Open Bar - by Dan Schorr (Paperback)

About the Book

"When the longtime abuse by a university's softball coach of teenagers in its youth summer softball program--and the university's strategic cover-up of those crimes--comes to light, a community is turned upside down"--

Book Synopsis

When the longtime abuse by a university's softball coach of teenagers in its youth summer softball program--and the university's strategic cover-up of those crimes--comes to light, a community is turned upside down in this drama-filled thriller perfect for fans of Kate Elizabeth Russell and Allison Leotta.

Campus, corporate, and local politics collide when a high-profile sexual misconduct scandal rocks a prominent university.

Serena Stanfield, Mountain Hill University's human resources director, has just learned that the school's softball coach has been molesting teenagers in its youth summer softball program for years, and that the university has covered it up from both her and the public. Troy Abernathy, a junior associate at an international investigations firm, is navigating a turbulent, toxic workplace as the company aims to be retained by the university to investigate these sexual assault allegations. Megan Black, a new member of the Mountain Hill City Council, is thrust into the fallout from the national scandal while she simultaneously focuses on securing a presidential commutation for her childhood friend, who is unfairly facing decades in prison after stabbing her abusive husband to death in self-defense.

As additional disturbing details of the coach's actions are uncovered, Serena, Troy, Megan, and other prominent community figures confront competing interests and unique obstacles while they each pursue different paths toward obtaining justice for the softball program's sexual abuse survivors--and offer conflicting understandings of what justice would even mean.

Review Quotes

2025 Firebird Book Award Winner in Fiction
2025 American Fiction Book Awards Winner in Thriller: Political

"A timely and absorbing novel that asks what it costs to tell the truth . . . Schorr's prose is clean, fast-moving, and often laced with dark humor."--Kirkus Reviews

"Open Bar is a gripping page-turner that follows the chaotic fallout from a top university's alarming sex abuse scandal. With fast-paced writing and memorable characters, Dan Schorr delivers a moving story full of gritty realism, perceptive insights, and unexpected twists."--Tara Rosenblum, Emmy-winning Senior Political & Investigative Reporter, News12 Network

"In his riveting and unflinching novel Open Bar, former sex crimes prosecutor Dan Schorr explores the turbulent, high-stakes world of campus sexual misconduct investigations. Compelling, thought-provoking, and at times unsettling, Schorr's narrative offers a front-row seat to the challenges and complexities that define this critical aspect of modern higher education and American society. Open Bar is a must-read for anyone seeking profound insight into these pressing issues."--Jackie Gharapour Wernz, Civil Rights Attorney and Title IX Expert

"Dan Schorr taps his years of real-world experience investigating sexual misconduct allegations to deliver a suspenseful, propulsive, and heart-wrenching novel. Open Bar is a mesmerizing page-turner that takes us deep inside the cynical pressure campaigns, dysfunction human resources departments, and unethical litigation strategies that purport to seek justice but instead render countless lives irreparably scarred."--Gretchen Carlson, Journalist, co-founder Lift Our Voices, Female Empowerment Advocate, Author

About the Author

Dan Schorr is a sexual misconduct investigator at his firm, Dan Schorr, LLC, and an adjunct professor at Fordham Law School. Previously, he served as a New York sex crimes prosecutor, the Inspector General for the City of Yonkers, and an adjunct law professor with Tsinghua University in Beijing, China. He has been a television legal analyst for Good Morning America, CNN, Fox News Channel, Law & Crime network, and elsewhere. He lives in Rye Brook, New York with his wife and two children. His debut novel Final Table was the 2022 Indie Excellence Awards Winner in Literary Fiction. Open Bar is his second novel.