Dead by Dawn

Welcome back for the final book review of June! I’ve been reading frantically to get everything read on time, and this was one of those books for a very special reason. I received this book through a giveaway on Goodreads, so thank you to Goodreads for holding the giveaway and thank you to Paul Doiron and Minotaur Books.

            The special reason is that today is the publication day for this amazing book! It seemed like the perfect day to tell you how much I loved it and how much you should pick up your own copy as well.

            The sheer amount of knowledge the character had throughout this novel impressed me. I think the impressive part of it was that Mike Bowditch, our protagonist, gained all this knowledge through his life experience which is so incredibly realistic and human. I read about so many characters in “real world” fiction novels that feel so flat because they only know about one or two topics that relate directly to them as characters. Bowditch feels like an actual person with actual knowledge.

            I should point out that this is the twelfth book in the series about Mike Bowditch, but I didn’t feel like I needed to have read anything previously to follow him on this life-threatening journey. Everything was quickly and concisely summarized so that I felt up to speed. However, I would always recommend starting at the beginning, which is what I’m going to be doing now that I know Mike Bowditch is someone I’d like to read more about.

            I know they classified this novel as a mystery and not a thriller, but it felt like both from the tone of danger and the fast pace. The two things I watch out for when reading a mystery are that a) the protagonist can figure it out and b) that I can’t. I want to know that all the clues are there, and the protagonist is looking for them and keeping track of them, but I don’t want them to be obvious to me. I’ve figured out too many mysteries that weren’t well put together. Doiron knew exactly what he was doing, and he made sure that Bowditch gave the same impression. The solution to the mystery of who was trying to kill Bowditch made complete sense, and I couldn’t question any part of it. But I also did not know that was going to be the ending. I thoroughly enjoy the wild ride, from beginning to end.

            If you enjoy thrillers, mystery and detective novels, or survival stories, check this one out! Doiron has such a unique voice that matches so well with Bowditch’s detective mindset and brings the story to life in such a realistic way.

Rating:⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5