WINNER OF THE JOHN CREASEY DEBUT DAGGER AWARDNominated for the Edgar Award for best first novelAn astonishing debut crime thriller about an unforgettable woman who combines the genius and ferocity of Lisbeth Salander with the ruthless ambition of Walter WhiteThe Crenshaw Six are a small but up-and-coming gang in South Central LA who have recently been drawn into an escalating war between rival … escalating war between rival drug cartels. To outsiders, the Crenshaw Six appear to be led by a man named Garcia . . . but what no one has figured out is that the gang’s real leader (and secret weapon) is Garcia’s girlfriend, a brilliant young woman named Lola. Lola has mastered playing the role of submissive girlfriend, and in the man’s world she inhabits she is consistently underestimated. But in truth she is much, much smarter–and in many ways tougher and more ruthless–than any of the men around her, and as the gang is increasingly sucked into a world of high-stakes betrayal and brutal violence, her skills and leadership become their only hope of survival.
Lola marks the debut of a hugely exciting new thriller writer, and of a singular, magnificent character unlike anyone else in fiction.
more
It’s a man’s world .. or at least, that’s what the Mexican drug cartel thinks. That’s how they are easily lead to believe that Garcia is the leader of the gang, the Crenshaw Six. Soon it comes out who the true leader is, and tough decisions need to be made.
This novel was a page turner! I loved the characters and felt very involved in the story. At times I wished for a bit more detail, but at others I was grateful for the lack of detail – because it could have gotten gruesome fast (but it didn’t). I loved reading from Lola’s perspective, and reading the life she made for herself as a girl from the wrong side of the tracks.
I recommend this book to anyone who is interested in reading thrillers about gang members, or seeing life from a different perspective.
Disclaimer: I received this book for free from Blogging for Books in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are my own.
Welcome to the world of Lola Vasquez. Come and meet her mother, Maria, the heroin addict, her screw-up younger brother, Hector, and her crew, the Crenshaw Six. Welcome to South Central Los Angeles, California. Welcome to Hell.
Lola is a minor demon in this particular Inferno. Lashed by the great demons, the Mexican drug cartel, Los Liones, and its unseen rivals, she struggles to remain whole. The Cartel has permitted her crew to sell drugs on six corners that no one else wants. On the side, they make extra cash by robbing other small fish like themselves.
Now the lash comes down from Los Liones: Capture the couriers of a rival syndicate who are about to make a swap; two million in cash for two million in high-grade Afghan heroin. Botch the snatch and Lola’s life is forfeit. As an extra incentive, they promise the execution will be long and filled with pain. It is an unprecedented opportunity.
“Lola” is brilliantly written, but, it is about a life of eye-popping brutality and unflinching evil. Murder is just the tip of the ice pick. The sub-story is a bit softer. Beneath the hell and damnation, Lola cares deeply about the younger brother she cannot control, the daughter and dog she stole, and her crew. In their defense, there is no risk she will not take.
If you have a strong stomach, like original stories about strong women, then “Lola” is one to savor.
Many thanks to Penguin Random House for providing me with an advance galley to review.
Lola is a young woman who has had a tough life. No father to speak of, a strung out mother, a needy brother, and a boyfriend who may not be as loyal as she hopes. Lola is a fighter though. She’s street smart and also a gang leader who flies by under the radar primarily because she is a woman. When Lola’s gang gets caught up in a drug deal gone way wrong, she fears for her life from the cartel. Lola will do what it takes to prove she’s a leader though, even if it costs her her life.
I found this to be an interesting story but I had a difficult time judging the accuracy and reality of the plot because it is so laden with cultural stereotypes and innuendos. I couldn’t connect with the main character because I was often times unable to relate to her thought processes. Lola struggles against affluent whites, particularly men, who her only connection with seems to be when her mother pimped her out to them for drugs. Lola almost seems to be comprised of conflicting personalities. On one hand, she is a nurturer who wants to protect her brother and Lucy, the child of an addict neighbor woman. On the other hand, Lola is a cold-blooded killer. The problem is that Lola justifies killing in her own way. There are clearly rules regarding respect and loyalty and for Lola those laws are unbreakable without severe consequences. This is what made the book interesting to me however. I was never quite certain what Lola’s take on any given situation would be.
With that said, I did find some of the information to be inaccurate/improbable. I don’t want to spoil anything but I thought certain bits would never play out the way they did in real life.
All in all, an interesting read with some flaws.
Lola is described as a thriller but it is not, for me it is a slow fiction read. I kept waiting for something to happen and it didn’t. I admit I sat and read the whole book but it took days as I kept putting it down and then picking it up giving the storyline another chance. The protagonist, Lola is the “boss” of a gang of 6 members who work on their own, no one to answer to while buying and selling drugs using money I am guessing they got when they committed robberies. It is illogical that only the pretend boss has ever gone to prison yet he is afraid of his own shadow while helping run a drug business that skirts around dangerous men. Between the drug addicted Mother and Lola’s childhood memories it was more like a television show counting on stereotypes to make the story exciting. The adding in of the little girl with the drug addict mom who sells her for sex I guess was thrown in so Lola could bond with her. Sorry this book was flat for me and just barely ok.