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Half Past Dawn

Richard Doetsch
Atria Books (2011)
ISBN 9781439183977
Reviewed by Ray Palen for RebeccasReads (11/11)

Richard Doetsch has turned his career as a real estate executive on its ear, and as his hobby is writing terrific historical-based thrillers which has now propelled him to the upper echelons of this genre.  With two of his prior novels already being optioned for major motion pictures, his latest release "Half Past Dawn"is a stand-alone thriller that pulls out all stops and continues his successful streak of addictive novels.

Jack Keeler’s world slowly comes to life at half-past dawn one morning and he finds himself placed within a situation that he cannot explain.  He gazes in the mirror to find a seriously wounded face, a poorly stitched up shoulder wound and an intricately designed tattoo of indecipherable script covering his forearm.

He also does not find his wife, Mia, where she should be in bed beside him.  Mia is an FBI agent and as he limps towards his phone to call her he is met with the shock of his life.  The daily paper features a front-page story exclaiming that New York City District Attorney Jack Keeler is dead.  The article is accompanied by a photo of a mangled guard-rail, highway covered in skid marks and the bridge that Jack and Mia’s car supposedly tumbled off of.

When Jack’s friend and mentor, Frank Archer, stops by he is met by a frantic Jack who shows him the newspaper story. Together, Jack and Frank attempt to jog Jack’s memory of the prior evening and piece together the short-term amnesia filled moments that are just out of Keeler’s reach.  With Mia being a CIA agent and Jack a prominent D.A., the list of those who might want to harm them is endless.  Where to begin?

Jack and Frank begin their own private investigation under the radar of authorities and taking full advantage of the fact that everyone thinks Jack is dead.  As more and more memories become clear to him, Jack starts filling in the missing pieces of the previous night and at one point confronts the man whose actions caused their near-fatal car crash. 

The only problem is that, once Jack kills this mysterious villain, he rifles through his jacket to find an ID along with a badge claiming the stranger to be one Steven Gallagher, FBI agent.  What have Jack and Mia gotten themselves into?

Jack’s world is further turned upside down when he receives a phone call from Mia’s alleged kidnappers.  The frightening thing is that the voice on the other end of the phone belongs to Nowaji Cristos --- a convicted terrorist that Jack prosecuted.  Unfortunately for Jack, knowing the identity of his enemy does not help him in this case as he watched as Cristos was executed via lethal injection the previous year.  Cristos at one point says to Jack: ‘Nothing is as it seems.  Remember this, death is not always final, not always permanent; death is never the end.’

I advise all readers of this twisting Pandora’s Box of a novel to keep that quote in mind as a very real quandary is laid out.  Is Jack dealing with a villain who can indeed cheat death or is he himself suffering from a mass delusion brought on by a brain tumor he has been battling?  Once this realization is proposed nothing is truly as it seems and "Half Past Dawn"  will take you into situations you will not see coming.  A fine job by Richard Doetsch as he once again has written a fast-paced thriller sprinkled with international intrigue and historical mysteries that keep things hopping until the very last page.

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