Review: A Lesson in Violence

A Lesson in Violence by Jordan Harper
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

An astounding, visceral, violent novel populated by "..women dumb and vicious, ... men with cruel eyes and meth stains on their hearts", A Lesson in Violence (She Rides Shotgun) is the story of a father and daughter, on the run from a death warrant. Nate McCluskey is a small-time criminal who has run foul of a supremacist gang who won't rest until he and his family are dead, but really this is the story of his daughter, eleven year-old Polly and how she comes to cope with, and thrive in, the tough underworld into which she is thrust.

Jordan Harper writes taut, brutal, poetic prose, the sort of prose that hits the reader in the gut. The plot is gripping. The characters are real - Nate McCluskey is not a hero but he is driven by his love for his daughter. Polly, initially scared, comes to terms with, possibly relish, the harsh life she shares with her father; because she loves him. And then there's the bear...

"The bear put a friendly paw up to the cage. The rooster pecked it. It said fuck you in chicken."

It is hard to believe this is Jordan Harper's debut. A Lesson in Violence is an accomplished novel, one of the best this year.


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