Lola

Starred review from January 2, 2017
At the start of Love’s stunning debut, a messenger from the Los Liones cartel visits the Huntington Park, Calif., home of 26-year-old Lola Vasquez and extends an offer to her boyfriend, Garcia. If Garcia’s gang, the Crenshaw Six, can intercept a drop between one of Los Liones’s former dealers and the man’s new supplier, the gang will get 10% of the loot and control of the dealer’s territory; if they fail, Lola dies. Garcia accepts, but the ambush goes awry, forcing Lola—the Crenshaw Six’s true leader—to emerge from the shadows and fight for her own survival and the safety of those she holds dear. This powerful read is at once an intelligently crafted mystery, a reflection on the cycles of violence and addiction, and a timely mediation on the double standard facing women in authority. Love’s writing is artful and evocative, her story’s sense of place and culture are strong, and, in Lola, Love has created a fully fleshed-out and uniquely compelling antihero who commands fear, respect, and adoration in equal measure. Agent: Eve Attermann, WME.

December 15, 2016
A few edgy weeks in the life of a woman gang leader on the eastern edge of South Central Los Angeles. When we meet Lola, she's hosting a neighborhood barbecue at the house she shares with her boyfriend, Garcia, the kingpin of the gang known as the Crenshaw Six. When a man known as El Coleccionista crashes the party to meet with Garcia privately, Lola is on hand to provide pen, paper, cookies, and coffee. At first she's surprised that the visitor, an emissary from the drug cartel they work for, doesn't send her away when he starts describing the job, which involves interfering in a multimillion-dollar transaction between one of their other distributors and a mysterious rival supplier and finding out the identity of the latter. But then she realizes the truth: "To this man, Lola is not important enough to send away." However, if the gang fails in their mission, it is through Lola the cartel will exact revenge. "We will take her, we will open up her stomach, and we will pull out her guts until she dies." This terrifies Garcia but fills Lola with "ecstasy," for she recognizes the mission as a business opportunity--and she's the last to quake at a little disemboweling. In reality, Garcia is not much more than a house husband--Lola is the coldblooded killer running this show, the one who shot the last leader of the gang (her previous boyfriend) and the one who will cut off her own brother's finger when he is responsible for screwing up their big mission a few chapters later, putting her life on the clock. At first, Lola seems like a glorious invention, the Latina daughter of Lisbeth Salander and Walter White, on a lifelong tear of revenge after being pimped by her mother for drugs and then living with the double invisibility of her gender and her race. But everything in this book tanks not long after the mission does, with mind-numbing repetition taking the place of both character development and suspense and the plot turning silly and slapdash. Despite a striking premise and a strong start, this novel wears thin.

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May 1, 2017

While most people assume that the leader of the Crenshaw Six must be the tattooed, tough-looking Garcia, the South Central gang is actually led by the deceptively attractive but fierce 26-year-old Lola. Raised by an addict mother and left to care for her younger brother, Lola has survived a difficult childhood and come out with plenty of anger and business acumen, particularly pertaining to the underground drug world. Readers will get a glimpse into Lola's gritty world of drug lords, brutal violence, and forced child prostitution, but they'll also see her as a compassionate role model for the young girl she takes under her wing. Teens will eagerly turn pages as Lola masterminds an escape from a botched drug deal. As a television screenwriter, Love knows how to capture the tension of each exchange, but she also manages to work in many issues, including classism, racism, and sexism, which will attract readers of books such as Stieg Larsson's The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. VERDICT With a strong female lead and a straightforward writing style, this title will appeal to fans of crime fiction who are interested in gender and class issues.-Carrie Shaurette, Dwight-Englewood School, Englewood, NJ

Copyright 2017 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

January 1, 2017
When a Mexican cartel offers the Crenshaw Six a shot at moving up Los Angeles' underworld ladder, Lola, the gang's secret leader, can't resist. With Lola's life set as the price for failure, the cartel tasks the gang with intercepting a large-scale deal between a former buyer and his new supplier. When Lola's brother fouls the job, a dirty cop swipes the cartel's cash, and the mysterious new supplier escapes with the drugs. With the clock ticking toward the cartel's retribution, Lola identifies the supplier as suburban dad Eldridge Waterston and crafts a cunning plot to manipulate his connections to the dirty cop and an ambitious ADA. Love fleshes out Lola's character to perfection by painting her as both ruthless criminal strategist and fiercely maternal protector of six-year-old Rosie, whom she has rescued from her abusive heroin-addicted mother. A gritty, fast-paced thriller rife with gangland intrigue layered over a moving story of absolution.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2017, American Library Association.)

October 15, 2016

Longtime TV writer Love launches her fiction career with the portrait of a tough young woman named Lola. Ostensibly the dutiful girlfriend of Garcia, leader of a gang called the Crenshaw Six that's rising fast in South Central Los Angeles, she's actually the knife-sharp, tough-as-bullets brains behind the entire operation. With a 50,000-copy first printing.

Copyright 2016 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Starred review from February 1, 2017

Lola gives the impression of a pretty and submissive girlfriend of Garcia, assumed leader of the "Crenshaw Six" gang. But appearances deceive because she is instead the highly intelligent and powerful influence behind the South Central L.A. gang, which struggles to defend their territory, as bigger, more vicious packs of criminals move in on their turf. Through her maneuvers, clever planning, and ability to respond to violence with equal violence, Lola is about to make a name for herself and the Crenshaw Six. When one of her gang members is kidnapped, Lola plots her most dangerous move yet. Love, a TV screenwriter (Person of Interest) and the daughter of a police officer, presents her well-drawn characters with a fully fleshed-out portrait of the environment they grew up in and what it takes to survive there. VERDICT This adrenaline-charged debut will thrill readers as they discover one of crime fiction's most captivating protagonists yet. Lola's resilience and loyalty will have them wanting to see more of the genre's newest heroine and her creator. [See Prepub Alert, 9/26/16.]--Deb West, Gannon Univ. Lib., Erie, PA

Copyright 2017 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

February 1, 2017

Lola gives the impression of a pretty and submissive girlfriend of Garcia, assumed leader of the "Crenshaw Six" gang. But appearances deceive because she is instead the highly intelligent and powerful influence behind the South Central L.A. gang, which struggles to defend their territory, as bigger, more vicious packs of criminals move in on their turf. Through her maneuvers, clever planning, and ability to respond to violence with equal violence, Lola is about to make a name for herself and the Crenshaw Six. When one of her gang members is kidnapped, Lola plots her most dangerous move yet. Love, a TV screenwriter (Person of Interest) and the daughter of a police officer, presents her well-drawn characters with a fully fleshed-out portrait of the environment they grew up in and what it takes to survive there. VERDICT This adrenaline-charged debut will thrill readers as they discover one of crime fiction's most captivating protagonists yet. Lola's resilience and loyalty will have them wanting to see more of the genre's newest heroine and her creator. [See Prepub Alert, 9/26/16.]--Deb West, Gannon Univ. Lib., Erie, PA

Copyright 2017 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.