Viper's Dream

Winner

For fans of Colson Whitehead and Chester Himes, Viper's Dream is a gritty, daring look at the vibrant jazz scene of mid-century Harlem, and one man's dreams of making it big and finding love in a world that wants to keep him down.

1936: Clyde 'The Viper' Morton boards a train from Alabama to Harlem to chase his dreams of being a jazz musician. When his talent fails him, he becomes caught up in the dangerous underbelly of Harlem's drug trade. In this heartbreaking novel, one man must decide what he is willing to give up and what he wants to fight for.

'Viper's Dream is one Long High, sweeping us through Harlem from the 1930s to the 1960s on riffs of melancholy poetry cut through with the hardboiled beats of gangsters and their streets, leaving us hooked on a pure, true Jazz Noir Classic' - David Peace

'Viper's Dream, with its African-American gangster anti-hero, is reminiscent of Ray Celestin's jazz-oriented thrillers and similarly introduces real jazz greats into a fascinating melange' - The Financial Times

'Wonderful writing. From the first lines, you're there. You can almost see sweat flying off the strings of a slapped upright bass. You've been listening to the music, reading the book, for hours now - and it's still full of surprises' - James Sallis



JAKE LAMAR was born in 1961 and grew up in the Bronx, New York. After graduating from Harvard University, he spent six years writing for Time magazine. He has lived in Paris since 1993 and teaches creative writing at one of France's top universities, Sciences Po. He is the author of a memoir, seven novels, numerous essays, reviews and short stories, and a play. His most recent work, Viper's Dream, is both a crime novel and an audio drama, set in the jazz world of Harlem between 1936 and 1961. He is a recipient of the Lyndhurst Prize (for his first book, Bourgeois Blues), a prestigious Centre National du Livre grant (for his novel Posterite), France's Grand Prize for best foreign thriller (for his novel The Last Integrationist), and a Beaumarchais fellowship for his play Brothers in Exile. He is currently working on a memoir about his life in Paris.



'For too long, Jake Lamar, an American expatriate in Paris, has been one of French Crime Fiction's best kept secrets. But now, at last, thanks to No Exit Press, Viper's Dream, widely considered to be Jake Lamar's masterpiece, is published in English and it does not disappoint. Viper's Dream is one Long High, sweeping us through Harlem from the 1930s to the 1960s on riffs of melancholy poetry cut through with the hardboiled beats of gangsters and their streets, leaving us hooked on a pure, true Jazz Noir Classic'



'Prepare yourself for a total immersion into Harlem, from the 1930s to the 1960s, into a universe of music and drug trafficking, of murder and betrayal, interspliced with a most dangerous love story. All the codes of the crime novel come together in a most enjoyable way'



'Today, we dream of vipers. Trust me, you won't be disappointed by this trip. Viper's Dream gets our highest recommendation'



'What a juicy novel. Jake Lamar has written a sweet and melancholy jazz symphony. We're completely involved with his characters. This is everything you could wish for in a novel'



'Jake Lamar keeps the reader guessing until the final pages, when an excellent double twist that we don't see coming at all, reveals a drama worthy of the greatest Greek tragedies'



'Laced with a stiff shot of politics, romance and jazz, Viper's Dream is moody, poetic and immersing'



'A tour-de-force of jazz noir'