Smog - A Novel

From the internationally bestselling author of Sweetbitter, a captivating blend of literary fiction and true crime—set during the Menendez brothers trial in 1990s Los Angeles.

Two handsome brothers from Beverly Hills are on trial for the brutal murder of their parents. The entire country is riveted.

So is Hugo Byrne.

A renowned journalist—decades sober, privately repressed, and haunted by the violent death of his own daughter—Hugo arrives at the Chateau Marmont to cover the trial for a glossy national magazine. He intends to write the definitive account.

But what happens outside the courtroom—the lives disrupted, in some cases ruined—is just as fascinating as the theater inside. And no one fascinates Hugo more than his close friend Liv Ellis, a quick-witted Beverly Hills society wife who accompanies Hugo to the trial, and whose obsession with the brothers is as mysterious as her origins.

An enthralling mix of true crime, high-toned dish, and dark psychological noir, Smog is a story of wealth, privilege, and abuse; a suspenseful inquiry into the dark heart of that universal institution that is supposed to protect us but so often betrays: the family.