When a screenwriter inherits a screenplay that may hold the key to both a sensational Hollywood murder and to his own sister's death, he is drawn into the dangerous twilight world that lurks at the edge of the movie business. Aided by a disgraced former journalist and a maverick female filmmaker bent on destroying the traditional Hollywood hierarchy, he begins a journey of revenge and personal salvation that will pit him against the owners of one of the most powerful and corrupt film companies in Los Angeles.

Colony of Whores

Mystery, Thriller & Suspense

Stokoe, Matthew

Thrillers & Suspense

Matthew Stokoe

High Life

Review\n"High Life shows an author of awesome ability .. . one of the best [books] to come out in 2002." --Barcelona Review\n"[Stokoe's] style is so fluidly readable that it's difficult to put thebook down." --Splendid Magazine\n"Stokoe proves himself a worthy heir to the great tradition of California noir. Brutaland unflinching in its depiction of violence and sex, his book is like anunholy hybrid of Raymond Chandler's best work and Bret Easton Ellis's AmericanPsycho." 
--Henry Flesh, Lambda Literary Award-winning author of Massage\n"An elaborately drawn, surgically accurate Hollywood dystopia . . ."--Ellen Miller, author of the international bestseller Like Being Killed\n"All of the classic ingredients of Californian noir are here, but Stokoetakes things further than most . . . The plot is skilfully worked, the elementsof crime writing are not jettisoned in the mounting horrors that he describes.There's also a certain grim humour on display, at times it is impossible not tolaugh, even when Stokoe is making us wallow in filth. One can't help but feelthat he's enjoying himself immensely . . . This is a compelling and grippingnovel." --Black Star Reviews (UK)\n"If you've got a stomach for a bit of the old ultra-violence, and allmanner of unnatural sexual custom, you will be as fascinated by High Life'sdepiction of Angeleno lowlife and highlife as I was." --ink19\n"Matthew Stokoe's brutal novel High Life explores the lengths oneman will go to for a shot at stardom, and to say those lengths are extremewould be an understatement. From Raymond Chandler to Nathanael West to JamesEllroy, the "dark underbelly of L.A."novel has always been an exercise in one-upmanship, to see who can create thestarkest contrast between the surface of Hollywoodglitz and the sheer depravity that lies beneath it. Stokoe's protagonist isJack, a fully confirmed acolyte of the Hollywood Dream whose holy writ are theprint and video tabloids . . . [T]he novel never strays far from its centralpurpose, to force the reader to consider the price he or she might pay for theultimate prize. As we watch the various threads of Jack's life come together ina truly devastating series of events that raise the stakes ever higher, thequestion of how much hell any of us would endure for the promise of heaven isas poignant here as it is in anything by Dante." --PopMatters\nHollywood. The City of Dreams at the end of the nineties. Jack has one ambition – to get famous. He doesn’t care how. He just wants to be like the people he sees in tabloid magazines and on TV: Brad Pitt, Johnny Depp, Tom and Nicole, Arnie, Bruce, Sly.... But the desire for fame has a dark side and he finds himself in a world of drugs and crime, whores, snuff shows, incest, deceit and despair. When his wife is found dead – murdered and disemboweled – and the search for her killer leads him to the femme fatale of all femmes fatales, he sees a chance to make his dreams of money and fame come true. But the City of Dreams can also be the City of Nightmares and it’s going to be a long, dark ride before Jack wakes up.\nFrom the Back Cover\n"Stokoe'sin-your-face prose and raw, unnerving scenes give way to a skillfully plottedtale that will keep readers glued to the page..." 
Publisher's Weekly\n"One of the mostunstinting, imaginative, brutal, and original contemporary novels ever writtenabout the punishments that come with the prioritization of fame..." 
Dennis Cooper\n"High Life isperhaps the greatest neglected masterpiece of true noir. I've never readanything like it before or since." "Chandler on heroin, Hammet on crack, JamesM. Cain with a blowtorch..." 
Ken Bruen\n"Stokoeproves himself a worthy heir to the great tradition of California noir. Brutaland unflinching in its depiction of violence and sex, his book is like anunholy hybrid of Raymond Chandler's best work and Bret Easton Ellis's American Psycho." 
Henry Flesh\nHollywood. The City of Dreams at the end of the nineties.Jack has one ambiti

Literature & Fiction

Genre Fiction

Cows

The most extreme cult novel of the decade - finally in paperback!

Contemporary

The Tears Corporation/Creation

The most extreme cult novel of the decade - finally in paperback!

Fiction. Jack had gone to Hollywood with one ambition: to become famous, a star, exactly how he didn't care. He just wanted to be like the people whose lives he followed in gossip magazines...Instead he found a world more seedy than anything he could have imagined, a world of whores and deceit, snuff shows, incest, drugs-and despair. After his wife, Karen, a hooker, is murdered and disemboweled, he meets Bella, a beautiful woman of immense wealth. In her he sees a change to make his dreams come true. As it turn out, though, his nightmare is only beginning. "...An elaborately drawn, surgically accurate Hollywood dystopia..."-Ellen Miller. "Stokoe proves himself a worthy heir to the great tradition of California noir"-Henry Flesh.

High Life (Little House on the Bowery)

Akashic Books

Fiction. Stokoe's novel takes place in Hollywood, the City of Dreams. Jack had come here with one ambition: to become a star, by any means. He wanted to be like the people in the tabloids: Brad Pitt, Ben Affleck, Tom and Nicole. Instead, he entered a world seedier than anything he could have imagined, full of drugs and crime, whores, snuff shows, incest, deceit, and despair. With a new introduction by Dennis Cooper, HIGH LIFE shows Matthew Stokoe to be a worthy heir to the great tradition of California noir. HIGH LIFE is an unholy hybrid of Raymond Chandler's best work and Bret Easton Ellis' American Psycho.

Mystery

Little House on the Bowery

When Johnny Richardson returns to Oakridge he has one thing on his mind--correcting a terrible mistake that caused him to flee his hometown eight years ago. Revisiting the past, though, is a dark and dangerous game in small-town America. When a careless sexual episode leads to the suicide of the town€™s first lady, Johnny finds himself the target of a revenge campaign that threatens to tear apart the fragile world he€™s built among the gold-bearing mountains of Northern California.Left an unexplained piece of land when his father mysteriously disappears, Johnny must unravel its secrets in a desperate bid to protect those he loves. But his efforts to do this have deadly consequences and will ultimately force him to confront not only his own failings, but the very nature of guilt.A searing meditation on the futility of trying to right the wrongs of the past, Empty Mile blends elements of thrilling urban noir with the wide-open spaces of outdoor advent

Empty Mile: A Novel

United States

Cows (Little House on the Bowery)

Literary

Deutscher Taschenbuch-Verlag

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Stokoe, Matthew. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Stokoe, Matthew

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Stokoe, Matthew. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Colony of Whores

High Life

Cows

Cows

High Life (Little House on the Bowery)

High Life (Little House on the Bowery)

Empty Mile: A Novel

Cows (Little House on the Bowery)

High Life