Welcome to Mae Pruett’s Los Angeles, where “Nobody talks. But everybody whispers.” As a “black-bag” publicist tasked not with letting the good news out but keeping the bad news in, Mae works for one of LA’s most powerful and sought-after crisis PR firms, at the center of a sprawling web of lawyers, PR flaks, and private security firms she calls “The Beast.” They protect the rich and powerful and depraved by any means necessary.
After her boss is gunned down in front of the Beverly Hills Hotel in a random attack, Mae takes it upon herself to investigate and runs headfirst into The Beast’s lawless machinations and the twisted systems it exists to perpetuate. It takes her on a roving neon joyride through a Los Angeles full of influencers pumped full of pills and fillers; sprawling mansions footsteps away from sprawling homeless encampments; crooked cops and mysterious wrecking crews in the middle of the night.
Edgar Award-winner Jordan Harper’s EVERYBODY KNOWS is addicting and alarming, a “juggernaut of a novel” and “an absolute tour de force.” It is what the crime novel can achieve in the modern age: portray the human lives at the center of vast American landscapes, and make us thrill at their attempts to face impossible odds.
Book Info: 353 pages. Publisher: Faber & Faber. Publication date: 28 July 2023
My Thoughts:
Having seen so many reviews and recommendations on social media for Everybody Knows and as James Patterson thought it was “Terrifying and Exhilarating” then that was good enough for me!
As I was a big fan of Flack starring Anna Paquin when it was on TV years ago the subject matter and main character Mae Pruett was right up my street. She works in Hollywood for a crisis PR firm and her only job is to stop the scandals before the press gets hold of them, protect the A-list celebrities with her “fixer” skills and keep her boss happy.
This story is all about the Hollywood glitz and glamour and the very, very dark side of fame. It’s addictive, fascinating and shocking especially when so many of the themes in this story are so very close to current news events and ongoing court cases.
There are too many themes to mention without spoiling the book for you, but I will say there are some really uncomfortable and distressing scenarios throughout. However, this book kept me captivated and shocked from the opening page to the very end.
Overall, a tough crime novel with unlikeable and shady characters, moral dilemmas, violence and brutality. 4.5 stars from me.
