Sunday, 18 September 2011

Nick of Time - Tim Downs. Book review




"now listen," Alena said, "I've seen you pick maggots off a two week old corpse without even turning up your nose"
With a statement like that in the first sentence I couldn't help but be hooked on this book.
A chuckle a minute from the first page, Tims Downs novel draws you in from the off and keeps you there, engrossed and second duessing what's unfolding before your eyes.

This was my first novel by Tim Downs and based on this read I would definitely be interested in reading more of his work.

Nick of time is a pretty fast paced piece of fiction based on the rather far fetched lives of Nick & Alena.
Days before they are due to marry Nick, the 'bug man' -a forensic entomologist- is called away for a meeting with fellow experts in the bug and / or death field. Whilst away a situation arises that means Nick cannot return home and risks missing his own wedding.
On Nicks dissappearence Alena takes her best tracking dogs and sets off to locate him but what she finds is not exactly what she bargained for and is in no way predictable to the reader.
Overall I found this an enjoyable read however I do have a few caveats about certain aspects of the storyline - Nicks sense of humour,for one,(or lack of it) is funny to begin with but rapidly becomes unrealistic and a tad annoying.
Also alena's seemingly ninja trained canines had me rolling my eyes and thinking "oh come on!" more than once.
Get past those foibles though and the story is great and once I had got over the shock of the ending as it unravelled I thought it was a genius idea. It was unpredictable (so don't even try) and a change from most other novels.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher through the BookSneeze®.com book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.

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