Three A.M.Steven John
Tor Books, March 2012
ISBN: 978-0765331168
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.
After a virulently contagious, Ebola-like plague decimates the human race, survivors attempt to rebuild in a city forever enshrouded in mist. In this hellish environment, ex-soldier Thomas Vale survives by working as a PI who’s more than willing to strong-arm witnesses, crooks, and recalcitrant clients.
When a case he takes for Rebecca Ayers brings danger into his sad, alcohol-and-sleeping pill soaked life, Thomas begins to find disturbing answers to questions he had never thought to ask about his world. His simple investigation twists into something more precarious involving the disease and the fog.
Vale is a reasonably perceptive but damaged individual living in a broken world, more interested in drinking, abusing debtors, and making sure clients, both current and potential, have a hard time finding him then actually doing anything resembling a job.
The unnamed city is tailor made for intrigue. Buildings fall into disrepair, police are hostile and corrupt, and the sound of soldiers marching echoes through fog-blanketed streets on which pedestrians are unable to see beyond arm’s reach.
Three A.M. hits the reader with an excellent opening, an original setting, and pulpy, noir-ish characters. Steven John creates an incredibly dark and murky world of shadows and mist, a city without sunlight, which is reflected in Tom Vale. Solid writing and good tension abound, while the spooky ambience the misty city creates provides a fun twist. Three A.M. is a gripping mix of noir and thriller set in a near-future dystopia.
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.
ISBN: 978-0765331168; ISBN10: 0765331160; Imprint: Tor Books; On Sale: 3/27/2012; Format: Hardcover; Pages: 304; $24.99
