Top Rankin'

“Howard Paar has single handedly created the punk LA crime novel and crammed it with vérité scenes at 1980s clubs, Hollywood backstreets, and real characters with nods to The Specials,The Clash, The Psychedelic Furs, Iggy Pop, The Canterbury, The Nickodell, The Zero Zero Club, Darby Crash, and dozens of others. As founder of America’s first ska venue The ON Klub in Los Angeles’s Silverlake neighborhood, Paar has the musical and literary chops and personal experience to bring this world alive in this pacey joyous thriller.”—Denise Hamilton, Edgar finalist, former Los Angeles Times reporter, author of seven crime novels set in her hometown, editor of Los Angeles Noir, Los Angeles Noir 2: The Classics, and Speculative Los Angeles“A must-read for anyone who wants to learn more about the early punk/ska scene in Los Angeles, all viewed through a noir lens.”—Francesca Lia Block, award-winning author of Dangerous Angels: The Weetzie Bat books“Not many novels are able to capture the knocked-out essence of the music scene in Los Angeles forty years ago, but Howard Paar’s searing second book does all that and so much more. Set as the ’80s are just getting started, the switchblade setting of a new nightclub, dedicated to ska no less, in the slightly-seedy environs of Silverlake then is enough to make the reader lock their doors and windows.“—Bill Bentley, American Highways“Deeply informed, deeply felt, it’s the story of a time and place. Top Rankin’ is hands and shoulders and head and feet above the pack because Paar writes like a slumming angel.“—Howard A. Rodman, author of The Great Eastern “It’s great fun, with an irresistible moment in L.A. captured by someone who lived it.“—Steve Erickson

Howard Paar, a London native who relocated to LA in the late ‘70s, initially created the On Klub, the first ska club in the US, and subsequently worked as a long time record label executive. Along the way he has worked with a wide array of iconic artists including The Clash, The Specials, The Psychedelic Furs, The Cure, Bunny Wailer, Jimmy Cliff , NWA, The Go Gos, Def Leppard, INXS, Moby, and Lana Del Ray.

Today he is a multiple award winning music supervisor and Academy member who has worked on over 100 films & TV series including A Beautiful Day In The Neighborhood, Scary Stories To Tell In The Dark, Can You Ever Forgive Me, Twentieth Century Women, Diary Of A Teenage Girl, and Monster.

Top Rankin’ is his second novel following 2015’s Once Upon A Time In LA.

This item is eligible for free returns within 30 days of delivery. See our returns policy for further details.