
The Long Trial of Nolan Dugatti
Open Road Integrated Media, Inc. · Paperback · October 1, 2024
“This strange, subtle story of father-son disaffection and disjointed love is told with [Jones’s] signature narrative inventiveness and dark humor.” —Kris Saknussemm, author of Private Midnight If drinking mercury from a thermometer didn’t kill him, maybe spray painting in an unventilated garage would.
We earn from qualifying purchases.
- Who it’s for
- An obsolete game and a father's letters lend this crime story an uneasy, darkly funny pull.
- Themes
- Father-son estrangement, Guilt, grief, and fear, Unreliable narration
- Genres
- Horror, Mystery, Literary Fiction
Nearest books
Matched by what the books are about, then ordered by what their readers also loved.
ExoColin Brush56% match
Crime 101 [movie Tie-in]Don Winslow52% match
The Silver StateTimothy Andrés Pabon, Gabriel Urza54% match
Entropy in BloomJeremy Robert Johnson54% matchShares Horror
The Hollow ManDan Simmons56% matchShares Horror
PolybiusCollin Armstrong58% matchShares Horror
A Voice in the DarkBarbara Nickless60% match
So Far GoneJess Walter59% match
For younger readers: Long Way Down, Darkly, Suicide Notes From Beautiful Girls
Start with three books, and this one can be the first.
Members get a new edition every morning: a route out from their books to essays, research and talks, with the reason for each.
Start with this bookAbout this book
“This strange, subtle story of father-son disaffection and disjointed love is told with [Jones’s] signature narrative inventiveness and dark humor.” —Kris Saknussemm, author of Private Midnight If drinking mercury from a thermometer didn’t kill him, maybe spray painting in an unventilated garage would. Or so Nolan’s father thought. One inspired yet failed suicide attempt after another, each with a note to his son—with only a hint of accusation.
Continue reading
But as Nolan sits in an empty office building, the last customer service employee for a nearly obsolete video game, those many suicide notes come back to haunt him. As do the levels of the game that no one plays anymore. And now a homicide detective is on the phone. Maybe his father was right when he wrote that he was teaching Nolan not to give up, that the only way to understand what happened was to make it to the end of the game. But there’s no cheatcode that’s going to get Nolan through this . . . “Two unreliable narrators, a bunch of suicide letters, and a plot that collapses on itself just like the characters do—Stephen Graham Jones is our contemporary Jorge Luis Borges.” —Michael Kimball, author of Big Ray “Like Lethem and Murakami before him, Jones mines his genre fiction past to bring us a work of startling literary merit. Mystery, horror, sci-fi: the ingredients are all in there.” —David Goodwillie, author of Kings County “[A] stark exploration of guilt, grief, and fear. . . . And did I mention that it’s funny? Unplug your consoles, kids, and play this book.” —Zack Wentz, author of The Garbageman and the Prostitute
Uneasy Levels
An obsolete game and a father's letters lend this crime story an uneasy, darkly funny pull.
Come here for
- Family disaffection with a streak of dark humor
- Crime tangled with an obsolete game's unanswered levels
Expect
- A troubled bond shaped by guilt and old letters
- Uneasy turns between game levels and a homicide inquiry
Where it sits
| Horror | 35% |
|---|---|
| Literary Fiction | 31% |
| Mystery | 25% |
Percentages are BookFrontier’s reading of the book.
Publisher categories
- Horror
- Psychological Fiction
- Sci-Fi Crime
- Family Life
Show all 6 publisher categories
- Dark Humor
- Noir Fiction
- Authors
- Stephen Graham Jones
- Publisher
- Open Road Integrated Media, Inc.
- Published
- October 1, 2024
- Format
- Paperback
- Theme
- Father-son estrangement · Guilt, grief, and fear · Unreliable narration
- Reading lane
- Horror