Bad Things Happen

✍ Scribed by Dolan, Harry

• Book ID: 106867937
• Publisher: Penguin Group USA
• Year: 2010
• Tongue: en-GB
• Weight: 205 KB
• Category: Fiction
• ISBN-13: 9780425234402

✦ Synopsis

From Publishers Weekly

Starred Review. Dolan's highly praised debut has shades of Elmore Leonard in its realistic dialogue that is at once over-the-top but true to form. The story takes place in Ann Arbor, Mich., where David Loogan has just accepted a position at Gray Streets mystery magazine—and embarked on an affair with his new boss's wife. It's not long before bodies begin turning up left and right, and a young investigator is involved. Abby Erik Davies delivers a performance so raw and exposed that listening becomes less a choice and more a compulsion. It's brilliant on every level. A Putnam hardcover (Reviews, May 25). (July)
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From

Compared to works by Raymond Chandler, Agatha Christie, and Patricia Highsmith, Bad Things Happen rated as a "brilliant first novel" (Chicago Tribune) and "the best first novel [of the] year" (Washington Post) among most critics. They praised Dolan's crisp, minimalist prose and well-developed, flesh-and-blood protagonists. Dolan's intricate plot, full of surprising twists and turns, eschews showdowns and shootouts in favor of droll dialogue and a noirish, Chandleresque tone. Though the San Francisco Chronicle deplored the glut of subplots and secondary characters, most reviewers agreed that Dolan's debut effort is stylish, sharp-edged, and suspenseful. "It's probably too clever to be blockbuster material," lamented the Washington Post , but readers in search of a literate mystery are in for a treat.