‘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 clichés 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