Dan Barden. (2012). The Next Right Thing: A Novel. Random House Publishing Group.

Dan Barden. 2012. The Next Right Thing: A Novel. Random House Publishing Group.

Dan Barden, The Next Right Thing: A Novel. Random House Publishing Group, 2012.

Dan Barden. The Next Right Thing: A Novel. Random House Publishing Group, 2012.

OverDrive Product Record

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1. • role: Author
   • fileAs: Barden, Dan
   • bioText: Dan Barden is also the author of John Wayne: A Novel. A native of Southern California, he teaches at Butler University and lives in Indianapolis with his wife, Elizabeth Houghton Barden, owner of Big Hat Books & Arts.
   • name: Dan Barden

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2012-03-06T00:00:00-05:00

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title

The Next Right Thing

fullDescription

The Next Right Thing is a hilarious and harrowing combination of thriller and recovery tale, equal parts hard-earned wisdom and old-fashioned suspense.
Southern California home builder extraordinaire Randy Chalmers has to admit he’d be dead or in prison were it not for his best friend, lawyer, and Alcoholics Anonymous sponsor, Terry Elias. A former police officer, Randy narrowly escaped being an evening news highlight during years ravaged by anger and alcohol. Thanks to Terry’s coaching and an endless stream of caffeine-fueled AA meetings, Randy’s been off the booze for eight years, has a successful new career, and is thriving in a healthy relationship with his vegan yoga-instructor girlfriend. All is well . . . until Terry, himself supposedly sober for fifteen years, is found dead of a heroin overdose.
 
How could Terry, who had dragged so many others from the edge, jump off himself? Convinced that something (or someone) must have pushed him, Randy is soon off on a dry-drunk quest for answers—and possibly revenge. He discovers a trail of dirty secrets that lead to missing persons, shady real estate deals, hydroponic pot farms, and Internet pornography. When his suspicions ultimately connect Terry’s death to the activities of a recently appointed Superior Court judge—who just happens to be dating Randy’s ex-wife—Randy has to ask himself: Is he really onto something or just suffering from grief and paranoia? Will his increasingly frenzied behavior ruin his current relationship and his chances of regaining custody of his daughter? Will he destroy the life that he has worked so hard to achieve? Will he reach for a drink?
 
Praise for The Next Right Thing
“Everything you could hope for from a novel: The Next Right Thing is suspenseful, hilarious, angry—above all, wildly original. I only wish I’d written it myself.”—Jennifer Egan, Pulitzer Prize–winning author of A Visit from the Goon Squad
 
“Dan Barden’s The Next Right Thing is The Long Goodbye in rehab. It’s fierce and funny and absolutely worthy of its predecessors—like them, Barden’s hard-boiled tale is really an inquiry into male love and grief, and the state of the American heart.”—Jonathan Lethem
 
“The Next Right Thing has humanity, humor, and insight to burn. Dan Barden takes the clay of the California hard-boiled novel and shapes it into something new.”—George Pelecanos

reviews

1. • premium: False
   • source: Jennifer Egan, Pulitzer Prize–winning author of A Visit from the Goon Squad
   • content: "Everything you could hope for from a novel: The Next Right Thing is suspenseful, hilarious, angry--above all, wildly original. I only wish I'd written it myself."
2. • premium: False
   • source: Michelle Huneven, National Book Critics Circle Finalist author of Round Rock and Blame
   • content: "Randy Chalmers is an American literary hero for our time: a recovering drunk with a big, broken heart and an anger problem. I adore him. In The Next Right Thing, Dan Barden captures exactly the pitiless, irreverent love that keeps drunks sober."
3. • premium: True
   • source:
   • content:

     April 9, 2012
     In Barden's new novel (after John Wayne), Laguna Beach, Calif. cop-turned-homebuilder Randy Chalmers knows he owes his sobriety to his Alcoholics Anonymous sponsor Terry Elias. But when Terry is found dead from a heroin overdose in a sleazy hotel room, Randy risks everything for answers in this hard-hitting tale of revenge and redemption. Clean for 15 years, Terry was a legend at AA, taking the newly sober under his wing. He guided Randy—who was thrown off the force for nearly beating a man to death —through his anger issues and helped him stay clean for eight years. But as Randy discovers, Terry wasn't as saintly as he appeared. Working off tips from fellow AA member Wade, Randy retraces Terry's last days. Refusing to believe that Terry would be caught up in drugs, Randy, with his single-minded determination to preserve Terry's memory, alienates those around him as he sinks back into old—and violent—habits. As his relationships with his girlfriend and his daughter become strained, and bodies start turning up, Randy must decide the price he's willing to pay to uncover the truth. Barden makes the addiction cycle as believable and painfully raw as possible, and as such his characters aren't necessarily likeable. But they ring true nonetheless.

4. • premium: True
   • source:
   • content:

     January 15, 2012
     A 12-stepping ex-cop goes on a grand tour of seedy Southern California to investigate his sponsor's shocking overdose. Randy, the hero of Barden's busy but engaging debut, has a lot of the trappings of a noir hero in the Chandler and Hammett vein: a sixth sense for telling when somebody's lying, women he's trying (and failing) to do right by and a hot temper that alternately helps and hurts him. The chief distinction here is that Randy is a recovering alcoholic, which gives this story a healthy amount of verve and black comedy. Rather than sounding preachy or cowed, Randy has the bravado and attitude of a man who's fighting hard for his sobriety. He's distraught to learn that his AA sponsor, Terry, died of a heroin overdose, and solving the mystery leads him into the worlds of recovery houses, pot dealers, pornographers and drug-enforcement agents. The multitude of threads Randy follows bog down the story somewhat, especially because little distinguishes the various bad guys--one SoCal goon is as craven and greedy as any other. But the novel has some solid anchors in Terry, whom Randy fondly remembers as a font of tough love, Randy's skeptical girlfriend Mary Pat and his daughter, Alison, who clarifies what the stakes are. More memorable than the plot or characters, though, is Randy's voice. Like many people in recovery, he spends a lot of time working through past errors and regrets (a violent drunken beating that got him booted from the force is just one), and he can be sanctimonious at times. But he's no cardboard AA spokesperson, and when he interacts with the young addicts slipping in and out of recovery, he underscores just how much of a struggle sobriety can be. A slightly clunky thriller that succeeds on the emotional and physical muscle of its narrator.

     COPYRIGHT(2012) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

5. • premium: True
   • source:
   • content:

     October 1, 2011
     

     Big-time Southern California homebuilder Randy Chalmers owes it all to friend, lawyer, and Alcoholics Anonymous sponsor Terry Elias. So when Terry is found dead of a heroin overdose after years of sobriety, Randy is not only shocked but angry enough to launch his own investigation (he's a former policeman). Sounds like a typical suspense novel, but since Jennifer Egan and Jonathan Lethem are raving about it, it's obviously something more.

     Copyright 2011 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

6. • premium: True
   • source:
   • content:

     February 1, 2012
     Disgraced Southern California cop Randy Chalmers would have drowned himself in drink if it weren't for Terry Elias, the Alcoholics Anonymous sponsor who helped him stare down the demons that were destroying his life. So when Terry is found dead of a heroin overdose in a sleazy motel, Randy becomes singularly focused on seeking justice. Randy knew Terry was no angel, but he had no idea what kind of deep, dark trouble his friend was in, from Internet pornography and pot farms to shady real estate deals. As Randy pursues clues to Terry's demise, he must contend with challenges of his own: a difficult ex-wife, a distant daughter, and a recovering addict girlfriend about to give him the shove. Barden, who has been in recovery himself for years, vividly renders the culture of Alcoholics Anonymous and the flawed souls who depend on it to stay sane and alive. While billed as a thriller, The Next Right Thing is less mystery than tale of male friendship.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2012, American Library Association.)

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The Next Right Thing is a hilarious and harrowing combination of thriller and recovery tale, equal parts hard-earned wisdom and old-fashioned suspense.
Southern California home builder extraordinaire Randy Chalmers has to admit he’d be dead or in prison were it not for his best friend, lawyer, and Alcoholics Anonymous sponsor, Terry Elias. A former police officer, Randy narrowly escaped being an evening news highlight during years ravaged by anger and alcohol. Thanks to Terry’s coaching and an endless stream of caffeine-fueled AA meetings, Randy’s been off the booze for eight years, has a successful new career, and is thriving in a healthy relationship with his vegan yoga-instructor girlfriend. All is well . . . until Terry, himself supposedly sober for fifteen years, is found dead of a heroin overdose.
 
How could Terry, who had dragged so many others from the edge, jump off himself? Convinced that something (or someone) must...

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