An Elle Best Book of the Summer
A Most Anticipated Book from BookPage, SPY, Lit Hub, and Paste Magazine
"A thoroughly entertaining, mean-as-a-snake modern Western, Sing Her Down hits like a shotgun blast."
—Dennis Lehane, author of Small Mercies
“Harrowing . . . Ms. Pochoda fuses elements of several subgenres—psychological thriller, procedural novel, hard-boiled crime saga, even magical-realism fable—to craft an imaginative chronicle of an apocalyptic season. Like the damaged souls that populate its pages, the book defies pigeonholing. Sing Her Down is unforgettable.”
—Tom Nolan, Wall Street Journal
"Pochoda has delivered another brutal blow in her latest, an existential western that starts with a jailbreak and rip-roars its way through a threatening landscape . . . Pochoda demonstrates keen insight into the minds and hearts of desperate people . . . she never misses a shot."
—Lisa Levy, The Washington Post
"Pochoda writes with insight and empathy about women pushing back on the violence perpetrated against them . . . she continues to grow in her power to engage readers far beyond the overused tropes of the crime genre, rising to the heights of other writers [like Cormac McCarthy] whose work does not shy away from evil or bloodshed."
—Paula Woods, LA Times
"Electric."
—Barbara VanDenburgh, USA Today
“Brave and brilliant writing . . . Sing Her Down ends with the description of a mural that seems to memorialize the final interaction of [the main characters]. People swear they see the mural move, that the mural is alive. So is this challenging, singular novel.”
—Carlo Wolff, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
"One of the best crime novels in recent years . . . Sing Her Down is a real accomplishment, a novel that interrogates the violence inherent in both the American carceral system and society as a whole."
—Michael Schaub, Alta
"Gripping, relentless . . . Sing Her Down is brutal and chaotic and entertaining, but somewhere down deep there’s a tiny beating heart with a few wise things to say about guilt and growth."
—Patrick Rapa, The Philadelphia Inquirer
“A haunting noir thriller stretching from Arizona up to the California coast, Sing Her Down follows prison cellmates Florida and Dios, and the dark truths Dios hopes to draw from her new friend. When both women are released, Dios chases Florida to Los Angeles in this hot, propulsive new book from the author of These Women.”
—Lauren Puckett-Pope, Elle
"Sing Her Down, Pochoda’s tour de force, looks at the rage women may carry, why a person would abandon a comfortable, middle-class living for crime and violence . . . Her staccato writing further elevates the novel and is reminiscent of James Ellroy’s style, only more refined [with a] powerful finale."
—Oline H. Cogdill, Sun Sentinel
“We’re obsessed with Ivy Pochoda, whose previous books Wonder Valley and Visitation Street crackled with menace and energy . . . Pochoda’s writing is both poetic and violent, just like the story itself, and her searing, detailed descriptions make post apocalyptic L.A. feel like a character of its own. We loved this dark, page-turning read.”
—Apple Books
“A gritty thriller with a fiery heart, Sing Her Down is a pulse-pounding western with a devastating message about the oft-forgotten explosions made by women the world tries hard not to see.”
—Alice Martin, Shelf Awareness
“Since 2013’s Visitation Street, Pochoda’s gotten better with every book. I don’t know what she’s got up her sleeve for the next one, but it’s going to be tough to top this full-blooded western noir about two women who break out of prison during the pandemic and the detective on their tail. This thing goes big and loud and makes no apologies.”
—Jonathan Segura, Publishers Weekly
“Beautiful, affecting, and completely impossible to put down . . . Ivy Pochoda can continue to write just about anything, and I’ll continue to wait eagerly to read whatever she gives us next.”
—Fiona Cook, Mystery & Suspense
"Visceral descriptions of everything from the proliferation of homeless encampments to the simmering emotions of her characters distinguish Pochoda's latest, intense novel."
—Booklist
"In muscular prose, Pochoda plumbs the psychological depths of her fascinating characters and extracts high drama from their shifting allegiances. This searing, accomplished page-turner deserves a wide audience."
—Publishers Weekly (starred review)
“Ivy Pochoda’s new novel, Sing Her Down, [is] a meditation on violence and women that is noir of the blackest variety.”
—Sam Sifton, The New York Times e-newsletter
“Ivy Pochoda’s new thriller sounds like a Western version of Killing Eve, which is something we never knew we needed but now need desperately.”
—Book Page
“Ivy Pochoda is one of the great writers of today, crime or otherwise, although luckily for me, she writes pure noir . . . I will be spending my holidays reading this amazing new novel so that I can recommend it to you all in far more detail come the new year. You’re welcome, my darlings (although reading this book is truly the opposite of sacrifice).”
—Molly Odintz, CrimeReads
“Sing Her Down is that rare novel that explodes your expectations from the very first page and goes on doing so until the end. Ivy Pochoda finds these characters at the root of their pain and desire. The prose is flayed and taut, the iconic episodes just keep stacking up, and the entirety has the epic intensity of a murder ballad.”
—Jonathan Lethem, author of The Arrest
“I read everything Ivy Pochoda writes. Her capture of the complexities, diversities, and insanities of today’s life and culture is next to none. I loved Sing Her Down. The world will too.”
—Michael Connelly, author of Desert Star
“Urgent, haunting, and fearless, Ivy Pochoda’s Sing Her Down has the grit and guile of Rachel Kushner, but with a ferocious empathy all Pochoda’s own. Pochoda proves herself a singular portraitist of Los Angeles, and Sing Her Down is her most ambitious and accomplished novel yet.”
—Megan Abbott, author of The Turnout
“Ivy Pochoda once again writes with empathy about a world of unseen, unheard women—this time, two former cellmates whose lives remain entangled after their sudden release from prison. Sing Her Down is a stunning thriller, at once beautiful and gritty. Pochoda is a major talent.”
—Alafair Burke, The New York Times bestselling author of Find Me
“Sing Her Down is an incantation, a hallucination, a fiery odyssey of women taking back the power stolen and leached from body and mind, while their souls got harder and harder—like diamonds. Ivy Pochoda's women inhabit a world everyone should walk into with them, a universe everyone should know.”
—Susan Straight, author of Mecca
