That is economy of language used to cram a fight into a short paragraph without skipping details or leaving out any of the brutality. That is noir poetry in all its deadly glory.

He pressed the shank point at the hollow of Chuck’s throat. Chuck’s skull thocked against the concrete. His other hand grabbed Chuck’s billy-goat beard. In the case of Jordan Harper’s She Rides Shotgun, I’ll skip the introduction and allow the writing to do the talking: With shades of Mattie Ross but an intelligence and fervor all her own, she is unforgettable.In some cases, the ability to break away from the standard review becomes crucial in order to effectively convey how outstanding a work of fiction is. “In Polly McClusky, the eleven-year-old girl at the heart of his darkly irresistible debut novel She Rides Shotgun, Jordan Harper gives us a hero for our times. Nate takes Polly to save her life, but in the end it may very well be Polly who saves him. She Rides Shotgun is a gripping and emotionally wrenching novel that upends even our most long-held expectations about heroes, villains, and victims. But can their powerful bond transcend the dangerous existence he’s carved out for them? Will they ever be able to live an honest life, free of fear? Nate, in turn, learns what it’s like to love fiercely and unconditionally-a love he’s never quite felt before. She finds herself transforming from a shy little girl into a true fighter. Out on the lam, Polly is forced to grow up early: with barely any time to mourn her mother, she must learn how to take a punch and pull off a drug-house heist. Nate and Polly’s lives soon become a series of narrow misses, of evading the bad guys and the police, of sleepless nights in motels. They’ve already murdered his ex-wife, Polly’s mother.

Nate made dangerous enemies in prison-a gang called Aryan Steel has put out a bounty on his head, counting on its members on the outside to finish him off.

He takes her from the front of her school into a world of robbery, violence, and the constant threat of death. A propulsive, gritty novel about a girl marked for death who must fight and steal to stay alive, learning from the most frightening man she knows-her fatherĮleven-year-old Polly McClusky is shy, too old for the teddy bear she carries with her everywhere, when she is unexpectedly reunited with her father, Nate, fresh out of jail and driving a stolen car.

She rode shotgun