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Steven John

Three A.M. Hardcover – March 27, 2012

by Steven John (Author)

11 ratings

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Fifteen years of sunless gray. Fifteen years of mist. So thick the streets fade off into nothing. So thick the past is hazy at best. The line between right and wrong has long been blurred, especially for Thomas Vale. Long gone are the days when new beginnings seemed possiblewhen he was a new recruit, off to a new start fresh in the army. He had hoped to never look back. Not like there was much to see, anyway. First came the sickness, followed by the orders: herd the healthy into the city, shoot the infected. The gates closed and the bridges came down¦ followed by the mist.Fifteen miserable years of the darkest nights and angry, awful gray days. Thomas Vale can hardly fathom why he keeps waking up in the morning. For a few more days spent stumbling along? Another night drinking alone? Another hour keeping the shadows at bay¦. But when Rebecca Ayers walks into his life, the a

Print length

304 pages
Language

English
Publisher

Tor Books
Publication date

March 27, 2012
Dimensions

6.49 x 1.08 x 9.34 inches
ISBN-10

0765331160
ISBN-13

978-0765331168
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Editorial Reviews

Review

"The shadows. The danger. I'm still breathing, but barely. I finished this riveting book (and lived. Will you? Breathtaking.")

About the Author

Steven John and his wife, an elementary school teacher, live in Los Angeles by way of Washington D.C. and New York, respectively. He splits his time between many things, most of which involve words. Three A.M. is his first novel.

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Tor Books; 1st Edition (March 27, 2012)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 304 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0765331160
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0765331168
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 13.6 ounces
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6.49 x 1.08 x 9.34 inches

Customer Reviews:
11 ratings

About the author

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Steven John

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Steven John is a writer living in Glendale, California (by way of Washington DC). He and his wife Kristin, an elementary school teacher, were joined by their son Benjamin in October of 2013. In addition to writing for several websites and journals, Steven published his first novel THREE A.M., in 2012. His second book, OUTRIDER, is due to hit shelves in September of 2014. When not writing or spending time with his family, Steven tries to squeeze in some mountain climbing.

Customer reviews

5 star		23%
4 star		33%
3 star		11%
2 star		33%
1 star 0% (0%)		0%

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Stephen Fischer

Fast-paced thriller with vivid imagery

Reviewed in the United States on November 30, 2012

Verified Purchase

I am not a fiction reader, but read this book on recommendation from a friend, and found the entire book to be a fast-paced, thrilling story of an antihero faced with seemingly insurmountable obstacles. The surprise twist near the end makes the reader want to stay up late to finish it!

This book is ideal for an airplane trip, because it keeps you engaged throughout a journey, and it's not too lengthy.

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david watro

Mystery, intrigue and action kept me captive in well crafted story

Reviewed in the United States on April 11, 2020

Verified Purchase

I'm not much of a critic, I only know if a book captivates me I can't put it down. This book did that for me. Steven John tells a story that has great character development and a story that keeps building until the end. It has intrigue, action, and romance - all in the right proportion.

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Jim

You can tell it was his first book

Reviewed in the United States on May 28, 2020

On the up side the concept was good, that is why I read it. But too many down sides. First I would recommend he hire an editor. Why I muttered, because the main character is constantly muttering. I mean come on. Try to read this book and not notice that 98% of the time the character mutters, wow. A good editor should have caught that. The story drags on in parts, like the action is great, and gains momentum, then suddenly the author goes off in a tangent for like three pages that are totally irrelevant to the plot. No connection what so ever. This book could have been about 80 pages shorter once you omit the pointless interior monologue. I mean at one point the guy sits down to get an answer to a question, so ask right. But no, the author take you on a roller coaster ride of pointless banter and observations before the question is asked six paragraphs later. Sorry for the sage review but I would skip this book. Or so I muttered.

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Tom Vale Tries to Escape from an Impenetrable World of Fog in Steven John's Nightmarish "Three A.M."

Reviewed in the United States on June 4, 2012

For fifteen years, Tom Vale has been quarantined inside a city enshrouded by thick, impenetrable fog. Outside the city, the world has been ravaged by a mysterious plague that killed millions. No one can enter the city and no one can leave. When he isn't drunk, Tom works as a debt collector or a PI who beats up people. Mostly he stumbles through life, from one bottle to the next. Then he meets a mysterious client, Rebecca, who claims her boyfriend has been framed for the murder of a scientist. Soon, Tom is no longer stumbling, but running for his life as he uncovers the deadly secrets that have imprisoned over twenty thousand innocent people inside a city of fog.

Steven John's "Three A.M." is a brilliant novel that highly intrigued me. Like many classic novels such as Mary Shelley's "Frankenstein" ( Frankenstein or the Modern Prometheus ), it works well on various levels. First, it is a great science fiction horror story of people trapped in a nightmare world. Second, this novel is a social commentary. The setting and time are unknown, because "Three A.M." could apply to any culture that has been decimated by greed. In today's society, many citizens walk aimlessly and despairingly through life as though trapped in a fog. Tom Vale compared humans to animals whose sole purpose in life is to eat, sleep and procreate. In the city of fog, life has amounted to no more than this. Then Tom finds love in the form of Rebecca and, suddenly, life has more meaning than obtaining the bare necessities; however, life soon also becomes more dangerous, more exciting.

Initially, Tom Vale is not a very likeable character. He curses and drinks too much and has a very pessimistic, cynical outlook on life. Of course, if I lived in a world without sunshine, grass, beaches, sporting events, etc., I would also be manic depressant. "Three A.M." made me realize how we take the little things in life for granted. We assume the sun will always shine and we'll always have green grass on which to play. However, as the novel's plot progresses, Tom transforms into a brave, shoot 'em up action hero we can all admire. After all, he's trying to save the lives of thousands and his military background proves invaluable.

"Three A.M." reminded me of the many end-of-the-world horror films I watched as a child. I won't mention any specific ones for fear of divulging too much of the plot. I will say, however, there are numerous twists and turns and some genuine shockers. I will also say that many of its characters are deceitful, untrustworthy and greedy; their main goal is to survive at everyone else's expense. This could aptly describe many people today who are blinded by a fog of amorality--a blindness that can only be lifted by the power of true love.

At last, I have found an atmospheric horror novel with an atmosphere that is truly bizarre, creepy and provocative. "Three A.M." is aptly named because it will keep readers up past 4:00 a.m. reading it. Not since James Herbert's classic horror novel, "The Fog" ( Fog ), have I encountered a tale where people were more terrified by this swirling, damp, hazy substance. The fog, and the unknown horrors that lurk within it, has been the theme for many horror films including John Carpenter's "The Fog" (1980) ] and Frank Darabont's "The Mist" { The Mist (Two-Disc Collector's Edition) [Blu-ray ]}. For a taste of old school science fiction horror, then I highly recommend Steven John's triumphant debut, "Three A.M." I am definitely looking forward to his next novel. Perhaps that one will keep me up at night reading until well past 4:00 a.m.

Joseph B. Hoyos

4 people found this helpful

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sid1gen

Good book that needed a better ending

Reviewed in the United States on June 4, 2014

Warning: Spoilers.

The author, John, looks positively smug in the snapshot on the back-flap. Maybe he was thinking how clever he was with the crappy ending with which he managed to slap his readers after writing a good book that deserved significantly better and more than the tepid attempt at "art" its author opted for as a parting shot. Let's add to this the fact that the publisher, in a fit of illuminated wisdom, decided to print the entire ending on the back cover. Yes. When you read the back cover (or the Amazon blurb, which is the same), you are reading the ending, not a teaser. That's it. After that, nothing: the book has ended. Good night. And it's a pity because the book had a lot of promise. Following an idea similar to, but not the same, as Blake Crouch's PINES, we find the protagonist in a dystopian city eternally invaded by dense fog where, for fifteen years, the survivors of a "plague" have badly and valiantly rebuilt their lives, permanently cut-off from the world outside because outside the plague rages on. Inside the city our hero is a cliched P.I.: alcoholic, brutish, short-tempered, chain-smoker. If it weren't for the fog and the writer's obvious talent, just this-short of Dickensian, to describe how an entire city can be gripped by floating pea soup and how that challenges everybody's perceptions and outlook on life, the novel would have been another ho-hum attempt at pasting one hard-boiled detective cliche after another. Sadly, midway through, the hero gets out of the fog, there are answers,which are a bit farfetched, to say the least, and the book races downhill fast. There were chances to stop and veer-off. There were opportunities to recover. Finally, even taking the weak episodes outside the fog, there glimmered the possibility of a good ending. Not to be, unfortunately. The novel ends abruptly, perhaps waiting for a second part that may not arrive ever for, as far as I know, there isn't even a paperback edition of this truncated mess. It felt like a waste of opportunities because the writer has talent. Having just crawled out of the almost-talentless clutches of Richard Ford and THE SPORTSWRITER, Steven John's prose struck me as a tremendous improvement. True, you don't need to try too hard to leave Ford behind but, still, John's writing is way better than Ford's and most thriller and sci-fi writers out there. In spite of all the cliches, I liked his P.I. and the descriptions of the city and the dangerous situations that little by little start to insinuate themselves into his life. The contrived stupidity of the bad guys, the hilarious, mind-numbing idiocy of the "dastardly plot" behind the fog, are not enough to derail John's writing: the man can put sentences together and come up with good, even great paragraphs. Maybe next time he'll go for a real ending.

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