Reviews of
The Midnight Watch
Reviews, Comments, Interviews
You can read Gary Krist's review of The Midnight Watch in the New York Times on 30 April 2016 here: In Plain Sight
You can read Antonia Senior's review of The Midnight Watch in The Times of London here: The Man Who Let the Titanic Sink.
“...moody and engrossing....thoroughly faithful to the facts...”
“This gripping novel sheds new light on a known event and probes with great subtlety the places in which historical fact has no business - the mysteries of the human heart. Stone and Lord are portrayed with convincing acuity as they drown in their own moral failures. The Midnight Watch is historical fiction at its best.”
You can read Felicity Plunkett's intriguing review of The Midnight Watch in the Australian Book Review here: Felicity Plunkett reviews The Midnight Watch
“Driving the novel is a sense of justice ... There is a crisp accuracy here, in a work that ... carries a sense of conviction about the truths it assembles and imagines.”
You watch me talking about The Midnight Watch to Virginia Trioli on ABC News Breakfast here: ABC NEWS BREAKFAST
Virginia Trioli interviews me about 'The Midnight Watch'
Talking about The Midnight Watch with Virginia Trioli on ABC News Breakfast
“The midnight watch - a time of loneliness, demons and trances, when peculiar things happen ... It’s beautiful stuff ... five stars ... I really enjoyed it. It’s the sort of book that stays with you and plays with your mind, like the ice, like a dark night at sea...”
You can listen to me talking to Tony Delroy about The Midnight Watch here:
You can listen to my interview with Gillian O'Shaughnessy of ABC Radio Perth 'Afternoons' here:
You can listen to my discussion on ABC 774 in Melbourne and Victoria Statewide here:
Bruce Postle, David Dyer, Sofie Laguna
You can listen to my interview with Bill Crews of 2GB radio here:
You listen to my discussion with Harry C Marks about The Midnight Watch on his podcast 'Covered' here:
“Strikingly vivid and sensitive ... Exquisitely told ... Dyer writes with simplicity and honesty ... This is a noble work about the vagaries of conscience, duty, loyalty, regret and forgiveness.I loved it!”
You can read legendary literary tastemaker Liz Smith's review in The New York Social Diary here: Books!
You can listen to my interview with Michael Cathcart of ABC Radio National here:
Source: ABC.net.au
Source: David Dyer photograph
You can read an article about me by Marc McEvoy in the Sydney Morning Herald and Age newspapers here: The Crew That Watched the Titanic Sink.
“...a gripping, expertly written tale...”
You can read Ross Southernwood's review of The Midnight Watch in the Sydney Morning Herald and Age newspapers here: A Refreshing Take on the Titanic Story (appearing in print as 'Missed Rescue of Titanic Proportions')
“For the reader, it is a gripping tale of an awful, unforgettable, event.”
You can read Publisher's Weekly review of The Midnight Watch here: Publisher's Weekly
“Dyer’s elegant, imaginative renderings captivate, and his expansive research ... makes this colossal disaster newly enthralling”
Source: dailytelgraph.com.au
You can read Naomi White's article about me in the Wentworth Courier and The Daily Telegraph here: The Ship That Didn't Save Titanic
You can read Ann Rickard's story about me in the APN News & Media newspapers here: Books: The Midnight Watch is a Titanic Mystery.
You can read George Jepson's interview with me in Quarterdeck magazine here: Quarterdeck March/April 2016
“Crisp, spare prose, often with a lyrical quality, creates a pace that left us begging for more...’The Midnight Watch’ is simply one of the most engaging historical novels to come along in years.”
You can read Stephen Romei's review of The Midnight Watch in the Australian newspaper here: Dominic Smith and David Dyer tackle Dutch masters and the Titanic
“Dyer obviously know the sea, ships and sailors; the characters feel so vibrant and true...It’s such an assured debut that we must hope Dyer decides to keep writing...’”
“...extremely powerful...Dyer shifts the perspective outwards, creating something much richer and more morally complex.”
You can read a review of James Bradley's review of The Midnight Watch in The Weekend Australian here: 'Unresolved mystery of Titanic proportions'
“The moral dimensions of this are huge and each man involved has his own soul searching to do...This is a ripping yarn and it is all the more so because it’s mostly true...everyone will find it a sad, fascinating story.”
“A new take on [the Titanic] story that is utterly compelling. This is Dyer’s debut novel and he writes with a reporter’s passion for detail, while his sensitive cast of flawed storytellers paints a whole new world . . . Dyer’s search for the truth has a thriller’s edge.”
You can read an article about me in the Illawarra Mercury here: Titanic Could Have Been Saved
You can read a review of The Midnight Watch by Christine Gordon of Readings bookshops in Melbourne here: Readings Review
“This excellent historical novel pushed me into new territory...a novel that is disarming, compelling and, most importantly, compassionate.”
“Best read with a hasty sandwhich and a bourbon chaser, clinking with ice...”
My thanks to Jo and Jaffa for their kind review, which can be read here: JaffaReadsToo
And my thanks also to Myke Bartlett for his review in TheWeeklyReview.com.au, which can be read here: TheWeeklyReview
“A film adaptation seems inevitable. In the meantime, if you’re looking for an excuse to stay in be all weekend, it’s hard to imagine a better on than this gripping, haunting and immersive novel. ”
Earlier reviews:
‘I completely loved The Midnight Watch; this is historical fiction at its best. David Dyer has a reporter’s ear for story, a detective’s nose for motive, and an artist’s eye for detail. With this winning combination, he turns the sparse and contradictory record of why the nearby Californian did not go to the aid of the sinking Titanic into a gripping novel of flawed people, missed chances, and suspense.’
-- Charlotte Rogan, author of The Lifeboat
‘A fascinating novel. David Dyer has captured all the drama and emotion of the Titanic disaster from an intriguing new perspective. Clever, gripping and utterly compelling. Historical fiction at its very best.’
-- Hazel Gaynor, New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of The Girl Who Came Home and A Memory of Violets
‘In The Midnight Watch, David Dyer makes the story of the sinking of the Titanic brand new—he even makes you wonder what will happen. This superb novel, the disaster we think we know, comes freshly alive through its unfamiliar point of view, and David Dyer's vivid eye for the right and telling detail.’
-- Peter Nichols, bestselling author of The Rocks
"The Midnight Watch opens fresh portals on a monumental event with all the tools of strong historical fiction: deep research, methodical recreations, and an array of memorable perspectives. Dyer proves why sometimes it takes fiction to answer history's question of "How could this happen?" A compelling read and a journey through this moment in time."
–Matthew Pearl, New York Times bestselling author of The Dante Club and The Last Bookaneer
David Dyer has achieved that very rare thing, an historical account of a major event involving impeccable research and detail, yet one that is a novel first and foremost. The Midnight Watch is expressed with the heart and soul of a true storyteller. In his hands, the great tragedy of the Titanic is distilled and refracted so powerfully that we experience its delicate emotional nuances and feel the profound personal pain of those who were involved. And we understand the frustrations of trying to discover the ultimate truth, not just about such a mighty event, but also about human nature in all its frailty. The Midnight Watch is a compelling read, insightful, compassionate and deeply moving from start to finish.
-- Debra Adelaide, bestselling author of The Household Guide to Dying, Letter to George Clooney and The Women’s Pages
Another Titanic story? Don’t we know it? Yes. And no. In The Midnight Watch: A Novel of the Titanic and the Californian" author David Dyer takes readers beyond the Titanic story that we all know, onto the SS Californian, the ship that looked on and did nothing as the Titanic sank, and into the largely untold aftermath of the disaster and court proceedings that followed.
This debut novel that toes the line of nonfiction, is the result of years of research with most the dialog and events taken directly from newspaper reports of the time. Set among the backdrop of the early 20th century with the women’s suffrage movement in full swing, the novel’s told through the various viewpoints of the Californian crew, a Boston reporter and the third-class Sage family who died aboard the Titanic. We feel it’s gripping historical fiction at its very best.
-- Examiner.com, 'The Write Stuff': A Look at This Year's Most Notable Books'