Steve Braunias on the inclusion of a cancelled author in the latest Whitcoulls Top 100
The 2021 Whitcoulls Top 100, as below, exists to remind us that the people, as ever, want trash, escape, myth, allegory, riddles, and all manner of bullshit, preferably in a series (The Seven Sisters, The Tattooist of Auschwitz, The Hunger Games, Bridgerton, Heartstopper – with its 39 books of the Old Testament and 27 books of the New Testament, The Bible is the ultimate series), but there's something sweet about the inclusion of one piece of trash. At number 54 is The Woman in the Window. It's survived; its author hasn't, brutally cancelled two years ago.
In September 2018, I received an email from Ian Parker with the subject line: "The New Yorker/Dan Mallory."
He wrote, "Hello. I'm sorry to bother you. Angela Gregory gave me your email address. I'm a writer at the New Yorker, where I'm working on an article about Dan Mallory, the novelist writing as AJ Finn. Google brought me to your wonderful piece about the WORD festival, and your sketch of a brief meeting with him. I was just wondering, first, if your encounter with him included anything else that you didn't have space to add (I haven't yet met him, and I'm curious about his manner); and, second, if he was really making the claim that his book was the best-selling book in the world? (Rather than, say, the best-selling first novel in English)... Please ignore me if you're busy. It was great to discover that piece, and then read others by you."
It was a really well played set of cards. Polite; complimentary; gently inquisitive ("I'm curious about his manner"); and sensibly hoarding the real point of why he was "working on an article about Dan Mallory, the novelist writing as AJ Finn".
Mallory appeared at the Christchurch WORD literary festival in August 2018. He was the star attraction. His debut novel The Woman in the Window was a blockbuster success even before it was published: he sold the novel in a two-book, two-million-dollar deal. I ran into him in a bar at the Christchurch festival, and emailed Parker, "Dan - really nice guy! He was in the bar of the hotel where all the WORD authors were staying; it's a wonderfully informal festival, everyone just sort of hangs out, including the audience - Christchurch is a small, damaged city. I went over to say hi to a friend and got introduced to Dan. He was super nice and really chilled. He said, 'Oh we were just talking about you, Tom said you were a gifted writer.' Tom being Tom Scott, a NZ humourist who was on a debate with him that night. I said, 'Pshaw, nonsense! And what about you - are you an author, too?' I'd not heard of him. He affirmed he was, and that's when I asked what sort of books he wrote, and that's when he said, 'Well, my novel Woman in the Window is the biggest-selling book in the world in 2018.' It makes him sound boastful doesn't it but he actually just said it sort of casually, as though the fact had just occurred to him and wasn't it a wonderful stroke of luck.
"There was a bit of a stunned silence when he said that, but no one was thinking anything ill of him - he was just too nice for that, everyone was happy for him. Good old Dan, that sort of thing. 'Your shout, mate!', someone said. It might have been me."
I gave Parker an email address for Tom Scott, who was also duly asked about Mallory's manner. Tom is a wonderful story teller and his description was published in the New Yorker: "He came in wearing a bomber jacket. An incredibly good-looking guy. He sat down and plonked one leg over the arm of his chair, and swung that leg casually, and within two minutes he’d mentioned that he had the best-selling novel in the world this year…He was enjoying his success so much. It was almost like an outsider looking in on his own success.”
The article was published in the New Yorker in February 2019. It caused a sensation, and it destroyed Mallory's career, killed it dead, instantly. Mallory was revealed as a kind of pathological liar. "According to many people who know him, he has a history of imposture, and of duping people with false stories about disease and death…His behaviour has struck many as calculated and extreme…. manipulative …inspiring pity and furthering ambition…. Mallory had made it widely known to co-workers that he had an inoperable brain tumour." One claim resonated with the drinkers in the Christchurch bar: a former colleague told Parker, "He was not modest, ever."
He was never really heard of again. Parker wrote, "Mallory has said that his second novel is likely to appear in early 2020—coinciding, he hopes, with the Oscar ceremony at which the film of The Woman in the Window will be honoured." The film was delayed, and only recently was picked up by Netflix, to scathing reviews. As for his second novel in his two-book deal, The Ways was set for publication in April 2021. It hasn't appeared yet. He's changed his pen name to Simon Brown. Dan Mallory, AJ Finn, Simon Brown - whatever name he goes under, the guy knows how to write a clever, compelling, much-loved piece of trash. It's good to see his book in the Whitcoulls 100. Cancel culture is such a drag. It's the work and the work alone that matters. The author at number 94 is completely indefensible, but that book's a masterpiece.
THE 1OO FAVOURITE BOOKS OF NEW ZEALANDERS WHO FILLED OUT A WHITCOULLS FORM
1 The Seven Sisters Series Lucinda Riley
2 Harry Potter Series J.K.Rowling
3 Where the Crawdads Sing Delia Owens
4 A Court of Thorns and Roses Series Sarah J. Maas
5 Outlander Series Diana Gabaldon
6 Pride and Prejudice Jane Austen
7 The Book Thief Markus Zusak
8 The Lord of the Rings J.R.R.Tolkien
9 To Kill a Mockingbird Harper Lee
10 The Grishaverse Leigh Bardugo
11 I Am Pilgrim Terry Hayes
12 The Tattooist of Auschwitz Series Heather Morris
13 The Bible
14 Throne of Glass Series Sarah J. Maas
15 The Midnight Library Matt Haig
16 The Bronze Horseman Paullina Simons
17 The Hunger Games Series Suzanne Collins
18 Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine Gail Honeyman
19 Bridgerton Series Julia Quinn
20 Aroha Hinemoa Elder
21 All The Light We Cannnot See Anthony Doerr
22 The Girl in the Mirror Rose Carlyle
23 Becoming Michelle Obama
24 Normal People Sally Rooney
25 The Song of Achilles Madeline Miller
26 The Kingsbridge Series Ken Follett
27 Auē Becky Manawatu
28 Me Before You Jojo Moyes
29 A Little Life Hanya Yanagihara
30 The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue V.E.Schwab
31 The Sentinel Lee Child & Andrew Child
32 A Song of Ice and Fire Series George R.R.Martin
33 The Night Circus Erin Morgenstern
34 The Kingkiller Chronicle Patrick Rothfuss
35 The Alchemist Paulo Coelho
36 American Dirt Jeanine Cummins
37 The Hobbit J.R.R.Tolkien
38 Crescent City: House of Earth & Blood Sarah J. Maas
39 Māori Made Easy Scotty Morrison
40 Shuggie Bain Douglas Stuart
41 Educated Tara Westover
42 The Power of One Bryce Courtenay
43 Women Don't Owe You Pretty Florence Given
44 Red, White & Royal Blue Casey McQuiston
45 The Nightingale Kristin Hannah
46 The Kite Runner Khaled Hosseini
47 A High Country Life Philippa Cameron
48 Think Like a Monk Jay Shetty
49 The Handmaid's Tale Series Margaret Atwood
50 Lilac Girls Series Martha Hall Kelly
51 Tell Me Lies J.P. Pomare
52 Supergood Chelsea Winter
53 Sapiens Noah Yuval Harari
54 The Woman in the Window A.J.Finn
55 The Boy, the Mole, the Fox & the Horse Charlie Mackesy
56 The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo Taylor Jenkins Reid
57 Note to Self Rebekah Ballagh
58 The Tea Rose Series Jennifer Donnelly
59 Gone Girl Gillian Flynn
60 The Four Winds Kristin Hannah
61 The Secret History Donna Tartt
62 Boy Swallows Universe Trent Dalton
63 Jane Eyre Charlotte Bronte
64 The Millennium Series Stieg Larsson & David Lagercrantz
65 My Sister's Keeper Jodi Picoult
66 The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*** Mark Manson
67 The Alice Network Kate Quinn
68 The Stormlight Archive Brandon Sanderson
69 The Book of Knowing Series Gwendoline Smith
70 This is Going to Hurt Adam Kay
71 Girl, Woman, Other Bernardine Evaristo
72 Untamed Glennon Doyle
73 Back to You Tammy Robinson
74 Keepers Cherie Metcalfe
75 1984 George Orwell
76 Orphan X Series Gregg Hurwitz
77 Mythos Stephen Fry
78 It Stephen King
79 Shantaram Gregory David Roberts
80 A Thousand Splendid Suns Khaled Hosseini
81 The Last Hours Series Cassandra Clare
82 The Girl on the Train Paula Hawkins
83 A Gentleman in Moscow Amor Towles
84 Heartstopper Series Alice Oseman
85 Big Little Lies Liane Moriarty
86 Dune Frank Herbert
87 The Goldfinch Donna Tartt
88 The Riftwar Saga Raymond E. Feist
89 In Order to Live Yeonmi Park
90 The Body Bill Bryson
91 Little Women Louisa May Alcott
92 The Choice Edith Eger
93 Into the Wilderness Series Sara Donati
94 The Catcher in the Rye J.D.Salinger
95 Sh*t Towns of New Zealand Anonymous
96 The Thursday Murder Club Richard Oseman
97 The Vanishing Half Brit Bennett
98 The Outsiders S.E.Hinton
99 Rich Dad Poor Dad Robert Kiyosaki
100 They Both Die at the End Adam Silvera
