Hollywood, the City of Dreams. Jack had one ambition: to become famous, a star--in exactly what way he didn't care. He just wanted to be like the people whose lives he followed in the tabloids: Brad Pitt, Johnny Depp, Tom and Nicole. Instead he entered a world much seedier than anything he could have imagined, a world of drugs and crime, whores, snuff shows, incest, deceit, and despair. His wife, Karen, a hooker, is found dead--murdered and disemboweled. During his search for her killer he meets Bella, a woman of immense wealth, and sees a chance to make his dreams of money and fame come true. As it turns out, though, his nightmare is only beginning.

With a new introduction by Dennis Cooper, Stokoe proves himself a worthy heir to the great tradition of California noir. High Life is an unholy hybrid of Raymond Chandler's best work and Bret Easton Ellis's American Psycho.