Wake: A Brefniverse Psychological Noir Thriller (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9798250404761)

After faking his death, an ordinary man attends his own wake in order to find perpetrators of a conspiracy that targeted him, but in doing so, gets far more than he ever could have imagined.

Gavin West is a troubled soul. A divorced ex-con, and victim of long-term unemployment, he struggles to get through a life that has come to resemble purgatory, a limbo of uncertainty and regret.

But when old friend Rob hooks him up with a data entry job at the Bureau of Transportation Statistics, he begins to smell a faint whiff of hope. It's only a temporary assignment, but a stressful one, entering highway crash statistics into a database under the watchful eye of Marvin Moylan, his demanding new boss. Gavin gives it his best, eager to put the past behind him.

But on his way to work one morning, he gets an unnerving wakeup call when he's seemingly shoved in front of a speeding bus and nearly killed. A shaken-up Gavin is not about to start feeling comfortable just yet.

After two more brushes with death, including a car accident where his brakes fail, and an assault from a mysterious attacker, Gavin wonders whether his new lease on life is as temporary as his job.

Noticing troubling discrepancies in the traffic data at work, Gavin resolves to bring it to Moylan's attention, swinging by his boss's house to drop off an important report. When he arrives, he finds Moylan is dead. Gavin's paranoia goes full blown, fearing he will be the obvious suspect.

Enter Mr. Winters, an enigmatic stranger. Part black-ops agent, part philosopher, part guardian angel, he has a keen interest in Gavin and his future. He offers to help, not only in escaping from the police, but escaping from his life, and any further attempts on it. Gavin goes along with the plan, which requires him to fake his death and start over. Under Winters' careful orchestration, it all goes off without a hitch, "Gavin" apparently perishing in a high-speed chase with police.

Brandon Morrow is born, a new identity, a new appearance. No regrets to live down, no story to live up to.

Gavin, as Brandon, is all set to start anew when he finds incriminating evidence that Winters is in cahoots with the very people who initially tried to knock him off. Suddenly, the need to know the whole truth is nagging at him.

He spots the listing for his own wake in the paper, and cannot resist, crashing the party, as Brandon, and mixing with the guests, ferreting out information on the potentially guilty parties, who wanted Gavin West out of the picture. The list of suspects includes Rob, smitten coworker Sophie, bitter ex-wife Evelyn, and her stepfather, the rich and powerful Colby Rasmussen.

Winters shows up, determined to dissuade Gavin from continuing his unique, undercover stakeout, but with little success. As Gavin gets closer to the truth, Winters reveals a secret that will change everything he thinks he knows, about his life, his past, and his future, and shake him to his very core.

Gavin West must make a fateful decision that will have startling ramifications for all. He must unravel a shocking conspiracy that will lead to a mind-bending turn of events and a twist that no one ever sees coming.

Along the way, he finds the only way to truly cheat death, is to let it all go.

W A K E...

Karma runs over.

Author: Brefni O'Rourke
ISBN-13: 9798250404761
Publisher: Independently Published
Language: English
Published: 03/09/2026
Pages: 306
Format: Paperback
Weight: 0.91lbs
Size: 9.00h x 6.00w x 0.69d