Synopses & Reviews
Between life and death, between the deepest dark of night and the first rays of dawn, in that moment where we begin to drift from sleep to wakefulness, is where anything is possible . . .
Jack Keeler wakes up one bright June morning to the shock of his life. He gazes in the mirror and sees a half-healed gash over his right eye and a hastily stitched-together wound in his shoulder that looks suspiciously like the result of a bullet. He also notices an intricately designed tattoo—words written in a foreign script—covering the length of his forearm. He’s alone, his house eerily silent without the delightful chatter of his wife and two daughters. He has absolutely no memory of how, when, or why he ended up in such gruesome physical condition.
Jack gropes his way down to the kitchen to call his wife, Mia—an FBI agent—and to find some answers. But before he can pick up the phone, his eyes are drawn to the front page of that morning’s paper. He takes in a large photo of a bridge, the guard rail missing, a skein of tire marks on the roadway. Above the photo, in large black type, a headline that simply reads NEW YORK CITY DISTRICT ATTORNEY JACK KEELER DEAD.
From this mind-shattering opening scene, Richard Doetsch takes readers on a twisting, turning adventure as Jack struggles to find out not only what happened to him, but to his missing wife. As fragments of his memory return, and with the help of a loyal friend, he reconstructs the events of the previous night, which culminated in his being shot and Mia’s abduction. He has only until dawn of the following day to uncover an ancient mystery hidden in the depths of one of the country’s most heavily guarded prisons. Just when Jack thinks he has put all the pieces together and has saved Mia’s life, a final twist occurs that changes everything.
A thriller spanning time, an Asian people out of legend, an assassin who will stop at nothing to avenge his death sentence, and a diary whose contents foretell the future, Half-Past Dawn is a race through the borders of life and death, insanity and reason, and dreams and reality. In the dim light of half-past dawn, nothing is as it appears to be.
Review
"Richard Doetsch delivers one of the best thrillers of the year...a gut-wrenching read. The constant shocks and twists will delight the most seasoned thriller fan." —
The Associated Press
"This one will keep you guessing to the end." —Suspense Magazine
Review
"Richard Doetsch delivers one of the best thrillers of the year...a gut-wrenching read. The constant shocks and twists will delight the most seasoned thriller fan." —
The Associated Press
"This one will keep you guessing to the end." —Suspense Magazine
"A whole new meaning to the term 'thriller'...an incredible story that will leave one wondering until the very end." —Book Banter (blog)
“The story is too compelling to be abandoned before the last word and, even then, it doesn’t let go.” —Murder By Type (blog)
"Half Past Dawn defies description. There simply has not been anything like it. Ever. Full of nonstop action, mindbending switchbacks and psychological puzzles, it will keep you up far into the deepest hours of the night, quite possibly even until…half-past dawn. Richard Doetsch is undeniably the king of plot twists." —BookReporter
"Doetsch delivers a whole new meaning to the term 'thriller,' providing shocking revelations and realizations at the end of almost every chapter. Readers will be left wondering (and dreading) what will happen next, and be physically unable to stop reading.” —San Francisco Book Review
Synopsis
A man who wakes up to find that he has a gunshot wound, his wife is missing, and the news of his own death is on the front page of the newspaper.
Synopsis
From the internationally acclaimed author of
The 13th Hour, a thriller about a district attorney who wakes up with no memory of the previous night to find that he has made the front page of the newspaper—as a murder victim.
Richard Doetsch is a bright new star in the thriller genre, penning novels that have sold clear across the globe and have attracted the serious attention of Hollywood filmmakers. In Half-Past Dawn, Doetsch gives us his characteristic blend of white-knuckle plot twists and characters that are as real as life.
For Harper Keller, it is the morning from hell. He wakes up, gazes in the bathroom mirror, and sees a nasty, half-healed gash over his right eye. Even worse, his shoulder has a hastily stitched wound that looks suspiciously like the result of a bullet. With his wife and two daughters out of the house, he is alone when he picks up the morning paper to see a photo of a smashed guardrail beneath a headline that reads, “District Attorney, Harper Keller, Dead.” From this mind-shattering opening, readers embark on a twisting, turning adventure as Harper struggles to learn not only what happened to him, but also to his missing wife. And just when he thinks he has put all the pieces together, a final twist changes everything.
Full of double-crosses and cliffhangers, Half-Past Dawn is pure entertainment and further proof of Richard Doetsch’s stature as a preeminent master of the thriller.
About the Author
Richard Doetsch is the international bestselling author of five previous thrillers, including The Thieves of Faith, The Thieves of Heaven, which is currently being developed for film by Twentieth Century Fox, The Thieves of Darkness, which Doetsch is co-adapting with Shane Salerno (Savages, Armageddon, Hawaii Five-0), The 13th Hour, which is being adapted by New Line Cinema, and Half-Past Dawn. Doetsch is a triathlete, adventure racer, and extreme sport enthusiast and lives in New York with his family. Visit RichardDoetsch.com to find out more.