Bad Things Happen
Non-series
Harry
Dolan
Putnam (Hardcover)
ISBN-10: 0-399-15563-5 (0399155635)
ISBN-13: 978-0-399-15563-5 (9780399155635)
Publication Date: July 2009
List Price: $24.95
Synopsis (from
the publisher): The man who calls himself David Loogan is leading a
quiet, anonymous life in the college town of Ann Arbor, Michigan. He's
hoping to escape a violent past he would rather forget. But his
solitude is broken when he finds himself drawn into a friendship with
Tom Kristoll, the publisher of the mystery magazine Gray Streets-and
into an affair with Laura, Tom's sleek blond wife. What Loogan doesn't
realize is that the stories in Gray Streets tend to follow a simple
formula: Plans go wrong. Bad things happen. People die.
Elizabeth Waishkey is a single mother. She's also the most talented
detective in the Ann Arbor Police Department. But when Tom Kristoll
turns up dead, she doesn't know quite what to make of David Loogan. Is
he a killer, or an ally who might help her discover the truth? Loogan
suspects his friend's death is part of a much larger puzzle, and he's
not going to wait for someone else to put the pieces together.
As Loogan and Elizabeth navigate their way through Kristoll's world,
they find no shortage of people with motives for murder, from a young
graduate student obsessed with Laura Kristoll to a trio of bestselling
writers, all of them with secrets they don't want uncovered. But as the
deaths start mounting up-some of them echoing stories published in Gray
Streets-Loogan begins to look more and more like the most promising
suspect. Soon it becomes clear that only Elizabeth can find the path to
solving both the murders and the mystery of Loogan himself.
Review: Harry
Dolan's extraordinary debut novel, Bad
Things Happen, has so many delightful twists and turns that many
readers will, upon finishing it, no doubt start over and re-read it
just to see what may have been missed the first time through.
The man who calls himself David Loogan is introduced on the first page
as someone who doesn't want to be familiar. Nondescript. Unmemorable.
Living alone in Ann Arbor (Michigan), and as a way to pass the time, he
submits a short story to a local mystery magazine, Gray Streets. The
publisher, Tom Kristoll, recognizes his talent and hires him to be an
editor. The two become close friends ... then one night Tom asks Loogan
to help him bury a body. Loogan doesn't ask any questions -- he's
trying to remain relatively anonymous himself -- but can't help but get
involved when Tom's body is later found at the base of his office
building, an apparent suicide. The investigating officer, Elizabeth
Waishkey, suspects Loogan knows more about Tom's death than he
initially lets on. That Loogan was having an affair with Tom's wife is
certainly suspicious. But Loogan also has doubts about the mysterious
circumstances surrounding how Tom died. And about that body they buried
together: who was it, how did he die, and does his murder(?) have
anything to do with Tom's death?
It is often tricky reviewing a book as intricately plotted as Bad Things Happen without revealing
too much. As much as the mystery seems to revolve around Tom, the dead
and buried body, and Tom's subsequent demise, it is impossible to lose
sight of the fact that just who exactly is the man who calls himself
David Loogan remains an unknown as well. And maybe more importantly,
what role is he playing in the book? Is he a culprit (and if so, of
what), or is he a victim? The cat and mouse game between Loogan and
Detective Waishkey, especially after a couple more people turn up dead,
is marvelously played out, and the conclusion, as befits such a
terrific novel, is elegantly clever.
Thoroughly entertaining, Bad Things
Happen will certainly be included on, if not at the top of,
lists of the best mystery novels this year. It's that good.
Special thanks to Penguin Group for providing a copy of Bad Things Happen for this review.
Review Copyright © 2009 — Hidden Staircase Mystery Books — All Rights Reserved
Have you read Bad Things Happen? How would you rate it?
Novels by this author …
Bad Things Happen
Putnam (Hardcover), July 2009
ISBN-10: 0-399-15563-5 (0399155635)
ISBN-13: 978-0-399-15563-5 (9780399155635)
Omnimystery keywords for Bad Things Happen ...
Location(s) referenced: Ann Arbor, Michigan.
