The Two Deaths of Daniel Hayes
by Marcus Stakey
Dutton 2011
Imagine that you awoke, naked in the cold surf of Maine with no memory. Could you reconstruct your life? What would you use to do so?
This is how we are introduced to Daniel Hayes, a television scriptwriter. We come to find out that Daniel had lived the life of dreams, married to the beautiful star of a television series that he created, Laney Thayer. They lived in a beautiful Malibu home.
When we meet Daniel, he remembers nothing. Fortunately, he finds a car and some clues, leading him to believe that he must have jumped into the sea in an effort to end his life. “Why would I have done that?” he wonders. In his dreams, Daniel sees an actress and dark images of a cement canyon. He drives across the country subsisting as he goes. In his mind is an image of a beautiful woman.
Back in Los Angeles, the police suspect that Daniel murdered his wife. Her car is found floating at the bottom of a cliff. She must have been thrown through the windshield to be consumed by the sea and its voracious creatures. There are additional murders and crimes that point to Daniel. No one knows where he is.
The strands of memory and mystery lurk in Daniel’s head as he goes from one death to another.
Marcus Stakey is a clever story teller. The plot of The Two Deaths of Daniel Hayes is intriguing. It grabs you from the first moment. There are a few leaps of faith in terms of convenience of getting from one point in the process to another, which is not unusual in thrillers. The antagonist is evil. You want to kill him at every turn. Mysteries abound. Who is Daniel? What happened to his wife? Who are some of the characters that appear without explanation as they come on stage? How will Daniel die twice (after all, that is the title of the book)? The central mysteries are who is a murderer, who has been murdered, who is actually dead, and who is lying?
You’ll enjoy this read.
Warms, Cym
AMAZON
Marcus Stakey
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