About

Richard Dooling’s first novel, Critical Care, became a film directed by Sidney Lumet, starring James Spader and Helen Mirren. His second novel, White Man’s Grave, was a finalist for the 1994 National Book Award. Brain Storm and Bet Your Life were both New York Times Notable Books of the Year.

His nonfiction includes Blue Streak, on swearing and free speech, and Rapture for the Geeks: When AI Outsmarts IQ.

His writing has appeared in The New Yorker, Esquire, The Wall Street Journal, and The New York Times. In 2003–2004, he helped write and produce Stephen King’s Kingdom Hospital for ABC.

His latest books are Send the Dead, a novella and four stories, and The Acolyte, a novel (June 2026).

After college, Dooling worked as a respiratory therapist in intensive care units and spent a year traveling in West Africa — experiences that informed his first two novels. He practiced law in St. Louis and now lives in Montana with his wife, Kristy.