Everybody Knows by Jordan Harper – Review

Everybody Knows is the brilliant new novel by Jordan Harper. It takes its title from an expression the characters use to discuss Hollywood secrets, up to and including sexual abuse by A-listers: ‘Nobody talks. But everybody whispers’. In Tinseltown, your career, reputation, and chance to pursue a creative life are dependant on protecting the beast – Harper’s name for the studio system and the abusers its shields. Our lead characters are two insiders who know this world intricately. Mae Pruitt is a ‘black bag’ publicist at a crisis PR firm. Some publicists job is to make you look good. Mae’s job is to make sure you don’t look bad. Early in the novel, a heavily-staged Instagram post involving one of Mae’s clients and her lap dog Mochi helps to narrowly avoid a scandal. It’s disturbing and darkly hilarious because its ring true. Mae’s world comes crashing down when her boss is gunned down outside a Beverly Hills Hotel. Suddenly the game has changed, and things can’t just be fixed anymore. Mae starts to investigate with the help of her ex-boyfriend Chris, only to find that both of their lives are in danger as they draw closer to the secrets which might finally slay the beast.

I interviewed Jordan Harper when I was researching Love Me Fierce in Danger: The Life of James Ellroy. Harper is a huge Ellroy fan, to the extent that he even named his dog Ellroy. He scripted a television pilot adaptation of Ellroy’s novel LA Confidential. He sent me a copy and I can attest to it being a brilliant piece of television. Harper had plans to adapt Ellroy’s sprawling novel into a series format, but despite a multi-million dollar budget, high-calibre cast and first-rate production values the TV pilot was never broadcast. Harper was showrunner on the pilot, involved in almost every aspect of the creative process. One can only imagine his disappointment that viewers were never given the opportunity to cast their own judgement on the show. Part of that frustration boils over into Everybody Knows, which is more than just a page-turning noir tale. It is destined to become one of the great Hollywood satires on a par with The Day of the Locust and What Makes Sammy Run?