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Lola on Fire

A Novel

Audiobook
1 of 1 copy available
1 of 1 copy available

Arthur Ellis Award finalist Rio Youers combines vengeance and deceit, love and bullets, secrets, and twists in this high-octane action thriller with a vibrant emotional core.
Brody Ellis is short on luck and even shorter on cash to buy the medication his sister Molly needs.

Desperate, he robs a convenience store, but on the way out, he bumps into a young woman and loses his wallet. Just when he expects the cops to arrive, the phone rings. It's Blair Mayo—the woman he bumped into—and she's got the missing billfold.

Brody will get it back, but only if he does her a favor: steal her late mother's diamonds from her wicked stepmom. But when he gets to the house, he finds a gruesome crime scene—and a security camera. Brody knows he's been framed.

Back home, the terrified young man gets another call. The police won't get the incriminating video footage, Blair says. Instead, her daddy, the notorious mobster Jimmy Latzo, will exact his own kind of revenge.

Brody and Molly realize that they've become pawns in a mysterious game—one that involves a notorious enforcer named Lola Bear who brutally crossed paths with Jimmy Latzo twenty-six years before. . . a ghost from the past who is intimately connected to their lives.

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    • Publisher's Weekly

      November 30, 2020
      Brody Ellis, the hero of this rocket-fueled crime thriller from Youers (Halcyon), resorts to robbing a convenience store to settle debts and buy medication for his sister, Molly. As Brody flees with the money, he bumps into a young woman, and only later realizes he’s lost his wallet. He soon receives a call from Blair Mayo, the woman he ran into; to get his wallet back and keep her from going to the police, Brody will have to steal her late mother’s diamonds from her stepmother. Brody agrees, and once inside the stepmother’s house, he stumbles across a murder scene designed to implicate him. In an attempt to stay ahead of trouble, Brody and Molly hit the road, where they slowly realize they’re part of a revenge plan orchestrated by mob boss Jimmy Latzo to flush out their long-estranged mother, Lola, a onetime Latzo associate. Youers balances frenetic action with heartfelt character interactions. Fans of full-throttled cinematic action-fests of the Long Kiss Goodnight variety are in for a treat. Agent: Howard Morhaim, Howard Morhaim Literary.

    • AudioFile Magazine
      As the sole narrator of this audiobook, Jim Meskimen's range dazzles, and his attention to detail makes this action-packed story full of twists heartfelt and memorable. To pay for his sister Molly's medication, Brody robs a store, and unbeknownst to him, he's been observed. The theft puts him in an impossible situation with the Mafia, prompting him and Molly to run. The siblings begin a perilous journey on their own but find help in the unlikeliest of places. Molly's slower, intentional speech contrasts with shouted expletives during fast-paced fights. The small and detached voice of a neglected child highlights a series of cataclysmic events, and a voice that cracks with fear emphasizes the ever-present danger. Meskimen transitions between ages, accents, and emotions seamlessly. A.L.C. © AudioFile 2021, Portland, Maine
    • Library Journal

      September 1, 2020

      British Fantasy nominee Youers goes hard-edged with the story of hapless Brody Ellis, who robs a convenience store so he can buy his sister's medications. But then he loses his wallet, which its finder will return only if he retrieves her late mother's diamonds from her mean stepmother. The bloodbath he finds at the stepmother's house bespeaks setup. With a 100,000-copy first printing.

      Copyright 2020 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

    • Booklist

      November 1, 2020
      Mobster Jimmy Latzo is nursing a decades-long grudge against Lola Bear, the woman who nearly killed him. Now, after trying to beat Lola's whereabouts out of anyone who might know her, and failing miserably, Jimmy has a new plan. Or, rather, his daughter, Blair Mayo (who isn't really his daughter), has the plan: track down Lola's kids and make them lead Jimmy to Lola. The plan involves a certain amount of seduction, deceit, and murder, and it doesn't go exactly the way Blair envisioned it. The latest novel by the author of Halcyon (2018), The Forgotten Girl (2017), and Westlake Soul (2012) has a deliciously convoluted plot and a cast of splendidly corrupt characters. Lola herself is a (literally) kick-ass woman, a brilliant mixture of primal violence and keen intellect. Youers has always had a gift for character design, but here he's bumped it up a notch. And the story? A delight. If Jim Thompson and David Goodis were still alive and writing, they'd be looking over their shoulders.

      COPYRIGHT(2020) Booklist, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

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  • English

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