Revoltingly realistic and excruciatingly exciting , Everybody Knows is a masterclass of a LA-noir story that should be given instant classic status. Jordan Harper manages to craft scenes that almost seem tangible while forcing our psyches to battle through the gray morass that is the moral code in the world of “black-bag” fixers.
Mae Pruett, publicist by trade and keeper of secrets by necessity, is a woman who seeks to hold back the dark, rather than radiate the light. The high profile PR firm she works for doesn’t so much as promote the good stories in their clients lives, rather they focus on killing bad ones in the cradle. Mae has no qualms about working for “The Beast”, a loose conglomerate of LA’s rich, powerful, and well connected, and is compensated accordingly for her ability to compartmentalize the horrors she bears witness to.
When her boss and mentor is gunned down outside a renowned and reviled Beverly Hills Hotel, everything changes. Mae throws herself into the investigation, hell bent on determining who is responsible and bringing the whole thing crashing down on their heads, no matter the costs.
Everybody Knows is an intimate look at the modern concept of right and wrong, good and evil, just and inhumane. There is no shining night here. No pure hero of impeccable standing. There are only people, wonderfully created with layer upon layer that seem to blur the lines like the smog that hangs over the City of Angels obscures the setting sun. The crime narrative in this book is enthralling all on its own, but it’s the questions Harpers forces the reader to grapple with that really set this book apart for me.
At the end of the calendar year I often find myself thinking back to the earliest books in the year trying to remember how I really felt about them. I won’t have that issue with Everybody Knows. This book is going to stick with me. Harper will certainly be on my (and many others) best of 2023 lists.
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