Customer Reviews

Have You Seen Dawn?

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

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.

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.

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

I'm truly split down the middle on this one. Readers expecting another Roma Sub Rosa book look elsewhere -- Saylor presents a richly atmospheric book which, ultimately, is a sexed up Silhouette romance or Lifetime movie. What this has going for it is Saylor's unbeatable gift of atmospherics. The book takes place in a small Texas town, and as he does with ancient Rome, he makes the town a character, capturing it with pinpoint accuracy. I was truly enveloped in his depiction of the town and its residents.

The trouble is the plot. It ultimately ain't much. With the Gordianus books, if the storytelling ever lapses, the central character -- Ancient Rome -- is so compelling that it carries you over the creaky points. A small town in modern day Texas is no ancient Rome (What is?) Here, you have a potentially great idea, which becomes a woman in peril melodrama, with the perky, Nancy Drew type heroine, undecided which of her potential true loves represents danger and which represent amour. Adding a little heavy petting is diverting, but it is not enough.

If Saylor had gone for a novel with suspense elements, rather than a suspense novel, this would have been four or five stars.

I'll land somewhere in the middle on this one. After all, I did finish it and I enjoyed reading it. I agree with one of the reviews below that the novel has the feel of being written by a very young person -- it's almost like "Young Adult plus" (perhaps I'm outside the age range of the intended audience?). While the portrait of small-town life is reasonably well done, the characters are rather flat (to a degree occasionally verging on the ridiculous). I found the plot easily guessable. Saylor tries to overcome this by ladling on buckets of red herrings, but experienced mystery readers are not going to find this one much of a mystery. Why did I enjoy the book? The writing style is clean and literate, the protagonist is sympathetic and her sense of nostalgia over her small-town roots is nicely drawn. Stacked up against formulaic beach/airplane novels, the book comes off fairly well. Compared to more competent mystery fiction, well... but Saylor is a talented writer. I'll be interested to see what he's up to in the future.

Because this sure wasn't up to his usual standard. He should have stuck with Gordianus the Finder.

This is a "damsel in distress" mystery. A woman from the big city (San Francisco) returns to the small town in Texas where she was raised, and where a girl has gone missing.

The culprit is obvious from the get-go. Who else but the studly lawman she falls for and who has come to this town from a city where he helped solve (wait for it!) a series of similar murders!

But, of course, in the interim just about everyone except her wheelchair-bound grandmother is thrown in as a red herring.

To give Saylor his due, he writes well and the tone is atmospheric and evocative. Unfortunately, the characters are cardboard and the plot thin.

Back to Rome, Steven!

Rue Dunwitty expects a simple vacation when she travels from San Francisco to her childhood home in Amethyst, Texas. Instead, she is intrigued and mystified by grocery store posters asking about a missing teen. Rue can't help digging around and is shocked to find the girl's body--only to have it disappear before the police arrive. Everyone is urging Rue to leave town, but she can't make herself leave her aging grandmother. Except, will Rue herself become the next victim of a serial killer?

Author Steven Saylor draws a vivid picture of small-town Texas life. From its aging Bush for Governor bumper stickers to the whole-town turnout for the high school football team, to the volunteer efforts to search for the missing girl, Amethyst rings true. With plenty of red herrings around, Rue can find plenty of suspects. But is she letting her imagination run away from her?

Saylor hints at important questions in Rue's reflections on sex and rape. Is every man a monster, simply waiting for the opportunity to free himself from the shackles of society?

Mystery fans may find the identity of the killer easy to guess, but Saylor's high-quality writing makes getting there an enjoyable ride.

I can only say to those who gave this book high reviews and mentioned the excellent writing--"you have got to be kidding!" I have never started a book that I haven't finished, but I was sorely tempted by this one. The killer was obvious the moment he was introduced, while other characters appeared only as an artificial attempt to provide some alternatives. Sense of place and other atmospherics were straight out of a how to write a mystery text. I will definitely keep track of reviews by people who loved this book, and avoid their favorites in the future. This book was a total waste for me, and I got it from the library.

Amethyst, Texas might no longer be home for Rue Dunwitty but going back to the small town makes her feel nostalgic. It is a peaceful place unlike San Francisco where she now lives. When she spots a poster asking if anyone has seen Dawn who has gone missing on the way to the Amethyst supermarket, she's shocked because things like that don't happen in her hometown.

Rue is staying at her grandmother's home. One night when she has trouble sleeping, she sees a light across the field on her father's property. The next day she explores the run down area and finds Dawn's naked body in an empty cistern, burn marks on her arms and legs. Rue calls the sheriff to come over but by the time he arrives, the body is missing. Rue starts asking questions and comes to the attention of a killer who would like to make her victim number four.

HAVE YOU SEEN DAWN? is a gothic melodrama complete with an innocent maiden, a brooding hero and a surplus of likely suspects. This is a very atmospheric tale, one in which the tension slowly but steadily amplifies until the audience is ready to jump out of their skin. The killer of three innocent teens will come as a shock to the audience because he is the last person anyone would suspect. Steven Saylor is one author who consistently tells a mesmerizing story.

Harriet Klausner

I found this novel terrific (was so engrossed that I stayed up till 3:30 a.m. to finish it). The mystery involves the disappearance of a teenage girl, and its effect on the life of a 29-year-old woman with problems of her own.

Is the disappearance linked to others? How many others? Just how sinister are the secrets in heroine Rue Dunwitty's own family? What are the explanations for the strange behavior of her father, her brother, her sort-of boyfriend? Saylor manages to cast suspicion on six different suspects before giving us a satisfying explanation of the crimes.

After finishing the book, I found myself wondering whether the identity of the villain should have been obvious to the discerning reader (as critics claimed was the case in "A Twist At the End"). But the fact is, in both instances, I didn't realize who it was until Saylor wanted me to.