Rating: 
Summary: Ridley's best
Review: I've read and enjoyed both of Ridley's previous novels and I have to say he keeps getting better and better. He's done it again with "Everybody Smokes In Hell." With a cast of crazy misfits (none who you'd want to know, but will love reading about), an entertaining story, and lots of laughs thrown in, you'll get hooked and stay hooked until the unpredictable ending. This one's a must read!
Rating:
Summary: SHARP AS A KNIFE
Review: If there's one thing missing from most writers these days, it's style. Ridley's got style to spare. Great plotting, great dialouge that's fresh and funny, and doesn't sound like a thousand other monkeys at a typewriter. You don't have to love hard-boiled fiction to love this book, just great writing.
Rating: 
Summary: Pure pulp fiction
Review: If you are a fan of the cuss word,ultraviolence,self consciously hip slang and good ole pulp,then here's the book for you.Meet Paris Scott,big time dreamer,small time loser.When he gets his hands on the tape of a rock star(Ridley obviously used Kurt Cobain as his strung out,pompous rock star ideal)he commences to try and sell the last recording,but Paris' roommate,having stolen a cache of drugs from a drug kingpin makes mr. big believe Paris is in on the hijacking and so wants him dead.Most of the novel consists of Paris trying to sell the dead rock star's tape and dodging the kingpins goons.The story is no where near as interesting as Ridley's commentary on the pus running sore that is Los Angeles and its inhabitants whom Ridley views as little more than the epitome of the pathetic,delusional and desperate who try to hide the vapidness and sordidness of their lives behind shiny facades and opulence,but all their efforts cannot hide the nauseating stench of what their lives really are.The book contains the usual cast of motley characters one associates with such a book:the ex girlfriend,a sleazy,coked up Hollywood agent,and the femme fatale,in this case more of a cartoon version that delights in torturing her hapless victims with lit cigarettes!And one of the most hilarious moments you'll ever come across in literature has to be when the burnt out rock star decides to commit suicide but has the most hellacious misadventure in trying to get the deed done,but his demise is most appropriate.Everybody smokes is in reality a moralty tale,a commentary on what becomes of people without moorings in reality(epidemic in a place like L.A.)and lives bereft of any real values or ethics.There is plenty of mayhem that accompanies the message, but the mayhem itself is an essential part of the message.Ridley is far from a great writer,but he is never boring.
Rating:
Summary: Pure pulp fiction
Review: If you are a fan of the cuss word,ultraviolence,self consciously hip slang and good ole pulp,then here's the book for you.Meet Paris Scott,big time dreamer,small time loser.When he gets his hands on the tape of a rock star(Ridley obviously used Kurt Cobain as his strung out,pompous rock star ideal)he commences to try and sell the last recording,but Paris' roommate,having stolen a cache of drugs from a drug kingpin makes mr. big believe Paris is in on the hijacking and so wants him dead.Most of the novel consists of Paris trying to sell the dead rock star's tape and dodging the kingpins goons.The story is no where near as interesting as Ridley's commentary on the pus running sore that is Los Angeles and its inhabitants whom Ridley views as little more than the epitome of the pathetic,delusional and desperate who try to hide the vapidness and sordidness of their lives behind shiny facades and opulence,but all their efforts cannot hide the nauseating stench of what their lives really are.The book contains the usual cast of motley characters one associates with such a book:the ex girlfriend,a sleazy,coked up Hollywood agent,and the femme fatale,in this case more of a cartoon version that delights in torturing her hapless victims with lit cigarettes!And one of the most hilarious moments you'll ever come across in literature has to be when the burnt out rock star decides to commit suicide but has the most hellacious misadventure in trying to get the deed done,but his demise is most appropriate.Everybody smokes is in reality a moralty tale,a commentary on what becomes of people without moorings in reality(epidemic in a place like L.A.)and lives bereft of any real values or ethics.There is plenty of mayhem that accompanies the message, but the mayhem itself is an essential part of the message.Ridley is far from a great writer,but he is never boring.
Rating:
Summary: A fun, but imitative novel
Review: It's not surprising to learn that Ridley has worked mostly in television and film. This book reads like it was adapted from a screenplay and is very cinematic in its style. The character development is sketchy and the plot is right out of any of the Tarantinoesque stuff that has been flooding the screens and bookshelves since Q.T. himself broke big in the early nineties. Still the book is engaging, fast-paced and quite fun to read. The ending is a bit of a disappointment: Just when everything should be coming together, it instead falls apart, and Ridley despite his gift for cleverness, offers no satisfying or witty resolution to the novel.
Rating: 
Summary: Laugh-Out-Loud Hollywood Romp
Review: John Ridley lets us know what we are getting ourselves into when he replaces the standard fiction book disclaimer with the following: "Anyone claiming to be represented in this novel is suffering from severe closet-pyschotic ego issues which would best be dealt with immediately." 'Nuff said.The author leads us on a raucous 'screw-ball comedy' romp through L.A. and then on to Vegas, introducing us- using devilishly creative, contemporary metaphors and similes- to a bunch of characters trying very desperately to be criminals. Through each character he assertively pokes fun at every negative stereotype in existence (it seems) and pulls no punches as he shows us what happens when these folks cross paths in spectacular Hollywood fashion. We also get to see one of the shadow sides of the 'creative life', the irony of which is made amusing. Throughout, very little is left to the imagination, so this is not at all a book for the squeamish. The author does, however, leave it up to us to yuck it up, and it's just nutty enough that we DO.
Rating: 
Summary: John Ridley-spread too thin.
Review: John Ridley's latest effort "Everybody Smokes In Hell" has a cover photo stolen from a Sketchers shoe ad and a title that has nothing to do with the story-just an attempt at cleverness for its' own sake. Like a modern rap "artist", he samples, borrows, and just plain swipes from recent pop culture."ESIH" has a plot vitually identical to his last book, "Love Is a Racket" and both of them read like a Black version of Tarantino's "True Romance": a down-on-his-luck guy stumbles onto an illegal or immoral macguffin, and together with the perfect girl, attempts to make his dreams come true with it in L.A. Unfortuneatly, several groups want it back, and they end up pitted against each other, allowing the hero to make his getaway.Ridley keeps getting compared to Chandler and even Ellroy, a label that seems to get slapped on anybody that writes negatively about Los Angeles. To be truthful, Ridley's prose comes off sounding like a frustrated screenwriter and pissed-off black man, but little else. His observations about L.A. life are rather pedestrian, and he isn't above wild Farrakhan-like conspiracy theories (Hey it wasn't gangstas that killed Tupac-it was a white chick !) Ridley has a lot on his plate-TV writing, movie writing, and novel writing. He doesn't seem to posess the ability to infuse all of them with different plots and well-defined characters. He is is simply spread too thin.
Rating:
Summary: BLOODY AWESOME
Review: Just wild. I don't know if the guy who wrote it was on drugs, or what, but this is one chainsaw of a book. Once it starts, IT DOES NOT LET UP. And the end was TOUGH as a preacher with brass knuckles. The author pulls no punches. Not a little girl's book, that's for sure, but one helluva read.
Rating:
Summary: One great ride!
Review: Loved the sick, twisted characters, but the best part of this read was Ridley's quick-witted style with words. Like his previous novel, "Love Is A Racket," I couldn't put this one down. He's definitely the best out there when it comes to writing about Hollywood's not so glamorous side. Keep 'em coming!
Rating:
Summary: l.a. black & noire
Review: more of a cautionary tale than a novel. a confluence of thuggery with a one beat rap tone.survival of marginal miscreants on a steady diet of nihilism,violence,misogyny,materialism and drugs in a decaying society. nathaniel west with a ghetto blaster.
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