Renee began the #ThrowbackThursday meme on her blog, “It’s Book Talk“ to share some of her old favorites as well as sharing books published over a year ago. Hopefully, you’ll find either a story or author that interests you and you’ll check them out. And, if you’d like to join the fun, you’re welcome to use Renee’s pic from her website. Just provide the link back to her please).
This week I am highlighting Rick Mofina, another terrific, prolific author who wrote The Dying Hour. Today’s review is written by the C.E., my intrepid associate reviewer. I love that he is usually up for a variety of genre and this one took him by surprise. Yeah, knew it would! 😏 (This was his first Mofina.) I’ve read several before and last posted a review of Cold Fear for Throwback Thursday on February 8, 2018. This novel was published by Carrick Publishing on April 8, 2015. Mofina consistently runs approximately 4.5-5 stars for any of his books sold on Amazon.
Book Blurb:
The Dying Hour introduces Jason Wade, a rookie crime reporter with The Seattle Mirror, a loner who grew up in the shadow of a brewery in one of the city’s blue-collar neighborhoods. At The Seattle Mirror, he is competing for the single full-time job being offered through the paper’s intense intern program. But unlike the program’s other young reporters, who attended big name schools and worked at other big metro dailies, Wade put himself through community college, and lacked the same experience.
Wade struggles with his haunting past as he pursues the story of Karen Harding, a college student whose car was found abandoned on a lonely stretch of highway in the Pacific Northwest. How could this beloved young woman with the altruistic nature simply vanish?
Wade battles mounting odds and cut-throat competition to unearth the truth behind Karen Harding’s disturbing case. Her disappearance is a story he cannot give up, never realizing the toll it could exact from him. The Dying Hour is a bone-chilling, mesmerizing page-turner that introduces readers to an all-too-human young hero who journeys into the darkest regions of the human heart to confront a nightmare.
His Review:
Set in the Pacific Northwest, this novel started a little slow for me. I commiserated with the young lady who was escaping to Canada to visit a sister, although her troubles were not really described at the outset.
My enthusiasm grew as the tale developed with protagonist Jason Wade, intern reporter with the Seattle Mirror newspaper who is competing with others for the permanent job. Of particular interest is the way the author develops the young rookie. A reporter must develop his story similar to the development of a forensic crime study. There is an investigative journey, and it is very enlightening to observe the reporter developing a story under the watchful eye of the editors of a local paper in Seattle. Facts must be verifiable and to excel the reporter must be the first to break the story after careful investigation.
Hunches do not make it in reporting. While hunches are a good tool, they must be followed up with verifiable facts. Open investigations are closed to the public and investigators are not forthcoming. Still, intuition enters into the book as the reader begins to speculate on the outcome. A few of the facts being followed by Jason are not possible given the personalities developed in the tale.
As Jason hunts for an appropriate story that will catapult him from intern to reporter, he crosses the story of the young woman and decides that is where he’ll focus. But Jason isn’t the only POV here. Building the sympathy, the suspense, the growing terror, is the POV of the young woman. Then the POV changes again to build terrifying aspects of the story. As the plot gathers speed, the story turns darker until it verges on horror with a serial killer and ritualistic torture. Jason is well developed and sympathetic. Life has not been easy for him, but he is determined to solve the crime and reap his reward.
Rick Mofina lived the life of a cub reporter and a detective. This gives the read an authenticity that can not be faked. As the story proceeds through leads and dead ends, the reader becomes more attuned to the outcome. I found myself hard pressed to put the book down. The author leads the reader on an exciting and at times exasperating journey to find a brutal killer.
Warning: Only pick up and read this book if you have time to complete the novel. You will not want to put it down. The novel is that engaging. Enjoy! Five Stars C.E. Williams
About the Author:
Rick Mofina is a former journalist and an award-winning author of several acclaimed thrillers. His reporting has put him face-to-face with murderers on death row in Montana and Texas. He has covered a horrific serial-killing case in California and an armored car-heist in Las Vegas, flown over Los Angeles with the LAPD Air Support Division and gone on patrol with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police near the Arctic. He has reported from the Caribbean, Africa and Kuwait’s border with Iraq. His true-crime articles have appeared in the New York Times, Marie Claire, Reader’s Digest and Penthouse.
Rick Mofina’s books have been published in nearly 30 countries, including an illegal translation of his thriller, IF ANGELS FALL, in Iran.
The International Thriller Writers, The Private Eye Writers of America, and the Crime Writers of Canada, have listed his titles among the best in crime fiction. As a two-time winner of the Arthur Ellis Award, Canada’s top literary award for crime fiction; a four-time International Thriller Award finalist, and a two-time Shamus Award finalist, the Library Journal calls him, “One of the best thriller writers in the business.”
His books have been praised by James Patterson, Dean Koontz, Michael Connelly, Lee Child, Tess Gerritsen, Jeffery Deaver, Sandra Brown, James Rollins, Brad Thor, Nick Stone, David Morrell, Allison Brennan, Heather Graham, Linwood Barclay, Peter Robinson, Håkan Nesser and Kay Hooper.
For more information please visit Rick Mofina’s official FaceBook page.
https://www.facebook.com/rickmofina
You can also follow him on Twitter @RickMofina or at his website http://www.rickmofina.com
More Throwback Thursday Blogs
Renee at Its Book Talk
Jill at Jill’s Book Cafe
Rebecca at The Book Whisperer
Lynne at Fictionophile
Sam at Clues and Reviews
Holly B at Dressedtoread
Deanna at DeesRadReads and Reviews
Amanda at Literary Weaponry
Annie at The Misstery
Mischenko at Read Rant Rock and Roll
Laurie at Cozy Nook Books
Ann Marie at LItWitWineDine
Susan at Susan Loves Books
Cathy at What Cathy Read Next
Cathy at Between the Lines
Amy at Novel Gossip
Diana at A Haven for Booklovers
©2018 C.E. Williams 
Rosepoint Publishing 
This one sounds very good and very realistic. I have heard about this author, but not read anything by him. I think I have the second and third one in this series on my tablet. I will have to see if I can find this one. Thanks for the great review.
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I’d read two or three of his books–referred this one to the C.E. However, it got graphic (really graphic!). Would have been too much for me. Appreciate the comment, Carla!
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Maybe it isn’t for me afterall.
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I suspect if you have similar sensitivities to mine, it would not.
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Wow 5 stars! I like that the author has a past in investigating and journalism. And you mention in the review, that certainly lends itself for a more authentic read.
While hunches are a good tool, they must be followed up with verifiable facts…. Many more journalists should remember that!!!
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yes, he certainly has the background to write about this stuff with authority.
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