Who Is John Twelve Hawks?

Included in our initial inventory when we opened The Well Red Coyote in the Spring of 2005 was a mass-market paperback titled THE TRAVELER by John Twelve Hawks, one of thousands of books we had taken out of boxes and placed on our shelves at that time.

The book sold well, not only here in Sedona, and became an international best-seller. But it took me a couple of years to finally get around to reading it, having so many other books ahead of it on my “To Read” pile.

It only took me a couple of days to read it. Once I picked it up, I couldn’t put it down.

Although marketed as science fiction/fantasy, I would describe THE TRAVELER as a modern-day thriller with an element of fantasy. Set in a post-9/11 world, a secret organization known as the Brethren is using the fear of terrorism (sound familiar?) to surveil and control the world’s population. They are opposed by a few remaining Travelers who are able to travel to other realms to discover the truth.

THE TRAVELER is the first book in what will be The Fourth Realm Trilogy. The second book in the trilogy, THE DARK RIVER, has recently been released in paperback. I just read THE DARK RIVER, also in two days.

John Twelve Hawks is a pseudonym for the anonymous author of the books. No one knows who he really is. What is known, through phone and internet inter-views as well as information released by his publisher, Random House, is that he is not Native American but is living “off the grid,” a term from his books that implies he is invisible to the network of surveillance and authority that he writes about - no address, no bank account, etc.

Speculation about his true identity includes the possibility that he is physicist Stephen Hawking, authors Peter Gutteridge, F. Paul Wilson, Thomas Pynchon, and even Dan Brown (THE DA VINCI CODE). The truth is probably none of these. But no one, other than Random House I presume, knows. Having read both books, I have to admit that his writing style is unique and doesn’t remind me of any other author I’ve read.

So give THE TRAVELER and THE DARK RIVER by John Twelve Hawks a try. Regardless of whom the author really is, both are fun and engaging books.

Me, I’m anxiously looking forward to the third book of the trilogy, to be published in 2009.