American Heroin: A Novel: 2 (The Lola Vasquez Novels) - Hardcover

"You can't help loving this coldblooded murderer." - KIRKUS REVIEWS

"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." - PUBLISHER'S WEEKLY

"Lola Vasquez is back in a stunning sequel to the author's Edgar-nominated and Debut Dagger-winning Lola (2017), which drew inevitable comparisons to The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. But Lola is in no way derivative. She leaps off the pages as a unique character, fully locked and loaded... Many readers may find themselves developing a definite affection for a woman who is essentially a cold-blooded killer." - BOOKLIST

"A shot in the arm. Melissa Scrivner Love delivers the goods with a pure fix of adrenaline that doesn't subside until the final page. In Lola we have a character who feels all-too rare in contemporary crime fiction--a protagonist who's prepared to fight tooth and nail for everything she holds dear, including her own compassion. American Heroin is addictive. A rip-through-it-in-one-sitting thrill ride that will leave readers hooked."
--Joseph Knox, internationally bestselling author of Sirens and The Smiling Man

"Raw, gritty, and excruciatingly real, Melissa Scrivner Love's American Heroin features one of the most brutal and conflicted anti-heroines in new crime fiction. Lola Vasquez is a ruthless gang leader and a protective mother, funneling heroin to her South Central Los Angeles neighborhood in order to finance a life for her daughter and mother away from the mayhem she herself inflicts. A can't-look-away, just-one-more-page thriller, American Heroin opens a window into a pitiless world where loyalty is rewarded and betrayers pay the price."
--Karen Dionne, internationally bestselling author of The Marsh King's Daughter

"Melissa Scrivner Love's latest has an engine that won't quit and a heroine I couldn't help but love. Damaged, brilliant, loyal to a fault, Lola lives by her own code, straddling a chasm between motherhood and drug queenpin that runs down the center of her own heart. American Heroin is a white-hot bullet of a book that blasts its way under your skin and stays there--do not miss this ride."
--Joshilyn Jackson, New York Times bestselling author of The Almost Sisters

"Melissa Scrivner Love has done the near-impossible: She's made us care deeply about a gang-leading drug dealer, her friends, her enemies, and her world. And done it beautifully. Lola is a marvelous creation; brave but soft, smart but not mistake-proof, unique but completely believable. In short: American Heroin a terrific book."
--S. J. Rozan, bestselling author of Absent Friend

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.