title: How Novels Work
author:  John Mullan 
description: Based on Mullan's weekly "Elements of Fiction" column from UK's The Guardian, this volume intelligently dismantles a hefty stack of beloved novels to find out what makes them tick. Mullan is interested in fiction that most resonates with contemporary audiences-the books that readers remember and are eager to share and discuss-and, consequently, a number of book-club favorites turn up here, including Jane Smiley's A Thousand Acres, Jonathan Franzen's The Corrections and Mark Haddon's The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nightime. Moving with critical dexterity from Martin Amis to Richard Yates to Virginia Woolf to a small library of other well-known authors, Mullan's methods-which are, in effect, to claw at the ineffable qualities of modern-day classics until some concrete observations emerge-are consistently readable and relevant, illuminating well each chapter's topic (Genre, Voices, Structure, Detail and Style among them). Although Mullan notes in the introduction that he revised, rearranged, and rewrote the columns extensively, the book retains-to its benefit-a serial, journalistic feel, moving the ambitious project from topic to topic and book to book at a pace that allows for real mechanical investigation but bars stalling.<br />Copyright  Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
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  Praise for Dallas Mullican’s Debut Novel
  
  
  A COIN FOR CHARON – A Marlowe Gentry Thriller
  
  
  In A Coin for Charon, Dallas Mullican has created a gritty contemporary
  thriller with overtones of the paranormal. The author delves so deep into the
  head of the killer that the reader is right there with him, never quite sure
  if this is a madman or someone truly doing the work of God. As a delusion, it
  is portrayed with enough depth to the point of being indistinguishable from
  reality. Perhaps Gabriel really is doing the work of a divine agency?
  
  
  \- Matthew Cox, author of the Division Zero and Awakened series
  
  
  A Coin for Charon is Dallas Mullican’s debut novel, a psychological thriller
  detailing the lives of four people and how they intertwine. An exciting and
  well-paced page-turner, the first novel in Mullican’s Marlowe Gentry series is
  heavy thematically. Suicide, hope, and how our past experiences have molded
  us, are all present in a story that packs enough emotional punch to knock th