Crash Clown

In this, his long-awaited first novel, Frank Mullen holds up a mirror to American personal injury law, addictions to booze and information, the failure of relationships between men and women, and standard Dachshunds. Pete Consin works as a forensic investigator of everyday catastrophes that are as absurd as they are heartbreaking. When Pete loses his ability to separate the sorrow in his work from the sorrow in his personal life, both worlds crash spectacularly, in tandem, chapter by chapter.

In these eighteen beautifully written tragedies, Mullen weaves a story, with sarcasm and poignancy, about unforgettable people as they churn through their private American disasters. He takes you on a captivating drive across a landscape of legal apologues, quiet betrayals, and suicidal preoccupation.

His writing is skeptical and comic, reassuring throughout, and pointed toward unexpected hope and redemption.