Bryan Gruley

Traverse City

Author of thriller BITTERFROST coming April 2025. Lifelong journalist. Edgar finalist, Pulitzer winner. Grandpa, dad, hubby, lover of hockey, guitar, golf.

Articles

How Journalism Helps Me Write Fiction (and Vice Versa)

2 months ago | writersdigest.com | Bryan Gruley

Question: Is it harder to write nonfiction or fiction? Answer: Yes. But one can help the other. (Tips for Writing About Controversial Topics in Fiction.)I’ve written thousands of nonfiction articles and six novels. I think of both as sculpture. In nonfiction, you start with a mound of clay consisting of interviews, documents, and observations. Constrained by the pile’s contents, you carve it away until what remains is your story.
Bryan Gruley on Research, Inspiration, and a Notorious Hockey Fight

2 months ago | crimereads.com | Bryan Gruley

Twenty-one years ago, National Hockey League forward Todd Bertuzzi got into an on-ice altercation with an opponent named Steve Moore. The encounter grew exceptionally violent. Moore suffered injuries that ended his NHL career. Bertuzzi went through civil and criminal litigation hell, but eventually resumed what turned out to be a decent hockey career. Article continues after advertisementAs a hockey player myself, I found this outcome upsetting.
Win A Copy Of The Book 'Bitterfrost: A Novel' By Bryan Gruley

2 months ago | redcarpetcrash.com | Bryan Gruley |Harlan Coben |Jesse Q Sutanto

The book is in stores on Tuesday, April 1st. Click on the link to buy a copy. https://amzn.to/40mKNyvThe first in a brand-new crime thriller series from Edgar nominee and Pulitzer Prize–winning author Bryan Gruley. Feisty defence attorney, Devyn Payne faces off against veteran detective, Garth Klimmek as they work to solve a vicious double homicide in their small, icy town of Bitterfrost. Thirteen years ago, former ice hockey star Jimmy Baker quit the game after almost killing an opponent.
Book Excerpt: 'BITTERFROST,' a Novel by Michigander Bryan Gruley

2 months ago | deadlinedetroit.com | Bryan Gruley

The author, a native of Redford, is an award-winning, critically acclaimed novelist and a former reporter for Bloomberg Businessweek, The Detroit News, and The Wall Street Journal, where he worked in the Washington bureau before serving as the Chicago bureau chief. He was part of a team at the Journal that won a Pulitzer Prize for 9/11 coverage. He currently resides in Traverse City. The book is available on Amazon.
Book Review: 'Vera Wong's Guide To Snooping (On A Dead Man): A Novel' By Jesse Q. Sutanto

Mar 9, 2025 | redcarpetcrash.com | Jesse Q Sutanto |Myah Ariel |Bryan Gruley

The book is in stores on Tuesday, April 1st from Berkley. Click on the link to buy a copy. https://amzn.to/41Lbrl6In the first book, Vera Wong solved a murder and now she wants another one to solve. When she runs into Miller, she learns her friend Tommy has vanished and Vera offers to look for him. She finds out he’s dead and it’s being reported as a suicide.
BITTERFROST | Kirkus Reviews

Feb 1, 2025 | kirkusreviews.com | Bryan Gruley

A freezing, sobering exploration of the hero’s mantra that “every day’s a penance.”Gruley returns to Michigan’s Upper Peninsula for another round of bloody murder. Jimmy Baker has always had anger issues. His career as a minor league hockey player ended abruptly when he was ordered to go after opposing player Cory Richards, goaded Cory into punching him in order to juice his own adrenaline, and then nearly killed him.
A Mother’s Joyful Lament

Jan 28, 2025 | grulescribe.medium.com | Bryan Gruley

Bryan Gruley·Follow5 min read·--Can you love your second child as much as your first? Our daughter Danielle Gruley wrote this heartfelt essay. Our second son, Asger, turns one today. A year ago, I didn’t know if I could love him as much as he deserved to be loved. For the first six weeks of Asger’s life, I mourned the loss of our family of three.
My Dad Didn’t Love Hockey, But He Must Have Loved Me

Feb 23, 2024 | medium.com | Bryan Gruley |David Todd McCarty

MEMOIRTo celebrate my late father’s memory, I’m going to lace on my skates and play hockeyMy father, Thomas A. Gruley, would have turned 93 today. Dad never played the game I’ve loved most of my life. He thought of hockey as a bunch of ruffians knocking each other around, and occasionally putting a puck in the net (not all that inaccurate a description in the 1970s). The game Dad loved, and occasionally loathed, was golf. But he went along with my playing hockey.
My First Book Left Out the Best Part

Nov 25, 2023 | grulescribe.medium.com | Bryan Gruley

Looking back, I can't believe I didn't write about the hockey games. I mean, really, what the hell was I thinking? Paper Losses, my first and only non-fiction book, was published 30 years ago this month. It told a tale of the long, savage, debilitating war for readers and advertisers at what were then two of the largest daily newspapers in the U.S.: the Detroit Free Press and the paper that employed me, The Detroit News.
It Makes Me Me

Jun 29, 2023 | grulescribe.medium.com | Bryan Gruley

On his excellent STORY CLUB Substack, the writer George Saunders asked subscribers to describe themselves as writers in 150 words or so. This is what I wrote:I imagine writers as lonely souls on abandoned islands who stuff messages into bottles and fling the bottles into the sea, hoping someone will read the messages inside. I was a professional journalist for 41 years, writing long-form narratives for The Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg Businessweek, and others.