Bad Things Happen
Format:Paperback
Publisher:Ebury Publishing
Published:8th Jul '10
Currently unavailable, and unfortunately no date known when it will be back
A pacy, intelligent crime debut - Raymond Chandler meets the Coen brothers with shades of Harlan Coben
David Loogan is leading a new and quietly anonymous life in a new town. But his solitude is broken when he finds himself drawn into a friendship with Tom Kristoll, the melancholy publisher of the crime magazine Gray Streets - and into an affair with Laura, Tom's sleek blond wife.
David Loogan is leading a new and quietly anonymous life in a new town. But his solitude is broken when he finds himself drawn into a friendship with Tom Kristoll, the melancholy publisher of the crime magazine Gray Streets - and into an affair with Laura, Tom's sleek blond wife.
When Tom offers him a job as an editor, Loogan sees no harm in accepting. What he doesn't realise is that the stories in Gray Streets tend to follow a simple formula:
PLANS GO WRONG. BAD THINGS HAPPEN. PEOPLE DIE.
Then one night David's new boss phones him in a panic, asking him to come to his house immediately. And bring a shovel...
Bad Things Happen is a very smart, well-written roller coaster ride that is always threatening to hurl the reader out into roaring empty space. Go along for the thrill ride! * James Patterson *
Bad Things Happen is a tense read that keeps you tightly in its grip until the very last page. Harry Dolan has written an incredibly rich, smart read reminiscent of A Simple Plan or Presumed Innocent - not to mention that it's just a damn good story. Readers are in for a breathless ride * Karin Slaughter *
Great f***ing book, man. I was totally hooked. I hope you write a dozen more, and that's just next year * Stephen King *
Thriller-writing of the highest order * Daily Mail *
You better believe [Dolan] has a gift for storytelling...The narrative comes with startling developments and nicely tricky reversals. * New York Times Book Review *
If I say that the novel is as well plotted as Agatha Christie at her best, I don't mean to make it sound old-fashioned; it's not. Even more than Christie, this novel reminded me of Patricia Highsmith. It's witty, sophisticated, suspenseful and endless fun -- a novel to be savoured...and the best first novel I've read this year. * Washington Post *
Dolan gets everything right in his debut, a suspense novel that breathes new life into familiar themes. Pitch-perfect prose and sophisticated characterisations drive the noirish plot, which offers plenty of unexpected twists. Fans of Peter Abrahams and Scott Turow will find a lot to like...the talent Dolan displays suggests he has a bright future. * Publishers Weekly (Starred Review) *
Harry Dolan has written a wonderfully moody and atmospheric story ... a tightly plotted, sophisticated, and engrossing debut novel. Dolan has a fine ear for good dialogue and an uncanny sense of how people think and act, and why they do what they do. This is a winner * Nelson DeMille *
From the astringent first sentence - 'The shovel has to meet certain requirements' - Bad Things Happen by Harry Dolan builds like a thunderhead into an atmosphere of darkness, dread, and impending doom. It is a hypnotically readable novel, with richly wrought characters, a corkscrew plot, and dialog worthy of Elmore Leonard. What a breathtaking debut. * Douglas Preston, author of The Monster of Florence and Blasphemy *
tasty tale...Dolan's neatly symmetrical plot is tight, his dialogue is crisp, and his humor wry. (Rarely have suspects been so archly articulate.) A twisty whodunit with a thriller's pace... * Booklist, Starred Review *
ISBN: 9780091933104
Dimensions: 198mm x 126mm x 26mm
Weight: 292g
432 pages