Bryan Gruley

Bryan Gruley is the Edgar-nominated author of seven novels and one award-winning work of nonfiction. A lifelong journalist, he shared in The Wall Street Journal's Pulitzer Prize for coverage of the September 11 terrorist attacks. A longtime Chicago resident, he now lives in northern lower Michigan with his wife, Pamela.

Gruley's new novel is River Deep.

Recently I asked the author about what he was reading. Gruley's reply:

I’m a judge for the Edgar Awards this year and my favorite book so far is—sorry, if I told you I’d have to kill you.

Best book I’ve read in the past few years: The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon, a book published many years ago that resonates even now. Moving, funny, suspenseful, heartbreaking, with a perfect first-person voice inhabited by an autistic boy. (Almost as effective voice-wise is the autistic boy in Ken Jaworowski’s What About the Bodies).

Another book I love is my fellow Michiganian Sara Maurer’s debut novel, A Good Animal. A gorgeous rendering of a romance on a sheep farm in the Upper Peninsula. I haven’t finished it because: contest reading.

Also, two books by guys named John:

Bear County, Michigan by John Counts. This short-story collection by my fellow journalist is funny and searing and written with clarity and simplicity that reveres attention to physical detail.

The Gales of November: The Untold Story of the Edmund Fitzgerald by John U. Bacon. You think you know the story, but you don’t. You know the ending, but you will be on the proverbial edge of your seat. Great reporting + exhaustive research + propulsive writing = fantastic book.

And now, back to that contest and all those great books, the best of which so far is ?????????

Learn more about the book and author at Bryan Gruley's website.

The Page 69 Test: Starvation Lake.

The Page 69 Test: The Hanging Tree.

The Page 69 Test: Bleak Harbor.

The Page 69 Test: Purgatory Bay.

The Page 69 Test: Bitterfrost.

Q&A with Bryan Gruley.

My Book, The Movie: Bitterfrost.

My Book, The Movie: River Deep.

The Page 69 Test: River Deep.

--Marshal Zeringue