An Hour to Kill: A Novel

by Karin Yapalater, Alan Ayers (cover)

In the dreary, dreadful gray of a New York winter, two bodies are discovered in Central Park. The first horribly burned beyond recognition. The second, once a prominent psychiatrist, an apparent suicide, taking his last breath behind the wheel of a '57 Mercedes Gullwing, an unfired .25 caliber automatic at his side. These grisly findings resonate deeply within the personal lives of Detectives James Gurson and Didi Kane. As the dirty truth begins to surface, so too will the psychological wreckage. To solve these complex and interconnected crimes, they must embark on an investigation that takes on noir undertones, immersing them in a labyrinth of Freudian reverie, Jungian dreams, unconscious truths and conscious deceptions, graphic sex, and sadistic violence.

Genres: Mystery, Fiction, Thriller

364 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published June 1, 2003

Reviews

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

I disagree with the negative goodreads reviews. I found the characters interesting (and not all unlikeable) , and the plot held my interest very well. When reading the story, I looked forward to the the book's resolution, and enjoyed reading it.

It is not the best book I've ever read, it was a little formulaic, but I felt it was worth a read and a perfectly acceptable and entertaining .police procedural.

[Michael W. Boleware · Rating 4 out of 5]

You'd have to be half crazy or a psychologist not to find this police murder mystery compelling and fascinating. You can tell from the acknowledgments section and realistic yet disturbing story that the author has a great understanding of the subject matter. A great read.

[RL · Rating 3 out of 5]

A little hard to get into but once the plot was developed turned out to be an interesting story

[Barbara ★ · Rating 2 out of 5]

Let's see...we've got a shrink doing his patients who ends up dead. We've got a drugged out hooker who's doing some anonymous rich couple. We've got a screwy ADA into BDSM. We've got a lesbian cop who's ex-girlfriend gets barbequed. We've got a male cop having personal issues because he can't get it up. Oh and let's not forget the guy killing people in Central Park. The author eventually pulls all this together into a cohesive story but the journey to get there is just not worth the torture.

All in all so much is going on that the plot is almost buried. The writing is very choppy and disconnected jumping back and forth between all these sexually deviant sub-plots. A good lot of this is misdirection which should flow with the plot but doesn't. It just makes it confusing and I quickly lost interest in who or why. Though I did force myself to finish it (and now I could kick myself) since I needed the book for a few challenges.

Here's the passage that gave me a WTF moment and caused me to actually throw the book across the room. "She" was jogging in the park and knowing that some dude was following her and had been for months, she confronts him."

"You know that I don't mind that you've been following me."
"Oh."
"Makes me feel safe, actually."
"Are you in some kind of danger?"
"We're all in some kind of danger, aren't we?"
"You play with words."
"Grown-up toys, I guess." She took a step toward him, reached out her hand. He half expected that she was reaching for his gun, making his first reaction one of defense. But then she pressed up against him, his back resting on the majestic pine. Her strong legs spread in a V, she locked him in, hip to hip. Then slowly, she dropped to her knees, unzipped his pants, took his c*ck in her mouth."

Now seriously, what kind of female does this? She is an upper class prominent professional not a hooker for Pete's sake. It was passages like this that just floored me with their ridiculousness. They caused abrupt halts to the flow of the story and really just threw me for a loop.

[Norman Smith · Rating 2 out of 5]

Goodreads says two stars are for an "OK" book. I had to think about whether this was 1 star or 2. if you are not too fussy, this will be OK. I didn't like any character in the book, and the dialogue was a turn off; I know New York residents are all supposed to be hard-boiled and world-weary, but none of the characters ever seemed to have a pleasant thought or word. As for the plot, it was way too fussy and overly complicated, not to mention unbelievable. One of the large number of evil doers is fingered by the main cop character, Gurson, with very little reason. The motivation for nearly everyone was weak. and so on. ...

Maybe 1 star would have been more accurate. I read this on an airplane and it did succeed in killing time for me, though.

[Jane Plebanek · Rating 1 out of 5]

A very graphic psychosexual thriller set in NYC. I’ve never read one of these so I thought I’d give it a try. This book used so many pronouns that I could never truly understand who was talking? Who is Her/Him/He/They who is Wife? Whose wife? Which wife? Someone has so many side pieces I can’t keep track of them all. It was incredibly hard to follow.

I think the actual plot line was ok. I just spent too much time trying to figure out who the pronouns belonged to. Big yikes.

[Jenn · Rating 2 out of 5]

The first chapter had me giggling. A lot of so-called cop speak with jagged, short sentences. It felt like someone was trying to write a very noir New York murder mystery. It didn't cut it for me, and most of the characters just got worse. No wonder I haven't found any other books by this author. My opinion - give this one a miss.

[Cynthia K · Rating 2 out of 5]

Something felt inauthentic about the writing. I'll admit I became fixated on the brief vignette in which the lead detective is said to be eating Cheerios and the author describes them as "sugar-coated." Nope. That's just not right.
I found the story to be confusing and then all-too clear in whodunit. At least this was a quick read.

[Laura Salas · Rating 3 out of 5]

Didn't absolutely love it, but liked it. This is her debut novel. I'd read another. I liked Gurson, the main detective character, and Kane, his partner. The plot was fairly convoluted.

Killers were ADA's wife, Theodora (a psychotherapist) and an ex-con she was treating.

[Joyce Adams · Rating 3 out of 5]

For a debut novel I did enjoy the two protagonists, James Gurson and Didi Kane. The novel was very graphic and had significant psycho-sexual undertones. I would read another book by the author and I am sorry to see that she has not published another novel.

[Cheye-Anne · Rating 1 out of 5]

Horrible, generic thriller. You could see this coming a mile away. Don't waste your time!

[Merline White]

fun.

[DAISY READS HORROR · Rating 3 out of 5]

If you are into twisted relationships this book is for you. Not sure why it has such a low rating on goodreads, i liked the story overall.

[Carmelina Mendoza · Rating 5 out of 5]

How do I read it