Have You Seen Dawn [Large Print] [Hardcover]

Steven Saylor (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 2003

Menace stalks the sleepy streets of Amethyst, Texas, in acclaimed mystery writer Steven Saylor's chilling novel of a young woman who goes home for a visit and becomes enmeshed in the search for a missing teenage girl. Menace turns to fear when layers of secrets and mistrust are peeled back to reveal a darkness deeper and more terrifying than anything the young visitor could ever have imagined.

Duty and love of her wheelchair-bound grandmother compel Rue Dunwitty to travel from her new home in San Francisco back to the quiet little Texas town where she was raised.

For Rue, arriving in Amethyst evokes the cozy comfort of returning to a safe haven where everyone knows her name and nothing ever seems to change. Then, in the window of the local grocery store, she sees a sign with a picture of a teenage girl and the question, "Have you seen Dawn?" Rue's bittersweet nostalgia is abruptly replaced by a growing sense of dread.

Dawn is the daughter of a single mother who recently moved to town. When Rue encounters Dawn's twin brother, she is disconcerted by his precocious, brooding intensity. Also unnerving is the change that seems to have come over Rue's old friends. Have they simply grown apart, or is there something more sinister at play?

Then, late at night, Rue sees a strange light in the field outside her grandmother's house, moving across the abandoned farm that once had been home to her father, from whom she is now estranged.

In short order, Rue finds herself confounded by a series of disturbing discoveries -- about the husband of her best friend from high school days; about the intentions of the town's handsome deputy sheriff; about her father, who moved away fromAmethyst years ago but may have secretly returned; about her brother, who lives in Austin, but who seems to have taken a leave from both his job and his marriage; and about her boyfriend from San Francisco, who suddenly shows up in town and who seems not to be a stranger there.

Atmospheric and grippingly suspenseful, "Have You Seen Dawn?" is a thrilling novel of brooding menace, devious twists, and startling surprises.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

The deservedly large and devoted following of Saylor's outstanding Roma Sub Rosa historical mysteries is likely to be disappointed with his latest effort, a contemporary serial killer story. The conventional, paint-by-the-numbers plot has Rue Dunwitty, a colorless young dot-commer, returning to her sleepy hometown of Amethyst, Tex., to find that a pretty teenager is missing and presumed dead. Several encounters with the girl's fraternal twin brother prompt Rue to begin her own inquiries and lead to her discovery of a body on property abandoned long ago by her estranged father. Unfortunately, no corpse is in evidence when she returns with the sheriff. Amid her amateur sleuthing, Rue juggles two romantic interests: the local deputy, who had moved to the small town as a retreat from horrors he witnessed while serving as a police officer in Corpus Christi, and a co-worker from San Francisco, who happens to be near Amethyst at the time of her visit. Of Saylor's many strengths, only his gift for evoking a certain time and place is manifest. The lack of suspense, an interesting puzzle and any psychological depth is especially surprising given the author's previous consistent skill at crafting those elements. His Gordianus mysteries are filled with strong, interesting women, yet his modern heroine comes across as a clueless damsel in distress who only stumbles on the truth when it appears directly in her path. Saylor has been successful outside of ancient Rome before (A Twist at the End), but this outing won't broaden his horizons.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Booklist

Saylor, acclaimed for his Roma Sub Rosa historical mysteries, which are set in the ancient Rome of Cicero and Caesar, launched a well-received ghost/sleuthing tale starring O'Henry last year, A Twist at the End. This time out, Saylor tries a contemporary suspense story set in a small Texas town. Saylor's new heroine, Rue (a good name for someone mired in the past) Dunwitty, leaves her analyst job for a dot-com survivor in San Francisco to go on her annual visit to tiny Amethyst, Texas, where her beloved wheelchair-bound grandmother awaits. After she arrives, Rue learns a local 17-year-old girl is missing and is shaken by the incursion of contemporary crime into the safe little backwater. She becomes even more shaken after discovering that two other teen girls have also disappeared in the past few months. Far too much attention is given to the kind of daily life trivia that is riveting in the Roma Sub Rosa books, but here slows everything down; the plot itself, however, is compelling. Connie Fletcher
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 416 pages
• Publisher: Thorndike Press (June 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 078625467X
• ISBN-13: 978-0786254675
• Product Dimensions: 8.7 x 6.4 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #7,588,256 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Steven Saylor is the author of EMPIRE: THE NOVEL OF IMPERIAL ROME, a follow-up to the international bestseller ROMA: THE NOVEL OF ANCIENT ROME. These two epic novels comprise a multi-generational saga that spans the first 1200 years of the city, from Iron Age trading post to the height of empire under Hadrian.

Steven is also the author of the ROMA SUB ROSA series of historical mysteries featuring Gordianus the Finder, set in the ancient Rome of Cicero, Caesar, and Cleopatra. To read the series in chronological order, begin with ROMAN BLOOD, then THE HOUSE OF THE VESTALS (short stories), A GLADIATOR DIES ONLY ONCE (short stories), ARMS OF NEMESIS , CATILINA'S RIDDLE, THE VENUS THROW, A MURDER ON THE APPIAN WAY, RUBICON, LAST SEEN IN MASSILIA, A MIST OF PROPHECIES, THE JUDGMENT OF CAESAR, and THE TRIUMPH OF CAESAR.

Steven is currently at work on the next volume in the Roma Sub Rosa series, a prequel that follows the 18-year-old Gordianus on his journey to the Seven Wonders of the World; publication is scheduled for summer 2012.

Outside the Roman books are two novels set in Steven's native Texas. A TWIST AT THE END is based on America's first recorded serial murders, which terrorized Austin, Texas in 1885. The chief protagonist is young Will Porter, who later became famous as O. Henry. HAVE YOU SEEN DAWN? is a contemporary thriller set in a small Texas town not unlike the one where Steven grew up.

Steven's books have been published in 21 languages, and book tours have taken him across the United States, England, and Europe. He has appeared as an expert on Roman life on The History Channel, and has spoken at numerous college campuses, The Getty Villa, and the International Conference on the Ancient Novel.

Steven was born in Texas in 1956 and graduated with high honors from the University of Texas at Austin, where he studied history and Classics. He divides his time between homes in Berkeley, California, and Austin, Texas. When not using his brain, he likes to keep in shape running, swimming, and lifting weights.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Could I have been reading a different book?, April 1, 2003

By 

Amberblade (New England, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Have You Seen Dawn?: A Novel (Hardcover)

I've read the other reviews of this book, and I must say, I'm puzzled.
I honestly didn't like this book. But that's not the reason I gave it 1 star. I gave it 1 because not only didn't I like it, it was, overall, not very good at all.
I'll start by saying I thought the premise was good. It had the potential to be a great short story. Unfortunately, Saylor chose to stretch it to book length. This book could have easily been condenced into 5o pages, and still been a little too long.
All right, that was my first problem. The second was, the story was sadly transparent. Anyone who didn't know who the killer was by the time we found Dawn wasn't actually paying attention.
The writing style seemed....how should I put this....Well, like something you would expect from a 16 year old.
The characters were lacking in everything from personality, to depth, to intrest, and more. Rue was agravating, and as for the others....Let's just say, in a few weeks, I will have forgotten that they even existed.
The plot development was sad. By then end of the book I was so thankful that the story was over that I was actually glad that this book was only 200-something pages long.
Now, this sounds like a negative review, right? Well, it is. This is probably one of the worst books I've read in a long time. But! Don't let that stop you from reading it! It seems like I'm the only one who thought this book wasn't worth the paper it was printed on.
Maybe I found the simplicity of the story pointless, instead of interesting. Or... well, you'll just have to read it for yourself.
So, in closing, Have you seen Dawn was not my kind of book. And, I'm assuming that this review will generate many negative responses. But, don't just vote aginst it because you don't like what I'm saying, all right? Try and look at it objectively, and then if you feel that this was not worth the time it took to read it, I understand.

15 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Aaron Travis is resurfacing in Saylor's latest..., March 7, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: Have You Seen Dawn?: A Novel (Hardcover)

Before publishing mystery novels, Steven Saylor wrote gay male erotica (often with strong S&M elements) under the psuedonym Aaron Travis, for which he attained substantial recognition in certain circles. If, by chance, this little bit of trivia about Saylor surprises you, you probably haven't read Have You Seen Dawn?.

Granted, he ostensibly presents the story from a woman's point of view, but his complete lack of narrative investment in Rue's identity *as a woman* points to his real reason for incorporating a straight female lead--through "her" eyes, he can spend inordinate amounts of time eroticizing his male characters (and comparing the respective sizes of their genitals). This veneer of respectable heterosexuality is painfully transparent; I wish Saylor had just cast Rue as a gay man and left it at that. If he had, the added frisson of non-normative gender relations and what would have undoubtedly been a more enthusiastic characterization might have made the novel a better read.

Yes, the story could have been much better. Though I'm not a prolific mystery novel reader, I'll presume that it is a *bad* thing that I knew who the culprit was by page 23 of the 247 pages of text. However, I couldn't decide if that was simply because, after reading Saylor's erotica, I'd become attuned to the way his mind works somehow. For the sake of those who like to be surprised by the resolution of a novel, I hope readers less familiar with Saylor might be captivated and deceived more easily by the twists of the plot.

The editorial reviews above provide a very good introduction to the general plot of Have You Seen Dawn?, so I won't repeat any of that here. However, those who have a weak stomach for dangerous and perverse sexuality--be forewarned. The sexual elements of the novel are central and impossible to ignore. If this isn't your thing, stay far away.

If, on the other hand, you are interested in the parallels between this novel and the Travis erotica, try reading the short story "Kudzu." The similarities go without saying (and can't be said, since I don't want to spoil the plot).

In final analysis, Have You Seen Dawn? represents a solid story neither particularly bad nor particularly good. The prose is straightforward and easy to read, but very little about the novel is especially thought-provoking...except how much it reads like the gay male erotica that Saylor supposedly stopped writing.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A very disturbing story, a bit too disturbing for my taste., September 16, 2006

By 

K. L Sadler "Dr. Karen L. Sadler" (Freedom, Pa. USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Have You Seen Dawn?: A Novel (Hardcover)

Ooooh, I really didn't like this one. It's not that Saylor wasn't writing a good book. I think most everyone who has read this book, would agree it was fairly well-written. Definitely a good plot, concise delivery of the mystery, okay development of characters. Only complain with the writing was the overuse of the main character's worries and thoughts was very repetitious.

I knew kind of where Saylor was going with this, and from the beginning of the book, he seemed to be capable of writing about this disturbing type of murder mystery that is way too close to real crime stories without giving agonizing details that I find disturbing. That was the problem. First it was a couple of uses of a swearword I find especially offensive after the middle of the book had been reached. From there on it went downhill until the middle of the second to the last chapter, where it was like the gates of filth were let wide open, that Saylor led the reader on with a decent mystery, then descended into the pit.

There is a reason I choose not to read true crime, and I find it disturbing when others do read them. I do read some forensic stuff, more medically inclined as I did do studies in the morgue when I got my neuroscience degree, but these are based on evidence and usually don't go way into the lurid stories that got these people killed. So I really don't appreciate it when a writer misleads me with what I thought was a regular mystery, and it turns into the kind of filth I don't really want to waste brain capacity on. It isn't entertaining. It's just revolting...

Karen Sadler