13 | November | 2014

About the book, The Dunning Man

• Paperback: 140 pages
Publisher: Lavender Ink (October 19, 2014)

The six stories in Kevin Fortuna’s hilarious and gripping debut story collection, The Dunning Man, feature anti-heroes who reject society’s rules, and often show a gritty, Irish American take on the worlds in which they live. Characters from all walks of life—a rogue hip-hop star, a blackjack dealing mom, a middle-aged drunk plowing through his inheritance, and an empty nester housewife trying to make peace with the past. They each exist in the here and now, living for what’s possible and what’s left—not what they’ve left behind. Redemption awaits all, but only along the rutted, gut-churning path of honest self-examination. Age quod agis.

Set in Atlantic City, New Orleans, Washington, D.C., the Hudson Valley and Manhattan, Fortuna’s stories depict the violent clash between society’s expectations and the chaotic arc of individual destiny. These are powerful tales of truth seekers imbued with larger-than-life personalities and the all-consuming need to find something worth seeking.

Buy, read, & discuss The Dunning Man

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About the author, Kevin Fortuna

Kevin Fortuna lives in Cold Spring, New York. He obtained a Bachelors degree in English Literature from Georgetown University, where he graduated summa cum laude. He is the recipient of a Lannan Literary Fellowship, the Quicksall Medal for Writing, a Fellowship in Fiction at the Prague Summer Writers Workshop and a Full Fellowship in Fiction at the University of New Orleans, where he received his MFA.

My Thoughts

I really enjoy short stories because they have to be so well crafted from start to finish or they just don’t work. Economy of phrase is essential, but not just economy, also precision, and style.

Kevin Fortuna’s collection of stories, The Dunning Man has all three.

I enjoyed all of the pieces in the book, but the first one, which took place en route to Atlantic City, resonated most with me, probably because I know the Academy Bus gates at Port Authority so well, and understood the frustration of the crowded queues for certain routes.

Every tale in the collection is absolutely worth the read, and what I particularly appreciated was that Fortuna’s voice changes slightly for each story, to better match the protagonist he’s depicting, but still remains discernable as being the same author writing. It’s a fine line, but it proves that his point of view is clear and strong, and I look forward to more from this author.

Goes well with A slice of Famous Ray’s pizza and a cold beer.

Kevin’s Tour Stops

This review is part of a book tour sponsored by TLC Book Tours. For the list of tour stops, see below, or click HERE.

Tuesday, October 28th: A Dream Within a Dream

Thursday, October 30th: Built by Story

Monday, November 3rd: The Book Binder’s Daughter

Monday, November 10th: I’d Rather Be At The Beach

Thursday, November 13th: Bibliotica

Monday, November 17th: Conceptual Reception

Tuesday, November 25th: guiltless reading

Tuesday, November 25th: Read a Latte

Friday, November 28th: Walking With Nora

Saturday, November 29th: Tiffany’s Bookshelf

About the book My Sister’s Grave

Paperback
Publisher: Thomas & Mercer (November 1, 2014)

Robert Dugoni’s bestselling legal thrillers have earned him comparisons to John Grisham, Scott Turow, and Nelson DeMille, among others. In MY SISTER’S GRAVE (Thomas & Mercer; October 14, 2014), Dugoni returns with the powerful and poignant story of a homicide detective determined to avenge the murder of her beloved younger sister – regardless of the cost.

Seattle cop Tracy Crosswhite was a high school chemistry teacher when her teenaged sister Sarah disappeared one night on her way home to their small town of Cedar Grove. A young ex-con, Edmund House, was quickly tried and convicted of her murder. Twenty years and a career change later, Tracy has dedicated her life to questioning whether the right man went to jail. When Sarah’s remains are uncovered from a newly-exposed lake bed, new evidence seems to support Tracy’s theory that the original prosecution was deeply flawed.

Working with a childhood friend, now an attorney, to exonerate House and find Sarah’s true killer, Tracy begins to uncover long-held secrets that point to a shocking – and potentially catastrophic – truth about what happened to her sister on that long-ago night. Somewhere in Cedar Grove, a killer is waiting, and Tracy must summon the strength to confront the past in order to save her future.

An explosive whodunit with a family love story at its heart, MY SISTER’S GRAVE is a thriller that’s difficult to put down, and marks an exciting new chapter for acclaimed writer Robert Dugoni.

Buy, read and discuss My Sister’s Grave

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Books-a-Million | Goodreads

About the author, Robert Dugoni

Robert Dugoni is the critically acclaimed and New York Times-bestselling author of the David Sloane series: The Jury Master, Wrongful Death, Bodily Harm, Murder One, and The Conviction. Murder One was a finalist for the Harper Lee Award for literary excellence. He is also the author of the bestselling standalone novel Damage Control, and the nonfiction work The Cyanide Canary.

Connect with Robert

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My Thoughts

Part police procedural, part family drama, completely gripping, I loved this novel. Tracy, the lead character, could easily rival Temperance Brennan or Kate Beckett as a prime-time television heroine, and all of the other characters in the story were equally interesting and dimensional.

I especially loved the author’s vivid descriptions and realistic dialogue. I also appreciated that we’re in the thick of things from the first page, with no slow build (not that those are bad) which I found really effective. In fact, the experience of reading My Sister’s Grave was so cinematic that I wouldn’t be at all surprised to see it opening in theaters next year.

Oh, if only what we were given on the screen was as smart, savvy, and (in the right amount) sexy as this novel!

On the other hand, the fact that this was a novel meant that I could savor each page, until, finally, I had to stay up to the wee hours of the morning to finish the last few chapters.

If you want a novel that’s just dark enough for a gray November afternoon, one that reaches out and grabs you, and doesn’t let you go until the very last page, you will LOVE My Sister’s Grave.

Goes well with A double cappuccino with a dash of cinnamon and a slice of pecan streusel apple pie.