Rating: 
Summary: Loved it
Review: 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
Rating:
Summary: powerful gothic melodrama
Review: 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
Rating:
Summary: Alright. It's probably a girl book
Review: and I'm not either a girl or even a gay american but I liked it anyway. Just shows how versatile Saylor really is I guess. I got hooked on the Roman books before I learned that the author was a gay american and by then I had found out he wasn't going to bury me knee deep in homoerotica.
The story moves along very well and unlike some more prescient readers, I really didn't know who the killer was until pretty close to the end. Good Book. Read it... but be careful if you drive through Goldwaite, Texas. The grocery store is on the east side of hwy 36 and there is or was an elderly lady there who launched her car across the highway every morning without a glance either toward Hamilton or Temple. She may be gone but the skid marks are still there-right in front of the store where she picked up breakfast.
Rating:
Summary: Alright. It's probably a girl book
Review: and I'm not either a girl or even a gay american but I liked it anyway. Just shows how versatile Saylor really is I guess. I got hooked on the Roman books before I learned that the author was a gay american and by then I had found out he wasn't going to bury me knee deep in homoerotica.
The story moves along very well and unlike some more prescient readers, I really didn't know who the killer was until pretty close to the end. Good Book. Read it... but be careful if you drive through Goldwaite, Texas. The grocery store is on the east side of hwy 36 and there is or was an elderly lady there who launched her car across the highway every morning without a glance either toward Hamilton or Temple. She may be gone but the skid marks are still there-right in front of the store where she picked up breakfast.
Rating: 
Summary: Have you seen Steven Saylor?
Review: 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!
Rating: 
Summary: Aaron Travis is resurfacing in Saylor's latest...
Review: 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.
Rating:
Summary: A change of pace for Saylor, and I loved it!
Review: 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.
Rating:
Summary: Loved it
Review: I read this book in one day...it was very good writing and suspenseful. My only complaint is that it was too short! I felt the author set the surroundings and mood up very well and kept you guessing who the culprit was..
Rating:
Summary: I'm Somewhere in the Middle
Review: 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.
Rating:
Summary: I'm Somewhere in the Middle
Review: 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.
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