American Heroin
A Novel
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4.3 • 8 Ratings
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- $13.99
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- $13.99
Publisher Description
The unforgettable protagonist of Lola returns in a gritty, high-octane thriller about a brilliant woman who will stop at nothing to protect her growing drug empire, even if she has to go to war with a rival cartel...or her own family
It took sacrifice, pain, and more than a few dead bodies, but Lola has clawed her way to the top of her South Central Los Angeles neighborhood. Her gang has grown beyond a few trusted soldiers into a full-fledged empire, and the influx of cash has opened up a world that she has never known--one where her daughter can attend a good school, where her mother can live in safety, and where Lola can finally dream of a better life. But with great opportunity comes great risk, and as Lola ascends the hierarchy of the city's underworld she attracts the attention of a dangerous new cartel who sees her as their greatest obstacle to dominance. Soon Lola finds herself sucked into a deadly all-out drug war that threatens to destroy everything she's built.
But even as Lola readies to go to war, she learns that the greatest threat may not be a rival drug lord but a danger far closer to home: her own brother.
Edgy, complex, and breathtakingly propulsive, Melissa Scrivner Love has crafted a novel sure to please not only those who loved her first book but everyone who enjoys a gripping thriller.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Edgar finalist Love's outstanding sequel to 2017's Lola delves deeper into the complicated persona of Lola Vasquez, who's a loving mother to her adopted eight-year-old daughter, Lucy, and godmother to her community, often paying for groceries or the rent for neighbors in her apartment complex in Huntington Park, a "South Central adjacent suburb of L.A." On the other hand, she's also a ruthless drug lord. Lola easily reconciles her two sides. She lives modestly and punishes anyone abusing women and children, but her criminal tendencies overshadow her good deeds and affect those close to her, including her brother, Hector, who's in prison because she framed him for murder, and her secret business partner, Andrea Dennison Whitely, who's an L.A. prosecutor. When a pregnant woman begs her to keep her abusive husband in prison, Lola inadvertently starts a drug war with a rival gang. Love crafts a first-rate plot, but this crime thriller's real strength is the character study of Lola, who eschews preconceived notions of what a drug lord should be.
