Kill Dick - by Luke Goebel (Hardcover)

About the Book

"At nineteen, Susie Vogelman should be coasting: she's an NYU dropout with no responsibilities, endless prescription pills, and a Brentwood estate to waste away in. But Los Angeles has other plans. A string of brutal murders targeting addicts spreads through the city, and Susie's ivory tower begins to crumble. The headlines point too close to home: her father's ties to an opioid empire, a sinister secret society, and her own complicity in the systems holding it all together. Then there's Peter Holiday, a disgraced professor running a rehab scam so audacious it's almost admirable. When their lives collide, Susie and Peter are dragged into a web of privilege, corruption, and violence, where every escape leads deeper into the rot. Dark, satirical, and razor-sharp, Kill Dick is a modern literary thriller that unflinchingly dissects wealth, exploitation, and the perilous line between survival and self-destruction"-- Provided by publisher.

Book Synopsis

ACCLAIMED AUTHOR OF FOURTEEN STORIES, NONE OF THEM ARE YOURS, CO-WRITER OF EILEEN

RECIPIENT OF PRESTIGIOUS RONALD SUKENICK INNOVATIVE FICTION PRIZE AND JOAN SCOTT MEMORIAL FICTION AWARD

"If this book were any better I'd cut my own head off."--Ottessa Moshfegh

"Kill Dick is a fever dream."--Harriet Armstrong, author of To Rest Our Minds and Bodies

A fever dream, Kill Dick is a literary thriller that plunges into the chaos of Los Angeles where addiction, privilege, and corruption combust.

At nineteen, Susie Vogelman should be coasting: she's an NYU dropout with no responsibilities, endless prescription pills, and a Brentwood estate to waste away in. But Los Angeles has other plans. A string of brutal murders targeting addicts spreads through the city, and Susie's ivory tower begins to crumble. The headlines point too close to home: her father's ties to an opioid empire, a sinister secret society, and her own complicity in the systems holding it all together.

Then there's Peter Holiday, a disgraced professor running a rehab scam so audacious it's almost admirable. When their lives collide, Susie and Peter are dragged into a web of privilege, corruption, and violence, where every escape leads deeper into the rot.

Dark, satirical, and razor-sharp, Kill Dick is a modern literary thriller that unflinchingly dissects wealth, exploitation, and the perilous line between survival and self-destruction.

Review Quotes

"Luke Goebel's Kill Dick is a hypnotic descent into wealth, chaos, and the deranged art of self-destruction. It's like if Joan Didion and Hunter S. Thompson had a love child raised on Oxy and existential dread--impossible to look away from. The prose moves like stolen cash, the world is decadent and rotting at the edges. Honestly, if you're not reading this book, what are you doing? Probably something dull and unpaid. Consider this your invitation to the party--just don't expect to leave unscathed."
--Anna Delvey

"Luke Goebel's delirious debut novel festers in the sun-sick, dissociative Southern California of Joan Didion and Bret Easton Ellis. In Kill Dick, Los Angeles is hell, and Susie Vogelman is its most reluctant angel: vacant, brilliant, heartbreaking."
--Anna Dorn, author of The Really Dead Wives of New Jersey

"Kill Dick is a fever dream. Luke Goebel perfectly captures the consciousness of a certain kind of woman--raw, lonely, desperate, and cinematic. Full of grief and longing, it's got some of the most unforgettable sentences I've ever read. This book makes me want to write a crime novel, move to LA, or maybe just become a killer. Goebel is something else.
--Harriet Armstrong, author of To Rest Our Minds and Bodies (UK author under 25)

"Stunning . . . Part noir thriller, part searing social commentary, Kill Dick follows a young artist-turned-addict through the dark, unforgiving, and stratified streets of Los Angeles, as she confronts her father's complicity in the opioid epidemic. In bleak, beautiful prose, Luke Goebel weaves together a narrative that exposes the savage heart of privilege and power, raising questions about truth, memory, and the nature of storytelling itself. With haunting descriptions of a city literally and metaphorically aflame, Kill Dick captures the burning zeitgeist of our time."
--Kimberly King Parsons

For lovers of Bret Easton Ellis, Luke Goebel's KILL DICK renders a pop-infused and murderous portrait of an iconic Los Angeles on fire complete with pools, pills, ennui, murders, and a cacophony of brands. But this novel has a timely pulse, and Goebel--with his gorgeous sentences and imagistic prowess--pulls off one of the hardest tricks of all: making morality fun.
--Melissa Broder, author of Death Valley

"If this book were any better I'd cut my own head off."
--Ottessa Moshfegh

About the Author

Luke Goebel is an acclaimed author and screenwriter celebrated for his unflinching honesty and innovative storytelling. A recipient of the prestigious Ronald Sukenick Innovative Fiction Prize and the Joan Scott Memorial Fiction Award, his debut novel, Fourteen Stories, None of Them Are Yours, garnered critical acclaim for its innovative and precisely lyrical, profoundly resonant exploration of love, grief, and the restless search for identity. Goebel also co-wrote Eileen, starring Anne Hathaway and McKenzie Thompson, and Causeway, starring Jennifer Lawrence and Brian Tyree Henry (who received an Oscar nomination for his performance). He is known as well as his role as co-editor at The New York Tyrant and work with Tyrant Books. He lives in Pasadena, CA with his wife, fellow author Ottessa Moshfegh.