"Crime thriller with an interesting twist." Time to Think by @andy3404 #mystery
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Time to Think
Written by Andy Laker
Genre: Murder Mystery
When Detective Sergeant Jason Mayfield responds to a call for assistance at the home of Eddie Stevens, old wounds are opened and both men seize the opportunity to settle a score that has existed between them for many months. The time for polite dialogue is long past and Jason soon finds himself fighting for his life.
His response, although commensurate with the situation is deemed excessive, with the result that he is arrested and sentenced to a lengthy term in Parkside prison. Locked in the same cage as the criminals he put away Jason has to think and act as one of them if he is to survive in their world.
His life becomes one of self preservation fuelled by a desperate hope that his former colleagues can prove his innocence before the pressures of an unjust incarceration break his spirit.
While he languishes helplessly in his prison cell a mutilated body is discovered on his old manor. When further bodies are discovered, each of which bears the unusual and barbaric hallmark of the same killer the urgent need to find this madman quickly intensifies for Jason’s former boss Detective Inspector Bob Garnett.
Garnett struggles for clues to the murderer’s identity until a major breakthrough is gifted to him by a most unlikely source. But the information comes at a price. As Jason tackles his own personal demons in the form of violent inmates and corrupt prison staff a connection unfolds between his situation and the ruthless murders.
Finding a killer is never easy. If it was they wouldn’t achieve serial status. Imagine then, having to secure your own freedom from prison before you can begin your search for a callous murderer. That is the mountain Jason Mayfield has to climb if further murders are to be prevented.
His response, although commensurate with the situation is deemed excessive, with the result that he is arrested and sentenced to a lengthy term in Parkside prison. Locked in the same cage as the criminals he put away Jason has to think and act as one of them if he is to survive in their world.
His life becomes one of self preservation fuelled by a desperate hope that his former colleagues can prove his innocence before the pressures of an unjust incarceration break his spirit.
While he languishes helplessly in his prison cell a mutilated body is discovered on his old manor. When further bodies are discovered, each of which bears the unusual and barbaric hallmark of the same killer the urgent need to find this madman quickly intensifies for Jason’s former boss Detective Inspector Bob Garnett.
Garnett struggles for clues to the murderer’s identity until a major breakthrough is gifted to him by a most unlikely source. But the information comes at a price. As Jason tackles his own personal demons in the form of violent inmates and corrupt prison staff a connection unfolds between his situation and the ruthless murders.
Finding a killer is never easy. If it was they wouldn’t achieve serial status. Imagine then, having to secure your own freedom from prison before you can begin your search for a callous murderer. That is the mountain Jason Mayfield has to climb if further murders are to be prevented.
An excerpt from
Time to Think
Here's what
Fans are saying
A gritty British procedural crime thriller with an interesting twist
‘Time to Think’, the debut novel of ex-policeman Andy Laker, is a gritty British procedural crime thriller with an interesting twist. As I read the novel I found myself thinking it had a number of parallels with that other popular British crime procedural, this time on TV, the series ‘Luther’.
Both take place in that grey area where none of the characters are black or white, good or bad. The writer captures this ambiguity with realistic precision, and so well, I was imagining many different possible outcomes to the story particularly as it neared its end.
Of note is Laker’s mastery of descriptive narrative which is especially evident in the scenes in the prison where, with clever prose and superb sensory-laden depictions, he stirs-up emotionally charged memories that transport the reader to the scene almost as a hidden participant.
I say ‘emotionally charged memories’, and no you don’t have to have been ‘nicked’ to appreciate this, because the author tailors his prose to elicit the response he seeks in his readers using familiar, everyday experiences, transposing them to the scenes he creates. Brilliantly done!
The tale itself is a superb fast-paced crime thriller with a violent undertone that speaks of the effect on the life of a wrongly accused man through two tight tales that constantly intermingle as they race to a satisfying finale. Lots of promise in the characters Laker had created and I hope that we will read more of them in forthcoming novels by this crime and mystery author.
This is Scottish author Andy Laker's debut novel and what a well written, well developed novel it is. The story line captured me with the first paragraph. It is clear that the author has a police background. He really brought DS Jason Mayfield to life.
I could not put this book down. Can't wait for Mr. Laker's next DS Mayfield book. What a treat to find a new author who is so gifted.
I could not put this book down. Can't wait for Mr. Laker's next DS Mayfield book. What a treat to find a new author who is so gifted.
