Loser Baby

by Jason Bovberg

Jasmine Frank is missing.

It’s a humid summer morning in Santa Ana, California, and her twin brother Jordan abruptly finds himself on a desperate search—fearing the worst. The party last night got way out of hand, and his brain is still chemically fried. But this is Jasmine’s story. She’s awakened far from home to her own mystery: She’s unwittingly stolen something from the most dangerous person she’s ever known. Tommy Strafe. And now Tommy is raging through the sunbaked streets, gathering illicit forces to seek brutal retribution. But all Jasmine really wants is to get out of Orange County, escape her past, and find a measure of redemption.

LOSER BABY is a propulsive blast through the streets of the SoCal melting pot, a breakneck dark-comic neo-noir populated by misfits and malefactors, criminals and innocents, down-and-outers and spun-out dreamers. Prepare yourself for an adrenaline rush of rat-a-tat he-said-she-said narrative twists—all in service of a giddily slam-bang shock ending.

Genres: Mystery Thriller, Thriller

318 pages, Paperback

Published August 2, 2021

About the author

Jason Bovberg is the author of Tessa Goes Down, Loser Baby, the Blood trilogy (Blood Red, Draw Blood, and Blood Dawn), and The Naked Dame. He is the founder of Dark Highway Press, which published Robert Devereaux’s controversial Santa Steps Out, as well as the highly acclaimed weird-western anthology Skull Full of Spurs. He lives in Fort Collins, Colorado, with his wife Barb, his daughters Harper and Sophie, and his canines Rocky and Rango. You can find him online at www.jasonbovberg.com.

Reviews

[Jeffrey Keeten · Rating 5 out of 5]

”How quickly optimism could turn to excrement! She could already barely recall or even imagine her spirits as she and Jordan had arrived at Tommy’s house--her first real night out in months. Getting her first look at the people already inside, the thump of the assaultive music, the drinks just waiting, the dopey laughter. The prospect of talking to real people. But they’d never really gotten there, had they? Things had started going all sideways after only an hour. Conversations edgy with meanspiritedness and teasing.”

She wanted an evening where she could be Jazz, not Jasmine, and her twin brother Jordan could be Jordy. She wanted a night of controlled chaos, with the prospect of meeting interesting people and hopefully finding new experiences waiting for her around every corner of the house. She wanted to be someone different for just one evening. She wanted to let loose the bonds of inhibitions.

It was supposed to be fun.

Was it her fault for wanting to go? Was it Jordy’s fault for letting her go? Was it Tommy’s fault for asking Derek to slip her one of those pills that turned her brain inside out? Was it Pelly’s fault for being Tommy’s seduction facilitator?

None of this would matter, it would just be normal emotional debris from any party, except for the fact that Jasmine Frank... is... missing.

Jasmine is the sun, and all the other people in this narrative are Juniper, Venus, and Mars, revolving around her. Jazz becoming missing is sort of like Hamlet disappearing in the middle of act two. The other actors can continue to say their lines, but without Hamlet, there is no plot.

She has an ass that would have inspired ancient Greek sculptors. She has those impossibly long legs that lead the observer’s eyes to the Garden of Eden. And then there is that damn blue dress that is like a flash of color in a black and white film.

”I just want the girl in the blue dress

To keep on dancing

What is this happiness?”

---Mike Doughty

But it isn’t the hardbody that has men looking at her with dazed, bedazzled eyes and women watching her with hot, suspicious eyes, it is her optimism. It’s a trait difficult to find these days. It is so rare that, when people do encounter it, they think the person exuding it must be daft, naive, or suffering from the early stages of Alzheimers. Most of the characters in this novel are twenty or less. They are alarmingly jaded, but then that seems to be a characteristic of these newly minted generations. When I discuss things with them, I think to myself, they are as world-weary at twenty as I am at fifty. Of course, they grew up in the twenty-four hour news cycle, and they have been hounded by social media their entire lives. In other words, they grew up in a world brimming with lies. What is the truth? How the hell should they know?

So where... is... Jasmine?

She does something, one of those seemingly insignificant decisions that shouldn’t change anyone’s life. We can never see the outward flowing rings of our decisions while we are making them. There are so many variables, so many potential ramifications, for every decision that we make that to ponder the probabilities would turn us all into blithering fools. We can make a perfectly logical decision, but no decision stays in a vacuum. It has to go out into the world, and it quickly encounters the decisions made by other people. Those variables that I was speaking of earlier can turn an insignificant decision or a perfectly conceived decision into a steaming pile of I-wish-I’d-never-gotten-out-of-bed.

Damn it, Jasmine, are you hiding behind the moon? The world needs your light. Where o’ where art thou?

We have a dirty dozen of narrators, it might be a baker’s dozen, I didn’t count. They are all fucked up in their own special ways. They are self-reflective, but with no baseline of truth to guide them. They aren’t really planets, that was hyperbole on my part, more like asteroids tumbling towards their final obliterating collision with destiny. Each chapter shifts to a different, unreliable narrator. Readers must weigh everything they are told to determine if what they are learning is some elaborate form of the near Shakespearean truth, or just sprinklings of Shake and Bake. They aren’t likeable people, but they are still years away from full frontal lobe development. Who they are isn’t who they are going to be. And by the end of this narrative, despite my best efforts to sneer at them, I started to...shit...care about them!?!?

There are really, really bad guys in this novel. There are bad guys with redeeming qualities. There are losers who can’t seem to catch a break. There are victims who discover an inner strength to break away from the source of their victimhood. There are people hanging onto their sanity by a thread. There are moments of courage, lost innocence, and cowardice. There are car chases and car crashes. There are bashings, thrashings, and attitude adjustments. There are copious amounts of really fucked up designer drugs and a river of alcohol. There are a whole card deck of bad decisions.

Who is going to get the joker and who is going to find the queen?

Reading this novel is like driving the road from Prescott to Jerome, Arizona, drunk, in the fog, at 160 miles per hour, with a cackling, brain-fried, asshole behind the wheel who is convinced he is going to be the next Richard Petty. Somehow, after you upchuck all over the side of the car, shit your pants, and have filled your boots with piss, you glide into Jerome, and the fog has cleared, and...wait...is that a splash of fucking blue?

This is a neo-noir novel for the new century. It gives me hope that it will find a new generation of readers who will follow the roots of this novel back to Scott Phillips, Gary Phillips, Charles Willeford, Jim Thompson, Cornell Woolrich, James M. Cain, David Goodis, Megan Abbott, Gerald Kersh, Elmore Leonard, James Crumley, Massimo Carlotto, Ross MacDonld, Dorothy B. Hughes, John D. MacDonald, Chester Himes, and a whole host of other wonderful hardboiled novelists too numerous to mention.

Hardboiled noir is back, baby! Hitch a ride, eat some grit, and hope the girl in blue just keeps on dancing.

If you wish to see more of my most recent book and movie reviews, visit http://www.jeffreykeeten.com
I also have a Facebook blogger page at:https://www.facebook.com/JeffreyKeeten and an Instagram account https://www.instagram.com/jeffreykeeten/

[Dave · Rating 5 out of 5]

To most people when they hear about California’s iconic Orange County, they think of the bored Newport Beach housewives at Fashion Island or the giggling teenagers at pre-covid Disneyland. In Loser Baby, Bovberg strips that illusion from the stage and introduces readers to the rest of The real OC, filled with rundown apartments, skanky homeless methheads, and a drug addled teenagers racing down crowded boulevards on their way to drown out their nightmares.

Loser Baby introduces us to a pair of luckless twins who decide to party with a bully from their high school and his drug dealing buddies in a skanked wasteland cup-de-sac of Santa Ana. Like any good noir, we get a bag full of money and a group of people at each other’s throats racing around the County trying to find each other or escape from each other.

What makes Loser Baby stand out is it’s told through the ever-changing point of view of a group of losers who keep digging themselves deeper and deeper into hell. It opens with the twins, Jasmine and Jordan, who lose each other at the party. Jordan wakes up in their apartment without a clue if how he got there or where his little sister is in her mini sparkling blue dress. He goes nuts trying to find her. Jasmine wakes up curled up in the In and Out Drive-Thru without her purse, her phone, her sense. Looking like a homeless addict with a shopping bag of heavy stuff, she’s got no idea how to get home.

From there we get to know luckless loser after luckless loser all racing around and heading toward a giant dead-end as the nastiness swirls around them getting more and more serious as bodies start turning up and there ain’t no salvation nowhere.

[Still · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’m staggered by the writing of this uniquely talented writer.
Best thing I’ve read all year.
Riveting stuff.


Jasmine and Jordan Frank are twin brother & sister. They fled an abusive home to escape from their alcoholic mother and her nutjob boyfriend.
They alter their birth certificates in order to pass themselves off as being older than they actually are. They move to Santa Ana, California.

Jordan has always kept close ties to his twin sister because she's kind of a screw-up. She's knock out gorgeous and older guys are drawn to her like flies on sherbert . And she delights in the attention. They share a tiny apartment together and rarely go out and mingle with the other young people of Santa Ana. Except for this one night when they're invited to a party.

Jordan awakes after a night of designer drugs partying and finds his sister missing. He embarks upon a desperate search to find her.
He fears the worst.
His fears are well founded.

At the party, Jordan was dosed with some kind of concoction that knocked him out for the night. The twins were separated and Jasmine was dosed with something akin to designer mollies.
She comes to -still a bit high- on a curb outside of an In-and-Out Burger. No idea where she is. Her phone is missing. Her purse is missing and all she knows for certain is that she's a long way from home. And she's in possession of something uniquely precious to a very dangerous, drug-crazed monster of a human being.

This novel is one of the most tightly wound modern thrillers I've read in the past three or four years. The bad guys are terrifying. And there are a few really scary bad guys in this thriller.

It's a roller coaster ride of pulse-pounding tension I certainly won't soon forget.
The author is destined to become a major name in the thriller genre.
I predict a lucrative future for Jason Bovberg.
Get in on the ground floor.

BUY THIS BOOK!

[Jim Thomsen · Rating 5 out of 5]

When literary agents write articles or speak at conferences, they talk about how they need to be grabbed by "voice" when they're looking over a manuscript. Yes, eventually the story has to be in place, but agents need to know by the first page whether or not the voice compels them to turn to the second one. By "voice" we mean that often elusive blend of talent, craft and self-assurance in one's individual identity, or something like that, that tells us this person has a story to tell, that it's their story alone, and that a h*ll of an interesting story is about to unfurl — all assets they can sell to publisher, and that a publisher can sell to a wide audience.

So, why then, was Jason Bovberg's LOSER BABY not put out by a major publisher? Because it's got voice from the get-go:

"Smack in the middle of Santa Ana on a Friday night, gang-funk psychedelia, the animal snarl and faint butane odor of nitrous-juiced import cars, the streets undulating and ratcheting like a grungy arcade game—rumble, whoosh, clickety-clack. The city was still new to Jasmine Frank, this sprawling expanse of damp concrete, swaying palms, salty beach sweat, and steaming antifreeze."

That, ladies and gentlemen, is the voice of a major talent. Jason Bovberg knows his time and his place, knows the people who inhabit it, and knows how to tell their stories. And the story of Jasmine Frank — the good girl with bad judgment of the title — and her twin brother Jordan, among others, over the course of a long day of brutal chases and brutal confrontations and brutal self-checkings around Orange County — is a killer all the way through.

LOSER BABY is not a perfect novel. It follows through on some character arcs better than others, and one in particular, involving the stepfather's murderous rage toward the twins, feels particularly underdeveloped. But that won't keep you from bobbing happily along on a fast river of robust prose. It's got glide, that rarest of things, guided by a instinct that knows not only how to form each sentence to keep a story going, but, just as crucially, how not to get in the way of the story. You won't find any windy expositions here, no pauses in the action to unpack unwieldy backstory, etc. You won't find self-conscious flights of lyrical fancy. Just pure story and character.

And a big part of the joy of reading LOSER BABY is the joy of discovering nuanced character. Very few members of the cast are all good or all bad, or all weak or all strong. Jasmine Frank has a weakness for bad boys and bad drugs but she cares about the people in her life, and is willing to stretch herself out for them when needed. Her twin brother Jordan is a jittery, controlling mess, but it all comes from a place of deep caring that manifests itself in some timely coping skills during a crisis moment. Tommy Strafe is a ragey, rapey drug dealer and all-around terror, but when you catch him in the eye of one of his storms you find a thoughtful and sensitive soul underneath. Steve just wants to get laid, and Mark just wants his life back to boring normal, but when both are called on to shift into a higher gear, they each find to their surprise that they have one. And so on and so on. Nobody in LOSER BABY is a cardboard character, a type rather than a being, and that's why I wished for more robust arcs of self-discovery in line with the plot for some of these folks. It's so rare to see such a bullet train into the heart of darkness that grabs onto every little glimmer of light in the crazy belief that maybe there's more light to be found.

On top of all that, Jason Bovberg gives us a rare window into a certain type of just-trying-to-hang-on civilian of the type that can be found in and around Santa Ana, California. If you've ever taken a look at the servers, checkout clerks, dishwashers, hotel housekeepers and other subsistence wage earners of Southern California — or really, anywhere — and spared a thought for how they pay they bills or find little pockets of joy in their private lives, then LOSER BABY knows how you think. These folks easily get overlooked in crime fiction, which is more about cops and elites and organized criminals. But Everymen and Everywomen, I submit, are the most interesting characters in crime fiction — those people without developed violence skills who nonetheless can find the violence within them when no other course is available. By that measure, every single character in LOSER BABY is incredibly interesting. As is LOSER BABY itself.

[Linda Strong · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5 STARS

The party, by all accounts, was a success. People staggered looking for more booze, some had their brains fried from the drugs, there was loud music and there was more.

Jordan was one of the attendees, along with his twin sister, Jasmine. But Jasmine is missing. She woke in a strange place with a plastic bag filled with something she took from Tommy Strafe .. a dangerous man, a man who wouldn't hesitate to shoot you if you even blinked the wrong way.

Tommy is steaming mad and now both men are searching for her. Someone is going to die.

There's plenty of action on behalf of each and every character. Have to admit, I didn't care for any of them. They all had issues, the foul language was just too much, and at times it all seemed jumbled up in one big bag. The brother was overbearingly strict ... his sister was 17 going on 10. I found it difficult to care about either of them. The ending was fast, unexpected. I really wanted to like this book much more than I did.

Many thanks to the author /Dark Highway Press / Netgalley for the digital copy of this crime fiction. Read and reviewed voluntarily, opinions expressed here are unbiased and entirely my own.

[Wesley Mead · Rating 5 out of 5]

If the title of Jason Bovberg's excellent new thriller brings to mind Beck's most famous single, you're not alone. Bovberg opens Loser Baby with a duo of quotations: Heraclitus' musings on change being life's only constant, and Beck's stream-of-consciousness spin on life's relentless pain: "time is a piece of wax falling on a termite that's choking on the splinters". The characters that populate the sprawling, gritty SoCal landscape of Loser Baby are certainly au fait with both pain and change, always flawed and sometimes entirely broken. And this eventful Saturday - the book is set entirely across a single 24-hour period - will be rife with yet more desperation and misery for them.

I don't want to make Loser Baby sound too heavy, though, because as bleak and darkly twisty (and twisted) as this tale is, it's also an extremely compelling caper. The setup: Jasmine Frank has gone missing, and her twin brother, Jordan Frank is desperate to find her. Last night, the siblings attended a wild party hosted by ruffian Tommy Strafe, from which Jasmine awakens to discover she has stolen a valuable coin collection. As brother and sister battle through the streets of California to track each other down, Tommy awakens to discover his missing assets, and is immediately hellbent on revenge.

Jordan, explaining why he and his sister were at Tommy’s party in the first place:

"They shouldn't have come to the party. Jasmine had insisted, aching to live a little, and shit, man, his sister was probably right. He couldn't remember the last time they'd hung with real people, laughed, grooved. So, yeah, like he could blame her. Younger than him by minutes, and yet nowadays she always had to remind him how to live."

From this setup, we're introduced to a dozen characters, each of whom offer their own take on the events unfolding. The novel's 40-plus chapters distribute narrative duties and perspective between Jasmine, Jordan, Tommy, and the friends and foes that cross their paths: Tommy's girlfriend, his cronies, and his motley crew of oddballs; Jasmine and Jordan's struggling neighbour, and her adorable daughter; and other forces, malevolent and otherwise, who emerge from the SoCal woodwork on this godforsaken Saturday.

This structure enhances the novel greatly, jumping between events and locations - ramping up the tension and heightening the intensity of the fast-paced read - while also allowing us to gain greater perspective on the disposition and outlook of each of these people. Most of our characters have issues, and often come with major personality flaws, but by novel's end the vast majority have earned our empathy - and sympathy - thanks to the fleshed-out backstory Bovberg imbues each with. There are no caricatures here: these are three-dimensional, lived-in manifestations, haunted by ghosts and demons, each feeling justified in their motivations, each hewing to a well-constructed internal logic.

"Then she got lost in the days
The smile Raney depended on dusted away
The arms that held him were no more his home
He lay at night, his head pressed to her chest, listening to the ghost in her bones"
-Bruce Springsteen, "Black Cowboys"

Bovberg's prose is direct, acerbic, and often informal - plenty of "dude"s and curses - accurately replicating the rapid-fire thought processes of the delinquents thrown into this adrenaline-fuelled adventure. Chapters are short and snappy. The beats of the plot are extremely well-structured, taking cues from the best noir and neo-noir, and offering a number of twists and turns that are very hard to predict yet retrospectively feel inevitable. There are a number of emotional moments that really hit hard: like all great reads, regardless of genre, you feel genuinely invested in this story and these people.

Propulsive, well-drawn, and hitting marks on both comedic and dramatic fronts, Loser Baby is an extremely compelling read that I'd recommend unreservedly to those willing to take on a thriller unafraid to probe at the darker elements of society.

I received an ARC free of charge in exchange for an honest review

[Mike Parish · Rating 5 out of 5]

This story reminds me of something I heard while serving Jury duty years ago. "Hell has no angels as witnesses". In this gritty, action packed, thrill ride set in Santa Ana Ca and surrounding OC, Mr. Bovberg tells a gripping story about escaping the past, codependency, betrayal, and redemption. The majority of the tale takes place over the course of a Saturday, in the aftermath of a drug fueled party night before. Presented from the point of view of 12 different major and minor characters, it weaves a rich tapestry of differing perspectives and attitudes. The main characters are complex, relatable, and somehow familiar. While reading this book I felt like I was right there to witness the drug use which ranged from casual to habitually addictive and the crimes that ranged from petty to violent felonies. Much like after watching the Breakfast Club, I found a little bit of myself in each one of these unfortunate souls, each of whom survived some sort of personal trauma and was desperately trying to get to a better place in a seemingly uncaring and unforgiving environment. I pride myself on being able to figure out how a story will play out, much to the dismay of my family while watching tv shows or movies, but this one had a few twists and turns that blindsided me. A great story that I felt was worthy of a second read. The first time I had a very hard putting it down and finished in less than 3 days and the 2nd time I read more slowly to savor the descriptive language and dwell on some of the nuances that I missed the first time around. I highly recommend this book along with all of the other books written by this author. He's one of my favorites.

[Angel (Bookn.All.Night) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Whelp...where do I even begin. This is another one where I wasn't sure what to expect. I was told to be "prepared" by the author and well...he was right. 😂

I am a fan of Quentin Tarantino, and Loser Baby gives me ALL the Tarantino vibes. Crazy. Wild. What in the heck happened...where is this going? Am I already there? Am I on drugs? Oh wait, no that's just the characters 😂😂 What a FUN read!

I am different and at times I love books that are out there and this just fits. I mean poor Jasmine and Jordan. What can go wrong, did, and much worse. Poor Lori, Mark, Steve, Kayla and everyone else who somehow got involved in this spiral into chaos. My head is still spinning.

I will say this isn't for everyone, and not for every Booknerd's bookhouse. It's not a happy book, although it does have moments of clarity and humor. It's a niche type read but it's still one I would recommend. For anyone who wants different or wants to read out of their normal, grab this one.

I sincerely appreciate the publisher and By the Book VBP for providing me with a review copy. All opinions expressed herein are mine and mine alone.

[Amanda Kassner · Rating 5 out of 5]

I finished Loser Baby quite a few days ago, but I've had trouble coming up with my review.  Why?  Because there's absolutely no way I could adequately explain, summarize, or expound intelligently about this story without ruining it for you.  I'll do my best, but geez-o-pete you really need to read it for yourself. 

Mr. Bovberg has created a story that's very complex and yet at the same time very simple.  The premise is simple - there's a party, a robbery, and a chase. Where it gets complex is the characters - your opinion of who's the "good guy" and who's the "bad guy" in this story changes often.  You'll need to take notes and keep up (or do like I did and read the whole thing in 2 days). 

What a refreshing surprise that this mystery doesn't have a "white hat" main character trying to get the evil dude.  Each and every character has their good and bad, and you're simply along for the ride.  Even the secondary characters pull you in. 

The book changes points of view each chapter.  I adore this, and Mr. Bovberg pulls it off beautifully.  The ability to change points of view within the book was so well done it makes for a well rounded view of what was happening to each character.  This makes you care about each character while also making you question if you want them to achieve their goals.  You'll have lots of feelings about these people, I promise. 

I won't give it away, but I guarantee you that the ending is nothing like you're expecting.  It's very satisfying, but completely out of left field! 

I highly recommend this book if you like mysteries, noir, surprise endings, or simply well-told tales. 

https://amandakassner.com/

[Sonya · Rating 3 out of 5]

Thank you to NetGalley and the author for the opportunity to read this ARC!

Loser Baby was a wild ride, that’s for sure. Action packed and unrelenting, there is no dull moment in the 24 hours Jordan searches for his missing twin sister, Jasmine. Coming off a high, possibly mentally unstable, and probably obsessed with his sister, Jordan is the epitome of an unreliable, complex narrator. I loved Jordan’s character because I didn’t know if I could trust him; I wanted to strangle him for his rash decisions, but also give him a hug and tell him to breathe. Normally I don’t like multiple points of view, but the format worked wonderfully here because the narrators were so unreliable. Each chapter switches points of view between the twins and numerous secondary characters, offering new perspectives on the same story. When I had a question, a new character would pop up with the explanation, propelling the story forward and showing not only that the truth isn’t black and white, but also that there are no good guys and bad guys. Loser Baby is a world of grey.

On the flip side, because there were so many characters and each one was treated equally, it was hard to feel any emotional attachment. Everybody was treated as a main character and while I appreciate that each person had a history, their back story felt more like an explanation of their personality to add drama than character development to make them real. We got a taste of each person’s life, a peek into their personality, before they disappeared. Sometimes I didn’t even realize a character was gone until a few chapters later, I would wonder “Hey, what happened to X?” and then go back and reread that they walked away/got thrown off a boat/literally just disappeared and realize that was their exit. A quick little blurb and then they were gone. Even Jordan, whose character I loved at first, we barely broke the surface on – his overprotective, manic behavior was explained by his abusive childhood and unstable mother, but there was so much more mentioned that was never explored: was Jordan actually obsessed with Jasmine? Did their codependent relationship cross a line? How the heck did he afford that car?

Loser Baby was beautifully written – I could visualize each person, their antics, their tantrums, their fear – and some parts felt more like I was watching a movie than reading a book, but there was so much more that could have been explored. It fit somewhere between an action thriller and a drama and I wish it was either more plot driven like an action thriller or more emotionally driven like a drama. Even though Loser Baby didn’t hit that mean punch the first few chapters hinted at, it was a fun read and I enjoyed it!

(But seriously…how did Jordan afford that car?)

[Scott Firestone · Rating 4 out of 5]

Jasmine Frank is missing--gone after a drug-addled night at an L.A. party. Her twin brother wants to find her but doesn't know where to start. And to make matters worse, Jasmine did something--a dumb something--at that party, and it sets in motion the 24 hours covered in Loser Baby, author Jason Bovberg's gritty noir thriller.

Bovberg had an uphill battle to please me, because I don't really like noir fiction. It's too fatalistic. Too dark. Too crude. And Loser Baby is all of those things. (The sheer number of f-bombs makes Goodfellas look like an episode of Little House on the Prairie.) But by gum, he won me over. These are flawed people--sometimes fatally so--and I didn't really like many of them. But he made me empathize with some of them, and that's a feat.

The book's chapters hop from character to character, telling the story from the point of view of one of the 10 or so people we're introduced to over this dark night. So we get into different heads, with different motivations, and different (often incorrect) takes on the same situation--all while moving the story forward. It mostly worked. Though the main character--and indeed, the person on the cover of the book--is Jasmine, but with so many chapters told from other points of view, that structure ended up keeping her at arm's length. So by the end I felt as though I didn't know her as well as I "ought" to, given her importance to the story. (Though those other characters filled in their own experiences of Jasmine, so she was fleshed out in other ways.) Having said that, I actually think the structure helped me to overcome my usual dislike of noir: Jumping around to different people kept the narrative fresh and moving.

I've read Bovberg's Blood trilogy, and his writing is better and more assured than ever. His L.A. is the seamy underbelly you'd expect from a noir book, and his descriptions are so alive and visceral that I guarantee he'll never be offered a job with the L.A. Tourism Board. His percussive dialogue drives the narrative along at a fast pace that doesn't let up until the surprising-yet-inevitable conclusion.
I received a free copy of Loser Baby through Netgalley. This in no way influenced my opinion of the book.

[Jason Bovberg · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really proud of this one. It combines three things that have been important to me in my life: neo-noir crime fiction, my daughters' generational attitudes, and my origins in sunny-scuzzy SoCal. Hope you give it a shot!

[Sage Moon · Rating 5 out of 5]

Quick Take

Prepare to be taken away with a thriller boasting vivid characters and tantalizing mystique – you won’t be able to put this one down!

Tell Me More

Now and then, I am delighted to find books that break the boundaries of genre and feature a flair so unique that they are entirely unforgettable. Loser Baby is such a book – and so much more.

Loser Baby is an invigorating tale that is almost impossible to summarize. It is a whirlwind of SoCal life, vivid characters, and a dangerous adventure. The writing is explicit, but not overly so in that it detracts from the story’s beauty. Substances are part of the explicit elements in the novel, but they play a part in such a way that reflects the party life of SoCal. This story is not the “glitz and glam” of California that so many stories cover. It is raw and real, yet author Jason Bovberg makes the messiness of real life seem beautiful. At no point does the thrilling aspect of the plot seize, and I felt as though I needed to catch my breath upon finishing the novel

Bovberg’s writing is unlike anything I have read. He writes in such a way that his words become laden with details and vibrant descriptions of the setting, but the details aren’t overdone, and each word adds purpose to the story. Having never been to SoCal myself, I knew nothing about the area before reading Loser Baby. However, upon finishing the novel I feel as though I have just come back from a thrilling – yet terrifying – trip to California. The excellent setting descriptions and unreliable narratives had me guessing until the end, and I am still unsure whether the characters in Loser Baby are trustworthy. I have not thought so deeply about characters or a story in quite some time, and I am positive that Loser Baby is one novel I will want to read for a second – and maybe even a third – time.

Due to its unique plot, vivid characters, and excellent details, Loser Baby deserves every one of the five stars that it has been given. As a thriller junkie, I read more thrillers and horror novels than anything else, and I can honestly say that this novel didn’t compare to anything I have read in the genre. It is in a class all its own. Do yourself a favor and pick up this must-read. You will thank me later.

[Blair Roberts · Rating 5 out of 5]

The novel reads like getting in a car, starting it, putting it into gear, and smashing the gas till the car either runs dry or explodes. Loser Baby is of the latter!

“Just like the endlessly disastrous trajectory of her own existence, life barreled forward into the future exactly like this unending flow of traffic, everyone trying to one-up each other, gain the upper hand, cut each other off, take advantage of everyone else. Me, me, ME! It was all so depressing, just looking at it.”
-Jason Bovberg

[Sally · Rating 5 out of 5]

A killer thriller filled with humor!

LOSER BABY is a suspenseful page-turner that's dark in places and flat-out hilarious in others! One minute, you're laughing out loud at the dialog or some wild plot turn, and the next you're crying over something genuinely emotional that has happened to one of these beautiful misfits. I really really loved this book! In fact, I plan to read it again to catch anything I missed. SO good! One thing that really impressed me about LOSER BABY was the rotating points of view. Each chapter comes from a different character, and each one changes how you're looking at the story, moment to moment. These perspectives sometimes switch back in time and location, intersecting in fascinating ways. The backgrounds of the individual characters totally inform that person's actions and motivations, and it all adds up to a sense of empathy for the characters that I rarely feel in fiction. Even the "small-part" characters.
And the chapters come fast! LOSER BABY is a book that MOVES, no drag at all, you just want to keep turning those pages to see what happens next.
Speaking of "what happens next," this is a book that's full of surprises, like the best mysteries. There's one particular twist near the end that just about blew my head off. GENIUS! Didn't see it coming at all.
Oh, and shout-out to the inclusion of In-N-Out Burger as a major setting!
I like this author's stuff. He seems to be getting better with each book he writes. The flow, the progression of scenes, the narrative tricks, the depth of the characters-it all works. Definitely someone to keep an eye on!

(I received an early proof from the publisher in exchange for an honest review)

[Rich Rosell · Rating 4 out of 5]

Jason Bovberg - he of the terrific 'Blood' zombie trilogy - shifts gears a bit with 'Loser Baby'.

Instead of the undead 'Loser Baby' is set in the dark underbelly of SoCal, with young twin sibs Jasmine and Jordan Frank finding themselves woven into the dangerous lives of a number of unsavory types. There's drugs and violence and a wonderful assortment of oddball types, all swirling around a missing coin collection.

The character of Jasmine is 17-year-old whirlwind , the sort of free spirited femme fatale-y type that uncontrollably turns nearly every male in Bovberg's book to weak-kneed mush.
She's fragile and tough - even when everything goes to shit around her.

This thing reads like a freight train.
Fun stuff x100.

[Briana Briggs · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dark, twisty, noire

First off, this isn't my usual genre of choice, it was a little dark for me, but I thought it was well written, draws you in, keeps you hooked with twists and turns, and has a bittersweet ending. Well worth the read!

[Sandra Hoover · Rating 3 out of 5]

Twins Jasmine and Jordan Frank escaped an abusive home altering birth certificates to pass themselves off as older. Living together in a tiny apartment in Santa Ana, California, they keep mostly to themselves. Jordan appoints himself as protector of his beautiful sister and attempts to keep her out of trouble. After accepting an invitation to a party, Jordan awakens to find Jasmine missing. The party was a wild freak show of designer drugs. He knows he was dosed with some type drug that knocked him out for the night to separate him from his twin sister. He panics and begins a search to find her. Jasmine comes to on the side of the road outside an In-and-Out Burger joint. She has no recollection of what happened, but she does recognize that she's in serious trouble. She's in possession of something that belongs to a dangerous man. What does she do and where does she go from here?

Loser Baby is a convoluted, crazy ride with a cast of losers. Points of view change with each chapter allowing readers to get the story and history of a wild collective group of characters. While it's an interesting concept, it's also confusing and quite graphic in language. The story unfolds over one day in Orange County in pages of insane confrontations and chases. There is no good guy riding in on a white horse in this one. Each character is severely flawed with questionable morals. Bovberg tells the "other" side of the story of golden California - the overlooked, down on their luck, underpaid, just trying to survive ordinary people. These characters aren't likable, but they're real. However, at some point, it all becomes overwhelming in the sheer volume of people and their lives. I feel like the end result are some character and plot lines left dangling. Having said that, Loser Baby is unique - a one of a kind type crime fiction that I won't soon forget.

[Steven Netter · Rating 4 out of 5]

READ MY FULL REVIEW AT Best Thriller Books

Loser Baby is straight merciless tragedy with intense, unrelenting and unrepentant action throughout.

Make sure to check out the full review

[Closet Rebel · Rating 4 out of 5]

What a great reading surprise! Not sure how I stumbled on this one since so few have read and reviewed it. I thought I was going to read the first few pages and give up but I was hooked and couldn't put it down.

Knuckleheads, losers, and downright criminals abound. The story is about the aftermath of a party gone bad and the resulting consequences to the innocent and the guilty during the day or two the follow.

Beware, there is some rough language and situations in this one. There is also a few places that had me laughing out loud - literally.

I don't hand out 5 stars very often and those go to mostly all time classics. This one just happens to be lost in the mountain of books looking for attention.

Hopefully more people will discover and enjoy this book.

[Anthony · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Review

A gritty and surreal look into the various facets of life in Orange County, author Jason Bovberg does an incredible job of capturing the atmosphere and culture of the O.C. area and those living in it. As someone who grew up in Southern California and has family from Orange County, it was fascinating to see the setting and atmosphere come to life like that, as the O.C. has so many different layers and cultures bubbling within it, and this book really brought that to life.

Yet it was the layered approach to the book’s mystery that kept the suspense and thriller genre alive in this novel. The story really elevates the narrative by taking the original premise and mystery and flipping it on its head. The shocking twists and turns the narrative takes, and the really nuanced characters that gave this story the emotional depth that it employed, was so engaging that I was hard-pressed to put this book down.

The Verdict

A remarkable, chilling, and emotional roller coaster, author Jason Bovberg’s “Loser Baby” is a must-read novel of 2021! The mystery and intrigue the story takes plays well against the dark and seedy undertones of both the criminal elements of the area and the average people caught up in the madness the day becomes, making this story really engrossing to read.

[Nik's Nook · Rating 4 out of 5]

Oh, what a tangled web we weave... 🕸

Jasmine just wants to have a fun night & let loose. Jordan, her twin brother, just wants to stay in their new apartment & protect her since he was unable to protect her at home. But off they go to a party at Tommy Strafe's house. At the party, drugs are consumed, something valuable gets stolen, Jasmine goes missing, and all hell breaks loose.

"I'm a loser, baby, so why don't you kill me?" 🎶

I think our author took Beck's song a bit too literally here. 😂 This book had murder & TONS of it.

These characters, none of them really likable except for Jasmine & Lori, get themselves wrapped up in a situation and, in less than twenty-four hours, the whole thing is just an absolute disaster.

Me reading this book:
No, don't do that.
Wait, stop. That's a terrible idea.
Are you kidding me right now?

And so on & so forth. And, to answer my question, they were not kidding. 😂 We get to know each of the characters a little bit as this story is told through multiple viewpoints of just about every character involved. While that sounds like it might be confusing, it actually worked really well for this type of story.

This was a dark noir read with a lot of things that could be triggering to some readers, so know before you go on this one.

If you like a fast-paced read with some awful characters doing some messed up things - and let's be honest, who doesn't? - check out Loser Baby!

Thank you to the author for choosing VBP to promote your work!

[James Powell · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this over only a few days, a speed I rarely pull off anymore. But I was hooked from the opening chapter, and to put it simply, I NEEDED to know what happened next. The tension ratchets up steadily from the start right up until that epic conclusion.

Loser Baby reads like a book a young Quentin Tarantino would want to film. Lots of tension, great pacing, and plenty of people behaving badly until it all explodes in a finale that couldn't happen any other way.

[Margaret Yelton · Rating 4 out of 5]

Loser Baby by Jason Bovberg, this was a new author for me one I had never heard of before although he does seem to have other books to his credit. I don't believe I have ever read a book that every character in the book seems to be a loser, which I can no longer say now. When Jasmine and her twin brother leave home hoping to find a better life they went from bad and jumped into the fire. Ending up at a drug fueled party Jasmine ends up taking something that she shouldn't have and now the search is on for her. Not only is her brother searching for her, so is the man she took the item from. What follows is a fast paced read, that is action packed. The storyline has a little bit of everything one minute your laughing, next your crying. I will have to say when the chapters shift between different characters I don't enjoy that writing quite as much, but in general I found this to be a very well written book. Not one of my typical reads, but I would recommend it to others. I received a print copy of the book from the author, and #partnersincrimevbt and all opinions expressed here are my own.

[Angie Blocker · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wow! What a ride!! I loved this book and I thought just about everyone was guilty at one point or another. Lol! I loved how each chapter was told from a different character's point of view. Just when I would think that I had it figured out...twist! I love that about a book. I don’t want to figure it out. I love the surprise of finding out, “who done it”. The author had me laughing out loud several times. The things that were said totally cracked me up.

[Kristi · Rating 3 out of 5]

“𝑻𝒉𝒂𝒕 was really was Santa Anna was all about – a bunch of restless people on the move, all the time, on their way to 𝒂𝒏𝒚𝒘𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒆𝒍𝒔𝒆.”

“Why were there so many monsters in the world?

Jasmine Frank is missing. 

It’s a humid summer morning in Santa Ana, California, and her twin brother Jordan abruptly finds himself on a desperate search—fearing the worst. The party last night got way out of hand, and his brain is still chemically fried. But this is Jasmine’s story. She’s awakened far from home to her own mystery: She’s unwittingly stolen something from the most dangerous person she’s ever known. Tommy Strafe. And now Tommy is raging through the sunbaked streets, gathering illicit forces to seek brutal retribution. But all Jasmine really wants is to get out of Orange County, escape her past, and find a measure of redemption.

Oooh this was one hell of a dark and wild ride. Reading this book was like watching a Quentin Terantino movie. It’s always night. Everyone is out for themselves. Drugs abound. People are dying. People are missing. All decisions are fueled by drugs and the survival instinct. There is a very colorful cast of characters in this book, some very damaged souls, and some very, very bad people. If you enjoy noir and crime books, pick this one up!

Thank you to @jasonbovbergauthor and @bythebookvbp for this copy in exchange for an honest review.

[Aimee · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thank you to NetGalley for an early e-reader version of this book.

Everyone is a loser in this book. From Jasmine and Jordan Frank to everyone they encounter in the course of one 24-hour period. Jasmine, having fled with her twin brother, Jordan, from an abusive home, goes missing, and that is where the fun starts. Through a frenetic tour of a SoCal town, the reader is introduced to various characters, all with secrets and wants that they don't share with anyone. It leads to a brilliant conclusion, which I will not spoil.

I really enjoyed this book and felt the characters and situations were well-developed. The tension and pacing were very good and kept me reading. I didn't want to put this book down and had to see how it turned out. I loved the structure of the alternating points of view per chapter as it kept the action moving and really developed the characters well.

Pick up this book and go on a thrill ride with a pack of losers like you've never seen before.

[Darcia Helle · Rating 4 out of 5]

I saw the cover of Loser Baby, and decided I had to read this book before I even knew what it was about.

Turns out this is gritty crime fiction featuring a bunch of young adults living precariously in the gray zone of life.

The story revolves around Jordan and Jasmine, runaway siblings with a codependent relationship. Jordan is an uptight worrier, while Jasmine is looking for adventure. Their push-and-pull dynamics lead to all sorts of trouble.

All the featured characters have narrating parts, which has pros and cons for me. I liked seeing the differing perspectives and learning how each character got to where they were in life. But I would’ve liked more of a deep-dive into the siblings background, motivations, and emotions.

Jason Bovberg does an excellent job of placing us right there on the streets, where people are visible but ignored, falling through the cracks in their struggle to survive.

*I received a free copy as part of the Partners in Crime book tour.*

[Ryan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Loser Baby starts with an chaotic visceral start that is reminiscent of Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. Bovberg throws the reader directly into the action of a drug-fueled party without any background and hooks the reader with flashes of character insight and trickled-out background which ends up turning the novel into a gritty journey of discovery.

Without spoiling anything, there is a theft, there are a couple people missing, and the reader is trying to piece it all together.

What I found particularly interesting was the book read very much like a noir novel while eschewing a hard boiled detective trope and setting. Instead it carries all the feelings of a noir mystery into a modern culture. There is something to be said for a lonely night outside a fast food burger drive-through instead of a 50s diner.

The book shifts perspectives each chapter. Bouncing between 3-4 principal characters allows us all to experience the same confusion, and it forces us to piece together the clues that the characters do. We become part of the journey. And it is a ride.

Happily recommend the book with four stars. There was a little slowdown in the second fifth of the book which took a star off - but it starts strong and ends satisfyingly. Great modern noir!

[Pat Fayo Reviews · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have not read any books by Jason Bovberg before and to be honest, the cover had nothing to draw me in. Once I read the book and looked at the cover again, I definitely saw it very differently and the girl on the cover stole my heart. This book was a fast paced thriller that started out as a typical set of twins, Jasmine and Jordan, looking for a night of fun. In the beginning of the book, the twins appeared to be very innocent teens who were bored. They were looking for something totally out of the element they normally lived in. But the night quickly became a nightmare for both of them! Trying to escape the reality of life, they went to a party where They knew drug dealing classmates from high school would be at the party. Jasmine and Jordan get separated and this is where things change and take a turn for the worse. Tommy, the drug dealer discovers he has missing “assets” and is out to recover them at any cost. At this point the book gets a more graphic and violence comes in. It has explicit sexual scenes and rape for you to imagine. Could also trigger situations in a reader. The book has a very unexpected ending. I revived an ARC of this book from #partnersincrimevbt all opinions expressed are my own.