A deep dive into the deepest secrets of a one-family town and its leading family that sometimes gets murky, even exhausting, but is never less than enthralling. And you’ll finish it with a wonderful sense that you’ve finally come up for air.” —Kirkus Reviews
“Intricately plotted…[Gruley] builds suspense in this impressively constructed plot about attaining justice for those once wronged.” —Booklist
“Gruley follows his award-winning Starvation Lake Trilogy with another grim tale of dysfunctional people…The tension mounts to a startling conclusion featuring an unconventional, intricate plot…” —Library Journal
“Bleak Harbor buzzes with surprises.” —Chicago Tribune
“Gruley brilliantly defies convention. [He] performs a dazzling magic routine worthy of Houdini, each trick dependent upon the next, growing in complexity and intensity until the finale. Think Rashomon as told in alternating chapters by Elmore Leonard and George V. Higgins.” —The Arizona Republic
“With nonstop twists and suspense throughout, Bleak Harbor is another solid offering from Bryan Gruley, who knows how to surprise readers and keep them on the edge of their seats.” —The Real Book Spy
“Bleak Harbor is a thriller that increases the pressure with every chapter; like peeling layers of an onion it slowly exposes the complex crime—and possible complicity of each character—with every page turn.” —Crimespree Magazine
“Gruley is a talented storyteller at the top of his game, and this might just be his best effort so far. Taut, smart, entertaining, and packed with a variety of types of tension, Bleak Harbor is one of those books that make readers keep flipping pages until everything has been said and done. Luckily for them, the author has something up his sleeve.” —Criminal Element
“[Bryan Gruley] is not afraid to go dark, so prepare yourself for a twisted domestic noir plot. Gruley also knows how to craft vivid characters that readers truly care about, so do not be surprised when he manages to tug on those heartstrings as well.” —BOLO Books
“[Bleak Harbor] has more twists and turns than an unraveling piece of rope. It’s tricksy, taut, and tantalisingly good.” —Crime Fiction Lover
“An expertly written, easy to read thriller with the all-important twist at the end.” —Suspense Magazine
“A fast-paced affair with motivations and deeds cleverly hidden. Here is a family with a missing son. A family that, deep down, thinks it may be to blame. There are many flawed characters, interesting individuals, of depth, and then there’s Danny, the most interesting of all.” —Crime Thriller Hound
“Bryan Gruley’s Bleak Harbor is an electric bolt of suspense, packed with twists and surprises. Gruley’s plot races along, powered by characters—big and small—who truly crackle. A masterful follow-up to his Starvation Lake trilogy.” —Gillian Flynn, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Gone Girl
“The best book Gruley has ever written and unlike any other crime book I’ve ever read.” —Steve Hamilton, two-time Edgar Award–winning author of Exit Strategy
“Bryan Gruley creates a fascinating calamity of flawed characters, each hiding secrets in the haunting town of Bleak Harbor. His portrayal of an autistic boy’s kidnapping, and the subsequent efforts to find and rescue him, gradually and brilliantly exposes the decidedly dark underbelly of both the town and all those living in it. I dare you to put the book down. I couldn’t.” —Robert Dugoni, #1 Wall Street Journal bestselling author
“The myth of the happy family! Bryan Gruley dives deep into twisted psyches, well-hidden secrets, and dark, explosive desires. Welcome to Bleak Harbor. Be afraid.” —New York Times bestselling author Tess Gerritsen
“Vivid, spellbinding, and laced with tension, Bleak Harbor’s labyrinthine mystery is packed with characters so real you want to buy them a beer—or hide under your bed to pray they don’t come for you. If you’re not reading Bryan Gruley, you’re missing out.” —Marcus Sakey, bestselling author of AFTERLIFE and the Brilliance trilogy
10/15/2018
This standalone mystery falls short of the high standard set by Edgar finalist Gruley’s Starvation Lake trilogy. Fifteen-year-old Danny Peters disappears from his family’s cottage on Michigan’s Bleak Harbor Bay, and his kidnapper later demands the unusual sum of $5.145 million for his safe return. The abduction leads Danny’s stepfather, Pete Peters, and his mother, Carey, to fear that the crime was triggered by events in their own lives. Pete, who was once a successful agricultural futures trader, has been trying to make a go of a new business selling medical marijuana, a venture that has involved him with people on the wrong side of the law. And Carey, who’s descended from the family who founded Bleak Harbor, is in the midst of extorting her boss at a Chicago logistics firm for $10 million in exchange for keeping quiet about the business’s shady dealings. Gruley’s characters are less developed than those in his other novels, and the major plot twist will strike some readers as implausible. Fans will hope for a return to form next time. Agent: Meg Ruley, Jane Rotrosen Agency. (Dec.)
12/01/2018
When 16-year-old Danny Peters vanishes, mother Carey fears her son has run away a second time. The young man is autistic and hasn't been seen since after his dog had to be euthanized, which he took very hard. This time, though, Carey and stepfather Pete receive a photo of Danny tied to a chair. The police find one of his shoes and a cell phone. Carey's mother may be the richest woman in Bleak Harbor and possibly all of western Michigan, but she has no interest in helping her grandson or daughter. Now Carey and Pete both struggle, fearing Danny was kidnapped because of their secrets and lies. The tension mounts to a startling conclusion featuring an unconventional, intricate plot by a mastermind aware of the flawed individuals involved with the Peters family. VERDICT Gruley follows his award-winning "Starvation Lake" trilogy with another grim tale of dysfunctional people. Recommended for fans of domestic suspense.—Lesa Holstine, Evansville Vanderburgh P.L., IN
Listeners follow the race to find Danny, a kidnapped 15-year-old boy with autism. As the plot unfolds in a lakeside town in Michigan, the stakes increase, secrets are exposed, and lies are uncovered. Scott Merriman’s narration is perfectly matched to this intriguing thriller. He brings additional vitality to life several larger-than-life personalities, assisting listeners in keeping track of who’s who during the story’s many twists and turns. In particular, his characterization of Danny cleverly changes as listeners learn more about the troubled teenager. Merriman’s spot-on pacing ensures that listeners are enthralled right up to the very last plot twist. K.J.P. © AudioFile 2019, Portland, Maine
2018-09-17
Gruley bids farewell to Starvation Lake, Michigan (The Skeleton Box, 2012, etc.), to explore the equally grim kidnapping of an autistic teenager who shares the same state and much the same state of mind.
Danny Peters was something of a trial even before he disappeared. Lacking much of an affinity for other people, he was interested mainly in dragonflies, computers, and Wallace Stevens. Now he's gone off with someone who promised him a milkshake, and his mother and stepfather are agonizing about how to raise the quixotic ransom of $5.145 million by the impossibly tight deadline. Both of them have reason to worry about their ability to pull together in their hour of need. Pete Peters, who owns a medical marijuana dispensary, is hiding his off-again professional relationship with Slim, the go-between who supplied him with better product for less money than his legal sellers until all of a sudden he stopped. Carey Peters, newly promoted executive assistant, finance, at Pressman Logistics in Chicago, allowed her boss, Randall Pressman, to take her out to dinner to celebrate and then slept with him, then refused his encore invitations and responded to his attempts to trash her at work by stealing some sensitive documents that reveal his own illegal activity and demanding a hefty payoff for her silence. Working variously at odds with each other and the authorities they've defied the kidnapper by calling, Carey and Pete try to raise the ransom by leaning on Carey's hateful mother, monstrous town matriarch Serenity Meredith Maas Bleak; Oly O'Nally, the boss who fired Pete from his brokerage firm; and, of course, Randall Pressman for the cash. They all turn out to have agendas of their own. So do Danny's ex-con birth father, Jeff Bledsoe, Pete's employee Dulcy Pérez, and Pressman's henchman Quartz—not to mention Lt. Katya Malone, of the Bleak Harbor PD, and Allen Locke, of the FBI.
A deep dive into the deepest secrets of a one-family town and its leading family that sometimes gets murky, even exhausting, but is never less than enthralling. And you'll finish it with a wonderful sense that you've finally come up for air.
