Praise for Violent Spring

A Parade Best Mystery Book of 2024

“In the tradition of Dashiell Hammett’s Continental Op, Ivan Monk takes on a corrupt world . . . He makes us feel that the war he’s waging is for our own salvation.”
—Walter Mosley, creator of the Easy Rawlins series
 
“A landmark novel set during and after the 1992 L.A. riots.”
—The New York Times Book Review
 
“A crime classic.”
—The Washington Post

“Plenty has changed in the past 30 years, but Violent Spring still rings true, and this noir vision still holds sway.”
—Steph Cha

“Riveting . . . While the page-turner sharply critiques race relations, politics, and wealth in L.A. and the plot is suspenseful, Gary Phillips has also written something meaningful, just shy of a love note, about the city as it was and is experienced by its people."
—Alta

“One of the high points of the year for mystery fans.”
—Parade

“A landmark hard-boiled.”
—Colette Bancroft

“Violent Spring peels away the studded rind of the golden orange, exposing its bête noir core.”
—Mike Davis, author of City of Quartz: Excavating the Future in Los Angeles
 
“Tough, smart, and unabashedly political. Monk is (to paraphrase basketball star Charles Barkley) a P.I. for the ’90s, and Violent Spring is Phillips’s perfect intro to him.”
—Gar Anthony Haywood, author of the Aaron Gunner mysteries
 
“A welcome read . . . [with] intelligence, political sensibilities, and street smarts. Straight-to-the-point narrative.”
—Quarterly Black Review of Books

“Monk’s sense of absurdity and his perfectly emulsified blend of toughness and tenderness make him one of crime fiction’s most appealing heroes.”
—Booklist

“Wild, freewheeling L.A. noir.” 
—CrimeReads

“Gary Phillips knows Los Angeles and gives readers a realistic, gritty portrait of this city in turmoil through the eyes of his African American P.I.”
–The Armchair Detective

“An interesting who-done-it.”
—African American Literature Review

“A titillating murder mystery. Phillips keeps you riveted on each page . . . He takes you down the front streets and in the back doors of our Los Angeles.”
—Turning Point Magazine