A propulsive and well-plotted novel set in Los Angeles where crime and tension are at an all-time high.
Impassioned. . . . [Cha] dives so deep into her characters because she believes that communicating their nuances across racial lines is essential. . . . A page-turner.
Compelling and risk-taking. . . . That Cha is drawn to contend with voices that don’t strictly represent her cultural heritage, while taking head-on one of the most devastating events in Los Angeles history, is admirable as well as ambitious. Cha is a remarkably generous writer.
Los Angeles Review of Books
It’s an extremely delicate subject matter, and Cha does a masterful job imbuing each character with nuance and care.
A gripping and deftly plotted story of two families, and two communities, set in the aftermath of a police shooting in Los Angeles. Steph Cha’s Your House Will Pay is a sensitive portrait of racial tension, buried memory, and the difficulty of reconciliation.
This L.A. noir mystery ties past and present together without resorting to easy answers.
Steph Cha fearlessly explores the duality of LA’s promise and betrayal, its vision of new beginnings and the brutal divisions that cut between race and class. Cha takes her place as one of the city’s most eloquent storytellers in this soul-searching illumination.
Steph Cha’s Your House Will Pay is extraordinary, a deeply-felt and sharply-observed exploration of the ties the bind, and divide, family, community, and nation. It’s moving, compelling, surprising, funny, explosive, and deeply human—an unforgettable novel.
[Cha] understands the messiness of justice and the complexity of human interaction. . . . One of the pleasures of the book is how deftly Cha renders so many layers of Los Angeles society. . . . All of this is related unsentimentally and is refreshingly depicted.
Gripping, incendiary. . . . An incisive and searing look at race relations, violence, and the intersection of disparate traumas. It’s a riveting, revelatory novel—a must-read.
Steph Cha has taken a dark moment in Los Angeles’s violent history and cracked it wide open, creating a prism of understanding. . . . A touching portrait of two families bound together by a split-second decision that tore a hole through an entire city.
Gripping, thoughtful. . . . May well be [Cha’s] breakout novel.
Booklist (starred review)
[A] gripping thriller set during a racially charged moment in L.A.’s history.”
A marvel. Cha finds new angles on a city that has been the focus of myriad stories and films. Unique and totally gripping.
Taut . . . A dramatic page-turner . . . A deep dive into Los Angeles’ racial underbelly and tensions. It’s a timely book that showcases two cultures and two families forced to confront injustice, enduring anger, and profound loss.
Elegant, suspenseful.”
The New York Times Book Review
A mastery of form, Cha absolutely nails it. . . . It is absolutely brilliant and it keeps the pages turning.”
Intricately structured. . . . A novel rich with incident and social observation.”
A haunting portrait of two lives, and a city, in turmoil, Your House Will Pay is both a crackling page-turner and a deeply felt work of eloquence and devastating insight. Riveting—Steph Cha firmly establishes herself as one of crime fiction’s most exciting voices.
Steph Cha’s Your House Will Pay has got it all. This suspense-filled page-turner about murder, repentance, and forgiveness draws from the fraught history of Los Angeles, where America’s immigrant dream bleeds into America’s racist nightmare. The novel would have been relevant thirty years ago. It will likely be relevant thirty years in the future.
Riveting. . . . Engrossing. . . . Cha unflinchingly delves into the complex emotions that drive families, violence, and the need to survive. Your House Will Pay sets a new high for the talented Cha.
A propulsive, lacerating novel about two families caught in the turmoil of a city and nation in crisis. Fearless, insightful, and alight with a brutal compassion, Your House Will Pay is a devastating exploration of grief, shame, and deeply buried truths.
Focusing on the lives of two Los Angelenos, Cha’s crime novel steps back from her usual superb P.I. books to go deeper, examining the tensions between the Korean-American and African-American communities.
An explosive story of race, identity, and violence.”
A propulsive, well-told, and most important of all, well-researched journey of two families. . . . Cha’s writing is memorable and often poetic.”
Taut . . . A dramatic page-turner . . . A deep dive into Los Angeles’ racial underbelly and tensions. It’s a timely book that showcases two cultures and two families forced to confront injustice, enduring anger, and profound loss.
Impassioned. . . . [Cha] dives so deep into her characters because she believes that communicating their nuances across racial lines is essential. . . . A page-turner.
A propulsive, well-told, and most important of all, well-researched journey of two families. . . . Cha’s writing is memorable and often poetic.”
Intricately structured. . . . A novel rich with incident and social observation.”
This L.A. noir mystery ties past and present together without resorting to easy answers.
Gripping, thoughtful. . . . May well be [Cha’s] breakout novel.”
%COMM_CONTRIB%Booklist (starred review)
Gripping, incendiary. . . . An incisive and searing look at race relations, violence, and the intersection of disparate traumas. It’s a riveting, revelatory novel—a must-read.
This L.A. noir mystery ties past and present together without resorting to easy answers.
A mastery of form, Cha absolutely nails it. . . . It is absolutely brilliant and it keeps the pages turning.”
An explosive story of race, identity, and violence.”
Riveting. . . . Engrossing. . . . Cha unflinchingly delves into the complex emotions that drive families, violence, and the need to survive. Your House Will Pay sets a new high for the talented Cha.
[Cha] understands the messiness of justice and the complexity of human interaction. . . . One of the pleasures of the book is how deftly Cha renders so many layers of Los Angeles society. . . . All of this is related unsentimentally and is refreshingly depicted.
Gripping, thoughtful. . . . May well be [Cha’s] breakout novel.
Booklist (starred review)
Compelling and risk-taking. . . . That Cha is drawn to contend with voices that don’t strictly represent her cultural heritage, while taking head-on one of the most devastating events in Los Angeles history, is admirable as well as ambitious. Cha is a remarkably generous writer.
Los Angeles Review of Books
A marvel. Cha finds new angles on a city that has been the focus of myriad stories and films. Unique and totally gripping.”
Elegant, suspenseful.”
The New York Times Book Review
[A] gripping thriller set during a racially charged moment in L.A.’s history.”
Focusing on the lives of two Los Angelenos, Cha’s crime novel steps back from her usual superb P.I. books to go deeper, examining the tensions between the Korean-American and African-American communities.
Taut . . . A dramatic page-turner . . . A deep dive into Los Angeles’ racial underbelly and tensions. It’s a timely book that showcases two cultures and two families forced to confront injustice, enduring anger, and profound loss.
Impassioned. . . . [Cha] dives so deep into her characters because she believes that communicating their nuances across racial lines is essential. . . . A page-turner.
A propulsive and well-plotted novel set in Los Angeles where crime and tension are at an all-time high.
"Bracing."
It’s an extremely delicate subject matter, and Cha does a masterful job imbuing each character with nuance and care.
A propulsive, well-told, and most important of all, well-researched journey of two families. . . . Cha’s writing is memorable and often poetic.”
05/01/2019
Noted for her well-reviewed "Juniper Songs" mystery series, the noir editor for the Los Angeles Review of Books writes a story for everyone to read. In a Los Angeles ready to boil over after another senseless shooting of an African American teenager, Korean American Grace Park lives quietly with her immigrant parents, while African American Shawn Matthews confronts the reawakened trauma of his sister's 1991 killing. A subsequent tragedy puts the two families on a collision course that sums up racial tension today. With a 75,000-copy first printing.
