`A debut as fast, flexible and poised as a chef's knife. At its best it has the lithe energy of a Lee Child novel, combined with Dennis Lehane's - or to step outside of the genre, Stuart Dybeck's - sense of the exhausting intimacy of poor neighborhoods...an unshakably engrossing read... Love is vibrant and clear-eyed, an exciting new west coast observer.' * New York Times Book Reviews *
'A tough, enterprising and vulnerable heroine, Lola gives the reader an unvarnished insight into ghetto life.' * Sunday Times Crime Club *
'A brilliant debut, a bleak and cynical noir set in the patriarchal gangland world of LA's South Central, with smack-dealer Lola pulling her gang's strings as she does whatever it takes to survive.' * Irish Times *
'A gritty, tightly plotted masterpiece that doubles as a whirlwind tour of some of the many different sections and tribes of L.A.' * Los Angeles Weekly *
'An unbelievably smart mystery.' * Newsweek *
`A fine, brutal debut thriller.' * Mail on Sunday *
'Stunning... This powerful read is at once an intelligently crafted mystery, a reflection on the cycles of violence and addiction, and a timely mediation on the double standard facing women in authority.' * Publishers Weekly starred review *
'Intense, gritty, and breathlessly paced, Lola is a thriller that's been elevated by exquisite writing and deep character development.' * Booklist *
'A glorious invention, the Latina daughter of Lisbeth Salander and Walter White, on a lifelong tear of revenge after being pimped by her mother for drugs and then living with the double invisibility of her gender and her race.' * Kirkus *
'I fell hard for Lola in all her fierce and broken beauty, her reckless and necessary hardness, her bottomless capacity for loyalty. Don't miss this ride.' * Joshilyn Jackson, New York Times bestselling author of The Opposite of Everyone *
'A gritty, fast-paced thriller rife with gangland intrigue layered over a moving story of absolution.' * Booklist *
'One of the best written crime dramas to be published in quite some time.' * Associated Press *
`An absorbing tale that blends compassion and a bracing realpolitik into a fascinating account of one woman's unquenchable will to not only survive but thrive.' * Irish Times *
'Lola is a stunning debut. A taut, tightly written thriller with a truly original and compelling central character.' * Crimesquad *
'A superlative debut by a US author, set in the underbelly of gangland Los Angeles, with all the hallmarks of a future classic... Raw, fast-paced and compelling, a stunning portrait of a woman in charge and deadlier than the male. So much more than a tale of drugs and Cartels and patch wars, Scrivner Love's novel, like last year's award-winning Dodgers by Bill Beverly takes the cliches of crime and turns them them into storytelling gold.' * LoveReading *
'But Scrivner Love does better than Steig Larsson by creating a female character who is not just standing up to males, she's actually reconstructing gender for herself and her community.' * Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel *
'I have never read anything like Lola, magical and microscopic in scope... An unforgettable book about a smart woman, the way her mind works, her heart too. Melissa Scrivner Love is bursting with talent and style.' * Caroline Kepnes, author of You *
`A raw, dark and claustrophobic tale, but also a powerful and moving one. The prose is superb, the storytelling deft and the pace left me feeling a little feverish.' * Gilly Macmillan, author of What She Knew *
'With prose that's just a joy to read and a protagonist I'd welcome in my corner any time, Lola is a terrific first novel, one of the best I've come across in years.' * SJ Rozan, Edgar-winning author of Ghost Hero *
'The plot too, encompassing as it does this plucky little gang and its leader trying to outwit a Mexican drug cartel and various double crosses, is engaging and page-turning. All in all, this is a great read.' * Crimenovelreader *