VERY BAD MEN (2012)

Very Bad Men (David Loogan #2) by Harry Dolan
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Very Bad Men is the perfect title for the second story concerning David Loogan. As the tale is told, more and more of the characters earn that designation.

Harry Dolan's descriptions of character and place appeal to me. His plotting in this story is complicated but I never had any trouble keeping up. Rather than a roller coaster ride, which can be fun, Dolan varies his tempo. For me that makes it all the more compelling.

There are certain elements that make a review useful to the reader. It wasn't until I met someone who refused to read fiction written in the first person that I even paid any conscious attention to the voice.

Recently I read another blogger's review of a book I had previously read. They mentioned that the tension of the book came partly from the first person perspective the author had chosen to use to tell the story. My review didn't mention the fact.

Then I read a review of Very Bad Men that was not comfortable with Harry Dolan's choice to use both voices in one novel. I thought the transitions were obvious and  quite appropriate in moving the story along.

Dolan's style is noir and sparse, but not inelegant. Even though the story is set around the time of the Art Fair in Ann Arbor, Michigan (July), which should conjure up a colorful world, the pictures in my head were black and white movie with lots of shades of grey. Partly it is this air of moral ambiguity that I find attractive.

David Loogan, has taken over as editor of a mystery magazine after the death of the previous editor, a friend. He has become close to Detective Elizabeth Waishkey who appears in Bad Things Happen. Loogan is a good man but struggles with guidelines that don't always serve the moment. That's part of his charm.

A manuscript left at the offices of the mystery magazine, Gray Streets, seems to be connected to a Northern Michigan bank robbery gone wrong seventeen years earlier.

Bottom Line: HIGHLY RECOMMENDED but start with Bad Things Happen because you are apt to want to read all this author's books.

Title: Very Bad Men

Author:  Harry Dolan

Genre: Thriller, Mystery

Publisher: Amy Einhorn Books/Putnam

No. of Pages: 432 pages

Copyright: July 7, 2011

ISBN:  0399157492

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

Source: NetGalley

Harry Dolan's latest book The Last Dead Girl goes on sale today (January 9, 2014) and the author will be speaking and signing at Nicola's Books in Ann Arbor. He graduated from Colgate University, where he majored in philosophy and studied fiction-writing with the novelist Frederick Busch. He grew up in Rome, New York, and now lives in Ann Arbor, Michigan.

2014 Michigan Notable Books Announced by Library of Michigan

Library of Michigan, Lansing, MI

I nominated two titles neither of which won the title of Michigan Notable Book but the competition was pretty awesome.

You can read the list and descriptions of the winners on MLive.

Then, even though they didn't win, you might want to download Jon Harrison's The Banks of Certain Rivers, pick up Kelly Barson's 45 Pounds More or Less, or read a Harry Dolan thriller like Bad Things Happen, Very Bad Men, or The Last Dead Girl (available January 9, 2014).

What Shall I Read Next?

It took me the better part of the morning to decide how to proceed.

Yesterday I set my 2014 Challenge goal on Good Reads to 36, far fewer books than I have pledged to or succeeded in reading for the last several years.

That suggests to me that I should be a little more discriminating in which books I choose to spend time with. It also tells me that I need to weed my shelves of those titles that constantly remind me of earlier but now vanished desires and interests.


So I have settled on Very Bad Men by Harry Dolan.

Back in January 2012 I mentioned reading Bad Things Happen and added it to my list of worthy books for that year. I immediately bought Very Bad Men and downloaded it to my Kindle where it has languished.

Time is running out. On January 9, 2014, Dolan's The Last Dead Girl (Amy Einhorn Books / Putnam) goes on sale. It's a prequel to his other two David Loogan books although the author says it can be easily be read as a stand-alone.

There's an interesting interview with Harry Dolan at The Big Thrill website.

Amy Einhorn Books Perpetual Challenge and A New Title!

I am once again tempted to succumb to the Amy Einhorn Books Perpetual Challenge. After all there is no time limit and time is the biggest problem I have to accomplishing anything. Check out Beth Fish Reads Blog for wonderful information about books.

The latest title in Amy's imprint is Let's Pretend This Never Happened (A Mostly True Memoir) by Jenny Lawson. I will be ordering it on my Kindle Fire today so I have it on April 17, 2012 when it is finally available. The author apparently is an known Internet entity as a blogger and tweeter (The Bloggess) if you want to do a bit more research before committing to her book.

"Like laughing at a funeral, this book is both irreverent and impossible to hold back once you get started". (from the publisher) Beth assures her readers that this is a true statement.

You Need to Know About Amy Einhorn

When I asked a friend how she had heard of mystery author Harry Dolan, she responded 'Amy Einhorn'. Amy is a publisher with a magic touch who was given an eponymous imprint at G.P. Putnam’s Sons where her first title was Kathryn Stockett's The Help.

"What I wanted to do was establish an imprint that hit that sweet spot between literary and commercial books – because that’s the place I as a reader find myself."

Her imprint is described as ‘intelligent writing with a strong narrative, always with great storytelling at its core.’ 

If these quotes pique your interest, read an interview HERE.

And if this fascinates you the way it does me, you can join in Beth Fish's Amy Einhorn Perpetual Challenge by going HERE.

Bad Things Happen (2010)

Bad Things Happen by Harry Dolan

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I was immediately caught in the web woven by author Harry Dolan and his mysterious character David Loogan. The writing and the storytelling are both deceptive in their simplicity. For literate mystery readers everywhere, discovering this new series is a delight.

Set in the college town of Ann Arbor, it was fun to recognize landmarks and locations used in the book. But that is only secondary to the characters, descriptions, and twists and turns in the plot that kept me up past my bedtime. Sophisticated and witty, I can't wait to read Very Bad Men.


View all my reviews