Bad Things Happen

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

a brilliant first novel

Chicago Tribune

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