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Everything Happens
Jennifer married Jake in a whirlwind of Las Vegas romance, now exactly one year later she’s driving back to Sin City so she can file for divorce and write her loser husband out of her story for good.
Her loser husband meanwhile is confirming his reputation with a string of bad decisions and mis-steps that ensure his life is sent spiralling wildly out of his control.
Cue car chases, kidnapping, double crossing, triple crossing, death, vengeance plus some massively over-priced wedding dresses and you’ve got the recipe for a hugely entertaining slice of richly cinematic noir that will leave you gasping and begging for more.
Praise for Everything Happens
"Stepping away from her excellent Dead Dog series, this is a fine novel where everything happens at the end." – Eric Idle
"Perry's story is by turns intriguing, exciting and TERRIFYING. Great characters. Ingenious plotting. Maximum joltage. A fascinating look at LA and Las Vegas, which doesn't ignore the dispossessed. Kept me guessing right till the end." – Mark Ramsden, author of The Art of Serial Killing
"Jo Perry has written a killer novella, vivid, dizzying, and scary. Everything Happens is a heart-pounding, rapid pulse trip across the desert landscape, traversing a minefield of human desperation. Perry’s compelling voice, language, imagery weave together the ultimate Vegas nightmare, where hope and redemption are a mirage —until they’re not. The sun sizzles. The dialogue crackles. The darkness creeps. This is a gripping work, a read-in-one-sitting, unputdownable book. Highly and enthusiastically recommend.” – Steven Cooper, author of Valley of Shadows and the rest of the Gus Parker & Alex Mills series.
"Cold hearts and broken hearts intersect a blistering American desert. Classic American noir with a contemporary outlook; Jo Perry is in Jim Thompson territory here, but she makes it all her own and with writing sharp enough to slice bone. I loved EVERYTHING HAPPENS." – Timothy Hallinan, author of the celebrated Simeon Grist, Junior Bender and Poke Rafferty novels.
"I can’t think of a better way to pass an evening than in the company of Jo Perry and the wonderfully dark, deranged and delightful EVERYTHING HAPPENS." – Derek Farrell, author of the celebrated Danny Bird mysteries
"...an unusual journey, and all the more compelling for the way it ends up, the unexpected shift in power and the way [Perry] challenges gender and genre convention in noir. [Perry] leads you down one path, to take a sudden turn in the story, to call it a twist doesn’t for me get to the root of what I think Jo has achieved here. This reads to me like a very deliberate challenge to mainstream crime writing and the expectations of characters within it. [Perry} is playful with typical structures and subtly subverts them to create a compelling tale..." – Matthew Keyes, It's An Indie Bookblog
“Everything happens for a reason and karma is a bitch, except when it's not. A fully fleshed out story with well-rounded characters in a limited number of pages, it never ceases to amaze me how much certain authors can do with few words. Crime and grime in Las Vegas, loved it!” – Kelly Van Damme
Her loser husband meanwhile is confirming his reputation with a string of bad decisions and mis-steps that ensure his life is sent spiralling wildly out of his control.
Cue car chases, kidnapping, double crossing, triple crossing, death, vengeance plus some massively over-priced wedding dresses and you’ve got the recipe for a hugely entertaining slice of richly cinematic noir that will leave you gasping and begging for more.
Praise for Everything Happens
"Stepping away from her excellent Dead Dog series, this is a fine novel where everything happens at the end." – Eric Idle
"Perry's story is by turns intriguing, exciting and TERRIFYING. Great characters. Ingenious plotting. Maximum joltage. A fascinating look at LA and Las Vegas, which doesn't ignore the dispossessed. Kept me guessing right till the end." – Mark Ramsden, author of The Art of Serial Killing
"Jo Perry has written a killer novella, vivid, dizzying, and scary. Everything Happens is a heart-pounding, rapid pulse trip across the desert landscape, traversing a minefield of human desperation. Perry’s compelling voice, language, imagery weave together the ultimate Vegas nightmare, where hope and redemption are a mirage —until they’re not. The sun sizzles. The dialogue crackles. The darkness creeps. This is a gripping work, a read-in-one-sitting, unputdownable book. Highly and enthusiastically recommend.” – Steven Cooper, author of Valley of Shadows and the rest of the Gus Parker & Alex Mills series.
"Cold hearts and broken hearts intersect a blistering American desert. Classic American noir with a contemporary outlook; Jo Perry is in Jim Thompson territory here, but she makes it all her own and with writing sharp enough to slice bone. I loved EVERYTHING HAPPENS." – Timothy Hallinan, author of the celebrated Simeon Grist, Junior Bender and Poke Rafferty novels.
"I can’t think of a better way to pass an evening than in the company of Jo Perry and the wonderfully dark, deranged and delightful EVERYTHING HAPPENS." – Derek Farrell, author of the celebrated Danny Bird mysteries
"...an unusual journey, and all the more compelling for the way it ends up, the unexpected shift in power and the way [Perry] challenges gender and genre convention in noir. [Perry] leads you down one path, to take a sudden turn in the story, to call it a twist doesn’t for me get to the root of what I think Jo has achieved here. This reads to me like a very deliberate challenge to mainstream crime writing and the expectations of characters within it. [Perry} is playful with typical structures and subtly subverts them to create a compelling tale..." – Matthew Keyes, It's An Indie Bookblog
“Everything happens for a reason and karma is a bitch, except when it's not. A fully fleshed out story with well-rounded characters in a limited number of pages, it never ceases to amaze me how much certain authors can do with few words. Crime and grime in Las Vegas, loved it!” – Kelly Van Damme
115 pages, Kindle Edition
Published October 10, 2021
6 people want to read
About the author
Jo Perry
21 books36 followers"...wickedly entertaining, hardboiled supernatural deftness."--Gary Phillips
"Wonderful, original, hilarious and brilliant..."
--Eric Idle
Jo Perry is the author of THE WORLD ENTIRE, PURE (June, 2021) chosen as one of Independent Fiction Alliance's BEST TRULY INDEPENDENT BOOKS OF 2022; EVERYTHING HAPPENS (novella) and DEAD IS BETTER, DEAD IS BEST, DEAD IS GOOD, and DEAD IS BEAUTIFUL, dark comic mysteries published by Fahrenheit Press. Perry's short stories have appeared in Pulp Modern, Retreats from Oblivion, anthologies and Fahrenheit Press's Fahrenzine series. Her short story, "The Kick the Bucket Tour," was a distinguished story in Best Mystery Stories of 2019 (Lethem/Penzler)/
Perry earned a Ph.D. in English, taught college literature and writing, produced and wrote episodic television, and has published articles, book reviews, and poetry.
Perry was the first woman invited to speak at the venerable Men of Mystery event in southern California. Her short story, "The Kick The Bucket Tour," made the 2018 Distinguished Mystery Stories list in Best American Mystery Stories.
She lives in Los Angeles with her husband, novelist Thomas Perry and two rescue dogs.
website: www.authorjoperry.com Twitter: @JoPerryAuthor
Listen to the podcast of Nancie Claire's interview on SPEAKING OF MYSTERIES: http://www.speakingofmysteries.com/po...
"Wonderful, original, hilarious and brilliant..."
--Eric Idle
Jo Perry is the author of THE WORLD ENTIRE, PURE (June, 2021) chosen as one of Independent Fiction Alliance's BEST TRULY INDEPENDENT BOOKS OF 2022; EVERYTHING HAPPENS (novella) and DEAD IS BETTER, DEAD IS BEST, DEAD IS GOOD, and DEAD IS BEAUTIFUL, dark comic mysteries published by Fahrenheit Press. Perry's short stories have appeared in Pulp Modern, Retreats from Oblivion, anthologies and Fahrenheit Press's Fahrenzine series. Her short story, "The Kick the Bucket Tour," was a distinguished story in Best Mystery Stories of 2019 (Lethem/Penzler)/
Perry earned a Ph.D. in English, taught college literature and writing, produced and wrote episodic television, and has published articles, book reviews, and poetry.
Perry was the first woman invited to speak at the venerable Men of Mystery event in southern California. Her short story, "The Kick The Bucket Tour," made the 2018 Distinguished Mystery Stories list in Best American Mystery Stories.
She lives in Los Angeles with her husband, novelist Thomas Perry and two rescue dogs.
website: www.authorjoperry.com Twitter: @JoPerryAuthor
Listen to the podcast of Nancie Claire's interview on SPEAKING OF MYSTERIES: http://www.speakingofmysteries.com/po...
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
December 12, 2019
Everything happens for a reason and karma is a bitch, except when it's not.
A fully fleshed out story with well rounded characters in a limited number of pages, it never ceases to amaze me how much certain authors can do with few words.
Crime and grime in Las Vegas, loved it!
A fully fleshed out story with well rounded characters in a limited number of pages, it never ceases to amaze me how much certain authors can do with few words.
Crime and grime in Las Vegas, loved it!
November 27, 2021
This originally appeared at The Irresponsible Reader as part of a quick takes post, the point of which is to catch up on my "To Write About" stack—emphasizing pithiness, not thoroughness..
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This starts as the story of a nurse trying to get a quickie divorce from a loser and then turns into a story of carjacking, kidnapping, attempted kidnapping, robbery, vengence, betrayal, and car chases.
Basically: just another weekend in Vegas.
I was riveted throughout, but...I couldn't stop asking, "Why?" I'm not sure I saw the point of the whole thing—but you know what? I didn't care, I enjoyed it too much to bother with things like that.
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This starts as the story of a nurse trying to get a quickie divorce from a loser and then turns into a story of carjacking, kidnapping, attempted kidnapping, robbery, vengence, betrayal, and car chases.
Basically: just another weekend in Vegas.
I was riveted throughout, but...I couldn't stop asking, "Why?" I'm not sure I saw the point of the whole thing—but you know what? I didn't care, I enjoyed it too much to bother with things like that.
November 26, 2019
Another stylish two author edition from Fahrenheit Press. Jo Perry's story is by turns intriguing, exciting and TERRIFYING. Great characters. Ingenious plotting. Maximum joltage. A fascinating look at LA and Las Vegas, which doesn't ignore the dispossessed. Kept me guessing right till the end.
Derek Farrell’s Death of a Sinner is just as gripping. A witty, gritty mystery, as always from this author. A series as compulsively readable and perceptive as the work of Simon Brett and Armistead Maupin.
Derek Farrell’s Death of a Sinner is just as gripping. A witty, gritty mystery, as always from this author. A series as compulsively readable and perceptive as the work of Simon Brett and Armistead Maupin.
January 23, 2020
A great story, "Everything Happens" by Jo Perry. Part of a unique Two for flip book by Fahrenheit Press. A novella that races forward, sidetracks into the absurd and funny, and the end, wow, I did not see that coming... When you wonder what kind of person would write such a twisted, dark story, and then you meet Jo at a book signing. Such a wonderful woman, just turn your back on her, (LOL) you just might end up .... out there.
September 11, 2020
EVERYTHING HAPPENS starts with a boom and the chaos doesn't let up in this entertaining novella. Vegas, dirty deeds, carjacking en route to a quickie divorce, and more deluxe gritty noir. At story's poetic end, the actual book can be flipped for another tale, DEATH OF A SINNER by Derek Farrell, which is a funny offbeat whodunit set around a reality show in London. The physical book (fits in a cargo pants pocket) is very easy to hold, which made reading the pair of stories all the more delightful.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews