordan Harper. Cementing him as one of the best to ever write LA crime noir.
A Violent Masterpiece is a crime novel unlike anything you’ve ever read before. Dark, wicked, sinful, and tragic, yet also bitterly hopeful and infused with the defiant fighting spirit of the underdog. A journey to hell and back that leaves you feeling a mixture of dirty and clean, beat down and triumphant, melancholy and tranquil.
Do yourself a favor and make sure you read this book, but don’t dive into the details of the plot before you open it. Because it’s best to experience it knowing as little as possible. Experiencing it as if being on a voyeuristic ride-along where anything and everything might happen as you prowl the streets and dark rooms of a city on the brink.
It's another tape-measure home run of a novel by Jordan Harper. Cementing him as one of the best to ever write LA crime noir.
Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
The book is about an Internet reporter, concierge to the super wealthy, a serial killer, and all of the conspiracies, lies and secrets you can handle. Did it give me Epstein vibes with an added twist of a serial killer? Yes. Had I literally just finished watching a documentary about it that same day though? Yes.
This book has a lot going on so be prepared to pay attention. Lots of names and info to keep track of. The book started off with a bang and instantly drew my attention. I did feel like the middle lacked something. While I did enjoy it, I did feel like parts of it were just filler words and phrases. It picked back up towards the end and had a solid, well constructed ending.
Thanks to NetGalley for the digital copy.
This book has a lot going on so be prepared to pay attention. Lots of names and info to keep track of. The book started off with a bang and instantly drew my attention. I did feel like the middle lacked something. While I did enjoy it, I did feel like parts of it were just filler words and phrases. It picked back up towards the end and had a solid, well constructed ending.
Thanks to NetGalley for the digital copy.
Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
I can see why everyone raves about Jordan Harper. I was really excited to check out this eARC after seeing what SA Cosby, one of my favorite authors said about him.
His writing lives up to the hype, gritty, vibrant, and beautiful.
A Violent Masterpiece is a taut crime thriller based in Los Angeles cycling between 3 different POVs that track different parts of related events.
It’s an intense and captivating book and it’s easily apparent how talented a writer Harper is.
Unfortunately for some reason I just couldn’t get myself to care about any of the characters. I wasn’t invested in their story and didn’t really fully get immersed in the storyline.
I look forward to reading more Jordan Harper but this book just wasn’t for me.
His writing lives up to the hype, gritty, vibrant, and beautiful.
A Violent Masterpiece is a taut crime thriller based in Los Angeles cycling between 3 different POVs that track different parts of related events.
It’s an intense and captivating book and it’s easily apparent how talented a writer Harper is.
Unfortunately for some reason I just couldn’t get myself to care about any of the characters. I wasn’t invested in their story and didn’t really fully get immersed in the storyline.
I look forward to reading more Jordan Harper but this book just wasn’t for me.
Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
This painted the bleakest picture of Los Angeles possible, with echoes of the Epstein case, with taut, unflinching prose that didn't shy away from the decadence and soft entails of the Hollywood underbelly. Said another way, it was totally plausible and felt like it described part of LA this very second.
The three main characters were realistically portrayed, and felt like you could find them today on the Hollywood landscape.
This was a scary ride into a place most of us have heard about but will never venture into.
Will I read more from the author? Yes.
I received a complimentary copy of the novel from the publisher and NetGalley, and my review is being left freely.
The three main characters were realistically portrayed, and felt like you could find them today on the Hollywood landscape.
This was a scary ride into a place most of us have heard about but will never venture into.
Will I read more from the author? Yes.
I received a complimentary copy of the novel from the publisher and NetGalley, and my review is being left freely.
January 3, 2026
The storyline lives up to the title there are some exceptionally violent and graphic scenes but what didn’t work for me was the chapters one after another in a different character’s perspective. Sometimes this works. Here it didn’t for me. The reader has to spend too much time determining where the story is chapter after chapter. The story leaves large gaps at the start of each new chapter. Was a great idea, just didn’t work smoothly for me.
Thank you NetGalley for the chance to read this before publishing.
Thank you NetGalley for the chance to read this before publishing.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
Jordan Harper’s A Violent Masterpiece is a gritty, pulsing crime novel that plunges readers into a Los Angeles rife with corruption and brutality. Multiple perspectives converge around a dark conspiracy implicating the powerful and untouchable. Harper balances raw violence with sharp social observation, creating a tense, immersive noir experience. Fans of modern crime thrillers that explore the underbelly of contemporary society will be captivated by the pacing and intricate plotting.
January 4, 2026
Thanks to NetGalley for my copy of this book for review. My first book by this author. Story is told in POV of 3 people. Doug Gibson is a street lawyer who fights for his clients. Jake Deal is a gonzo live-streaming nightcrawler. Kara Delgado is an underground concierge for the rich who gets pulled in after her friend disappears.
This is a crime fiction noir thriller at its most glamorous and violent. You’ve heard of sex drugs and rock n roll? How about sex drugs rock n roll and murder?
This is a crime fiction noir thriller at its most glamorous and violent. You’ve heard of sex drugs and rock n roll? How about sex drugs rock n roll and murder?
Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
Simply put a frightening story, well written and smartly written. It's LA now, and we meet the oddest most frightening people, people I would never want to meet in an alley. And it just gets scarier from there. It all begins with the arrest of a Hollywood pedophile! Jordan Harper has written a gritty story of fright and fear!! Highly recommended!
November 8, 2025
The secret history of Los Angeles, Jordan Harper style. S.A. Cosby calls Harper "your favorite crime writer's favorite crime writer," and with A Violent Masterpiece, he's raised the bar again. The words burn through the pages like acid.
November 28, 2025
Everything you loved about Everybody Knows but gnarlier. I devoured this book.
Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
The title says it all, this was indeed a masterpiece of violence, chaos, beauty, and the war that we not only see around us, but inside of us too. 5/5 ⭐️
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