Title: Death at Dawn: Lgbtq Meets Main Street
Author: Arthur Day
Publisher: Arthur Day
AISN: B091265P1L
Pages: 283
Genre: Mystery / Thriller & Suspense
Reviewed by: Jack Chambers
Hollywood Book Reviews
One of mankind’s greatest mysteries is the human heart. Not the physical makeup of the heart or what keeps it pumping, but the emotional core of the heart and what drives us forward. For some, that core is driven by family and friendships, and the bonds we make throughout our lives. For others, it is about our careers and passions in life, and the path which leads us forward rather than backwards. Yet for most, the core of our hearts is found in the love we share for another human being, and the complexities of love and connection is far grander than the binary path so many would have you believe waits for us all.
In author Arthur Day’s Death at Dawn: Lgbtq Meets Main Street, the author explores love and connection through the shocking disappearance of a young woman which brings a small community together. In the shadow of a small New England town, a woman disappears, and her ex and his partner must pool their resources together, and without any additional resources or clues, they must find a way of working with the local sheriff to discover what happened to this young woman before it is too late. Soon her gruesome fate is found, and he becomes the next target of this demented killer, whose obsession could be at the heart of this case. All the while MJ and his partner Dianne must contend with their individual pasts and traumas to deal with the growing feelings they have for one another during this case.
The author does an amazing job of striking a unique balance between the rich world-building of the narrative and the dynamic character arcs which the author brings to the story. The mystery itself for Pamela and her fate and the investigation process that the novel takes are captivating, as it gives striking details and chilling atmospheric scenes which will stay with readers long after the book is finished. The book does begin immediately with a shocking and brutal scene, and while readers should be aware of this, the tension and macabre nature of the threat faced by Pamela and subsequently MJ and Dianne speak to the horrors and realities that so many young women face at the hands of dangerous people.
This is the perfect read for those who enjoy mystery novels, especially those with a heavy balance of suspense and thriller narratives, and elements of LGBTQ storytelling as well. The emotional heart of this novel definitely resided in the development of MJ and Dianne’s characters, and the LGBTQ themes the novel explored. The commentary on sexuality, our relationship to it, and the complex nature of sexuality both personally and in a social structure were perfectly explored here, giving these characters heartbreaking backstories and complex emotional struggles in the present day as well; something many readers may be able to relate to. This helps elevate the mystery elements of the novel and gives more weight to the characters’ motivations and struggles overall.
Memorable, heartfelt, and engaging, author Arthur Day’s Death at Dawn is a must-read mystery and suspense thriller novel. The twists and turns in the novel, as well as the rich and emotional developments the main cast of characters undergo and the depth of relatability which readers will find with some of the characters while others will have more of a tragic and haunting familiarity, make this an unforgettable and captivating read that kept this reader coming back for more.