Thanks to Datura Books for the ARC.

I have read some Kolakowski books before and they're always smart and funny. This sounded like a bit of a shift in direction, and by the description I thought it would veer into similar territory as Jordan Harper's brilliant book Everybody Knows. A hard metric to live up to, as it is one of my faves from recent years.

However, despite some superficial similarities - the LA setting in the world of sketchy Hollywood PR fixers - it is actually a much different beast. Most of the book isn't even set in LA, but slightly north in wine country. Where the Harper book was very much channeling the freneticism of James Ellroy in its prose style, this was more akin to a classic PI novel, where the 'hero' is a reluctant and morally compromised character - not to mention quick with a pointed barb. The tone is closer to Travis McGee - funny, loose, cool.

Like all detective stories, there's a build up of clues and twists, some of which I was half expecting given the nature of the genre. This doesn't really lessen the enjoyment though. The tropes are part of the fun. I did find myself getting lost in the weeds a bit in terms of who did what somewhere in the middle, but again that is always the case with mysteries (at least for me...maybe I'm a silly billy) and it all comes together in a nice symmetrical way by the end.

Definitely recommended for fans of crime fiction and mysteries. Also sounds like the start of a very cool series.