Promotional Information

A pacy, intelligent crime debut - Raymond Chandler meets the Coen brothers with shades of Harlan Coben

About the Author

Harry Dolan graduated from Colgate University, where he majored in philosophy and studied fiction-writing with the novelist Frederick Busch. He earned a master's degree in philosophy from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and worked for several years as a freelance editor.

Dolan, who grew up in Rome, New York, now lives in Ann Arbor, Michigan, with his partner, Linda Randolph.

Reviews

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*

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) Copyright 2009 Reed Business Information.

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 *