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Justin Sykes is a Philadelphia public defender who’s drowning: endless cases, miserable pay, and a justice system rigged in favor of the powerful. When Marcus—a smooth strip-club owner with immaculate manners—offers him $1,000 an hour to give legal advice to his dancers, Justin knows it sounds too good to be true. But he’s broke, exhausted, and out of options.
At first, it’s easy money: a few questions, a few nights at the Kitties Gentlemen’s Club, a motel across the street. Then things begin to feel wrong. Money moves quietly. People vanish from view. And Justin’s law licence seems to be doing more work than he is.
Trapped between the courts and the criminal economy they quietly enable, Justin finds himself inside two systems that operate by the same rules. With the savage wit and moral clarity familiar from novels such as A Working Stiff’s Manifesto and How to Rob an Armored Car, Iain Levison turns the American justice system into a darkly funny carnival of greed, hypocrisy, and survival.
For readers of Elmore Leonard, Carl Hiaasen, and fans of Better Call Saul , Strippers Always Need Legal Advice blends biting satire with low-level criminality and moral compromise. Levison’s trademark humour and working-class rage expose an American justice system where the law is flexible, the pay is terrible, and integrity comes at a price.
France Info
“Iain Levison looks at the world with cool detachment, but always with humour—and, above all, with deep tenderness and humanity.”
Libération
“What humour, what verve, in portraying a cruel America that has abandoned all its dreams.”
Le Soir
“In this ninth novel, Iain Levison once again delivers a small gem of narrative skill and irony.”
France Inter
“Levison possesses a razor-sharp sense of satire and vitriolic irony, tempered by remarkable humanity.”
Télérama
“Levison gets it right on every page. He’s one of those storytellers who give readers real pleasure: no hatred, just outraged clarity.”
Paris Match
“Humour deployed like a weapon of mass derision