A Violent Masterpiece

by Jordan Harper ★★★★☆

Jake Deal is a "nightcrawler", trolling the streets of Los Angeles on a nightly basis, one ear tuned to his police scanner to hopefully catch criminal activity as its happening so that he can live stream it to his audience.

Doug Gibson is a street lawyer, representing those in Los Angeles on the wrong side of a judicial system skewed to favor the white and the rich.

Kara Delgado is a private concierge for a service called Sub Rosa, which caters to the uber wealthy, acquiring everything from drugs to women to experiences for those for whom price is no object.

When the novel opens, there is nothing that should connect the three. They run in vastly different circles, and there would be little reason for their paths to ever cross. However, Los Angeles is being tormented by a modern-day serial killer, colloquially referred to as the "LA Ripper", and a series of unconnected events cause Jake, Doug, and Kara to each begin to piece together bits of information about the Ripper. They individually begin to home in on potential connections between the Ripper's murders, and eventually their research and conclusions start to lead them to each other.

Author Jordan Harper dives deep into the underbelly of Los Angeles, and his novel focuses as much on class and the different set of rules that pertain to the ultra-rich as it does on the underlying mystery surrounding the LA Ripper. Whether it's a judicial system that they can buy their way out of or the dark sub-culture of Los Angeles in which perversions are played out nightly, extreme wealth allows a subset of society to play by a different set of rules. Harper repeatedly emphasizes this, and then demonstrates it in a myriad of ways. "There's just power. Maybe he works for the government, maybe the government works for him, maybe even talking about things like rules and laws doesn't make sense in that world. And every once in a while, one out of a thousand of them actually goes down for their decades of evil..."

It's also one of the more grisly novels that I have read recently. The level of violence, definitely gave me S.A. Cosby vibes, and it even exceeds Cosby's latest King of Ashes when it comes to some of the heinous acts depicted and discussed. As one character puts it, "It's all true and it's all horrible." Interestingly, Cosby is among the first people Harper credits in his acknowledgements. While A Violent Masterpiece falls a bit short of Cosby's high bar (he's among my favorite authors), it's still a well-constructed mystery wrapped with layers of social commentary. Fans of Cosby will likely find themselves enjoying this one.

A few small nits—and, frankly, the level of violence—will keep me from recommending this universally, but it was a high 4-star read that I devoured in a few days (perhaps not my best word choice...iykyk). If you're in the mood for an edgy exploration of the dark side of Los Angeles, this will satisfy; just make sure you read it on an empty stomach.

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Quick Facts

• Title: A Violent Masterpiece

• Author: Jordan Harper

• Publisher: Little, Brown and Company

• Release Date: April 28, 2026

• Format: Ebook

• ISBN-13: 978-0316458603

• Pages: 384