Kill Dick : A Novel

"One of two novels Jennette McCurdy wants everyone to read in 2026."—ELLE

"I've read an early copy... I fell in love with the protagonist, and that's what hooked me."—Jennette McCurdy, bestselling author and former actor

"Kill Dick is a love letter to LA's darkness and light."—USA Today

"Kill Dick is the kind of book that makes you want to write. Luke Goebel has written an insane portrait of Los Angeles in the vein of Bret Easton Ellis and Joan Didion. It's a car chase of a novel, where you never want to look away."—Playboy, Top 10 Most Anticipated Books of 2026

"Goebel delivers."—Publishers Weekly

"Shot through with profundity endemic to youthful privilege, Susie's rambling, terminally jaundiced narrative paints a darkly surreal Lynch-and Kubrick-inspired portrait of LA."—Kirkus Reviews

A MOST ANTICIPATED BOOK OF 2026 in LIT HUB and PLAYBOY; featured in the NEW YORK POST's "31 Page-Turning New Thrillers to Read" and on FOX 11's GOOD DAY LA.

At nineteen, Susie Vogelman should be coasting: she's an NYU dropout with no responsibilities, endless prescription pills, and a Brentwood estate to waste away in. But Los Angeles has other plans. A string of brutal murders targeting addicts spreads through the city, and Susie's ivory tower begins to crumble. The headlines point too close to home: her father's ties to an opioid empire, a sinister secret society, and her own complicity in the systems holding it all together.

Then there's Phil Krolik, a disgraced professor running a rehab scam so audacious it's almost admirable. When their lives collide, Susie and Phil are dragged into a web of privilege, corruption, and violence, where every escape leads deeper into the rot.

Dark, satirical, and razor-sharp, Kill Dick is a modern literary thriller that unflinchingly dissects wealth, exploitation, and the perilous line between survival and self-destruction.

Luke Goebel is a bestselling author and acclaimed screenwriter known for unflinching honesty and innovative storytelling. A recipient of the prestigious Ronald Sukenick Innovative Fiction Prize and the Joan Scott Memorial Fiction Award, his debut novel, Fourteen Stories, None of Them Are Yours, garnered critical acclaim for its innovative and precisely lyrical, profoundly resonant exploration of love, grief, and the restless search for identity. Goebel also co-wrote the film Eileen, starring Anne Hathaway and Thomasin McKenzie, and the film Causeway, starring Jennifer Lawrence and Brian Tyree Henry (who received an Academy Award nomination for his performance). He is president and co-owner of Tyrant Books, founded by legendary editor Giancarlo DiTrapano. He lives in Oregon, Southern California, and elsewhere.