Killing Time

DCI Eve Clay #4

by Mark Roberts

Before night falls, someone will die...

A young Czech girl, missing for eight days, is found in a deserted playground. Starving and terrified, she may be alive but the horrors she's survived have left her mute.

DCI Eve Clay is on her way to try and interview the girl, when another case is called in. Two Polish migrant workers have been found dead in their burnt out flat. But this is no normal house fire. The men's bodies had been doused in petrol.

Then Clay uncovers a sinister message at the killing time is here, embrace it. It's clear this is only the beginning, but how long does Eve have before another life is taken?

Genres: Crime, Fiction, Thriller, Contemporary, Mystery

514 pages, Kindle Edition

First published April 1, 2018

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author by this name in the Goodreads database.

Mark Roberts was born and raised in Liverpool and was educated at St. Francis Xavier's College. He was a teacher for twenty years and for the last thirteen years has worked with children with severe learning difficulties. He received a Manchester Evening News Theatre Award for best new play of the year. He is the author of What She Saw which was longlisted for a CWA Gold Dagger. Blood Mist, the first in his DCI Eve Clay series, went to number one in the Australian kindle chart.

Reviews

[Paromjit · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the first I have read from the DCI Eve Clay series set in Liverpool by Mark Roberts but I found it worked fine as a standalone. This is a dark, bleak and atmospheric story, a blend of police procedural and psychological thriller, with a multitude of twists after twists, just when you think you have a handle on what is going on, Roberts throws a spanner in the works. This takes in a global conspiracy, with the focus on the events in Liverpool, but connected with what has occurred in the US. Eve and her police team operate out of Trinity Road Police Station when autistic Lucy Bell calls in that a missing young Czech Roma girl, is in a local park. Marta has been missing for 8 days and the police had assumed the worst. Marta has had her hair shaved off, been starved and is deeply traumatised. Two Czech identical twins, Karl and Vaclav Adamczak, construction workers are found burned to death in their flat. So begins a complex and harrowing investigation that takes in the far right and white supremacist groups and where nothing is as seems.

The Adamczak brothers seem like good guys, helping many who are more unfortunate than them. It seems unlikely that they have enemies, and Eve and her team follow every lead they possibly can to little avail. Raymond Dare is a young teenage male with mental health issues that require him to take psychotic medication, which he has refused to take. Instead, he goes on dangerous criminal forays with his friends CJ and Buster. His brother, Jack, has been recently released from prison after committing hate crimes. Jack has turned his life around after finding religion, and works for Father Aaron Bell, the father of Lucy, and is trying to help and protect Ray but with little success. It takes a while before Marta begins to show signs of emerging from her trauma to be able to aid the police. The cases twist and turn in numerous directions prior to Eve and the police beginning to grasp the dark truths that lie behind the two cases and the connections between them.

Mark Roberts writes a tense and highly suspenseful thriller that is expertly plotted and which held my attention with ease. His plotting is impressive as he lays red herring after red herring with skilful expertise. He deploys a wide range of characters, I was particularly impressed with the depths behind autistic Lucy and the mental health issues afflicting Raymond. There are some particularly evil and charismatic people in the book, always a dangerous combination that promises menace and horror. DCI Eve Clay is a wonderful central character, who relies on her highly competent and determined team for the results that move the investigations on. One thing I will say is that it takes some time before the various threads begin to connect, so patience is required. This novel is definitely for those who like their crime fiction to come from the darkest of places, this is a great thriller that I recommend. Many thanks to Head of Zeus for an ARC.

[Zoe · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 Stars!

Disturbing, menacing, and tortuous!

Killing Time is a complex tale that immerses you into the hunt, evidence collection, and investigation of a serial killer with a penchant for fire.

The prose is dark and eerie. The characters are devout, fanatical, and manipulative. And the plot is an incredibly twisty tale that delves into a world filled with deception, mental illness, obsession, malice, hatred, religious indoctrination, violence, and murder.

Killing Time is the fourth novel in the DCI Eve Clay series, and even though I found a few parts a little hard to follow in the early part of the story and could never pinpoint why it was set in the future rather than present day, it was still an entertaining, fast-paced, gripping read that fans of police procedurals will certainly enjoy.

Thank you to Aria, an imprint of Head of Zeus for providing me with a copy in exchange for an honest review.

All my reviews can be found on my blog at https://whatsbetterthanbooks.com

[Sean Peters (A Good Thriller) · Rating 3 out of 5]

Thanks to Net Galley, The publishers and the author for an ARC copy for an honest review...

A young Czech girl, missing for eight days, is found in a deserted playground. Starving and terrified, she may be alive but the horrors she's survived have left her mute.

DCI Eve Clay is on her way to try and interview the girl, when another case is called in. Two Polish migrant workers have been found dead in their burnt out flat. But this is no normal house fire. The men's bodies had been doused in petrol.

Then Clay uncovers a sinister message at the scene: killing time is here, embrace it. It's clear this is only the beginning, but how long does Eve have before another life is taken?

The Adamczak brothers seem like good guys, helping many who are more unfortunate than them. It seems unlikely that they have enemies, and Eve and her team follow every lead they possibly can to little avail. Raymond Dare is a young teenage male with mental health issues that require him to take psychotic medication, which he has refused to take. Instead, he goes on dangerous criminal forays with his friends CJ and Buster. His brother, Jack, has been recently released from prison after committing hate crimes. Jack has turned his life around after finding religion, and works for Father Aaron Bell, the father of Lucy, and is trying to help and protect Ray but with little success. It takes a while before Marta begins to show signs of emerging from her trauma to be able to aid the police. The cases twist and turn in numerous directions prior to Eve and the police beginning to grasp the dark truths that lie behind the two cases and the connections between them.

Well, an honest review firstly partly my own fault that I am reading Book 4 first, as approved this book so I feel I lost the history especially of the main character DCI Eve Clay.

But I did find Killing Time a difficult read it is long and detailed and I feel that cutting out much of the enormous detail, like the long, no comment interviews, I found this caused me a huge lack of interest in the heavy going story which jumped around too much, had too many characters, I struggled to read more than 5 % to 6% at a go as so slow and heavy.

It is impossible to get fully absorbed in a novel when you are struggling with the structure of the plot,I found it difficult to distinguish between the member's of Eve's large team so I got a bit confused with them, then adding the slowness of the story I was rather let down by this book.

Taking nine days to read this book shows my lack of interest in the conclusion. Apologies for my review but just my honest opinion.

Now I need to read a fast paced book ! Three stars

[Elaine Tomasso · Rating 3 out of 5]

I would like to thank Netgalley and Heads of Zeus for an advance copy of Killing Time, the fourth novel to feature Liverpool based DCI Eve Clay.

Eve and the team have their hands full with two serious investigations starting at the same time. Firstly they get the news that Marta Ondrej, a Czech teenager with learning difficulties, who has been missing for 8 days has been found alive and just as Eve is dealing with this she gets a call to go to a murder scene where Polish twins, Karl and Václav Adamczak, have been killed and their bodies set on fire. From evidence found at the crime scene they fear that the twins may not be the only victims.

I found Killing Time a difficult read. It is long and detailed and I feel that cutting out much of the extraneous detail, like the long, no comment interviews, would have made for a sharper, punchier read. I also found the multiple viewpoint narrative distracting - just as I was getting to grips with one character or plotline it shifted to something else. It is impossible to get fully absorbed in a novel when the ground keeps shifting. This is the first novel in the series that I have actually read despite owning the first two and I found it difficult to distinguish between the member's of Eve's team so I got a bit confused with them. And yet, there is a good plot in the novel and despite my difficulties with the format I felt it calling to me every time I put the book down. I wanted to get back to it and find out what was going to happen.

The plot premise is slightly ludicrous but it is well crafted with reveals in all the right places, just enough to keep the reader wondering and to whet the appetite for what's to come. It is clever in its twists and turns and unusual in its conclusion.

The characterisation is sufficiently developed as an aide to the plot, but no more. I was astonished to learn half way through the novel that Eve is married with a child as no mention was made of it before. This is an interesting twist on the norm with Eve devoting her life to her job and her husband being the primary care giver. I must get back to the previous novels to see if it is explored further.

[Cathy Geha · Rating 3 out of 5]

Killing Time by Mark Roberts
DCI Eve Clay #4

Coming into a series on book four left me wondering about a few things BUT the premise for the book sounded intriguing so I went for it. I have read the blurbs for the first three books, signed up for the book release blog tour, have, read promotional material and it all became a bit clearer when I finished researching. That said, my gut feeling is that someone coming into the series on book four might feel a bit lost and out of the loop not knowing Eve or her team all that well. Many names of colleagues and a few snippets about them as well as support characters is shared and half my notebook had names with job descriptions by it. My gut feeling is that the book could have been pared down a bit either by condensing the interviews that are predominately “no comment” or perhaps in some other little ways.

I hate to give away plots or steal the stories secrets and this one is full of twists, turns and surprises. The bad guy might not be who you think it is and the good guys might be a whole lot less good than you think. What is propelling the murders and violence doesn’t come out till the end even though the assumption is that the crimes are hate crimes based on race with some feeling superior to others as they are whiter than those they do away with.

There are some VERY sick and disturbed people in this book and I am not sure how they became that way…even knowing would not make what they did make sense, though.

If you are looking for a well plotted, action-packed, mystery that is solved through police working hard and following procedure then this book might be for you. Sometimes I say I would like to have the characters in the book as friends…can’t say that about this book.

Thank you to NetGalley and Head of Zeus for the ARC – This is my honest review.

3-4 Stars

[Richard · Rating 2 out of 5]

Bizarre! I received this book free from the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for a fair and honest review. Written by Mark Roberts and published by Head of Zeus Ltd in 2018, this novel is a police procedural (mostly) that is set in Liverpool, England in the present. The plot is a bit convoluted and improbable, in my view. We think that the protagonist is Detective Chief Inspector (DCI) Eve Clay of the Liverpool Police, but her rank is actually not certain. The plot involves the solution of multiple crimes, including murders and the kidnapping of a young, developmentally-challenged girl who is later mysteriously released. The themes of the story are Nazism, white supremacy, racism and an attempt to sew discord between racial and ethnic groups in the U.K., and around the world.

The bad guys in this story are just plain evil. There is no better way to put it. They have grossly distorted religion and religious teaching in order to rationalize their murderous acts. The particular religion around which this story is centered is Roman Catholicism. Father Aaron is the central religious figure in the story. But is he really what he appears to be? Perhaps, but perhaps not. Eve and her team of investigators quickly focus on a teenage boy with mental health issues, and his two teenage friends. But then the plot begins to twist, and it keeps twisting right up until the end of the story.

The book is filled with an excessive amount of irrelevant minutiae. We are told in nauseating detail about Raymond’s hallucinations. It’s pretty disgusting. Do we really need to know that in order to follow the story? I don’t think so. The narrative is written in a highly stilted manner. The author’s use of adjectives, metaphors and similes often seem inappropriate. I know this novel was written by a British author for a British readership, but I have read enough really good British fiction to know that this book would not be considered good fiction anywhere. Roberts uses way too much minute detail and meaningless description. Perhaps he does it to pad the book’s word count, but it does not contribute to the readability of the novel. It’s mostly pointless. Who cares!? It doesn’t do anything to advance the plot, or to enhance the story.

I found a few inconsistencies in the book. In Chapter 1, for example, we are told that Eve Clay’s police rank is that of Detective Inspector (DI). By Chapter 3, however, we see her introduce herself as DCI (Detective Chief Inspector) Eve Clay. We are not told how she got that quick promotion. We are told repeatedly that it is winter in Liverpool, and that there is frost and ice on the ground. Eve looks out her window and sees “icecapped” rose bushes and that “snow covered every single blade of grass.” Yet, at location #1497 of the Kindle edition of the book, “Jack listened to the music of the garden, the birds in the trees and Father Aaron’s beloved crickets and grasshoppers in the vegetation.” Hmm. I believe that crickets and grasshoppers become dormant in the winter, and could never be heard in vegetation that was covered with frost and ice.

In another instance (location #3316), the author tells us that “She’s been strangled by someone behind her. Two thumbprints on her windpipe, and I’m estimating four fingerprints either side of her neck . . .” Wait a minute! If she had been strangled from behind , how could the thumbprints possibly be found on the FRONT of her neck (the windpipe)? Were the murderer’s hands on backwards? If the thumbprints are on the front of the neck, then the victim was strangled from the front. Right?

Most mystifying of all is the author’s assertion that a character in the book who was wearing a flak jacket was able to remain standing and uninjured after being shot multiple times at relatively close range by a Desert Eagle semiautomatic handgun. The Desert Eagle was developed by Magnum Research, Inc. (MRI) and was “notable for chambering the largest centerfire cartridge of any magazine-fed, self-loading pistol.” (Wikipedia) The gun is available in six different cartridge chamber sizes, all of which are magnums. The most commonly seen of these are the .44 Magnum and the .50 Action Express. The .44 has a muzzle energy of up to 1260 ft-lbs, and the .50 AE can have an energy at the muzzle of more than 1600 ft-lbs. Police officers wearing such body armor frequently report being knocked off their feet and suffering heavy bruising from being shot by smaller guns. Yet, this victim suffers no ill effects at all from being shot multiple times by the largest, most powerful handgun in the world. Go figure!

At location #2968, Raymond is in Raymond’s room, and he pulls back the curtains and opens the window as wide as it will go. Then, he sits on the end of Jack’s bed, where Jack’s dog climbs up on his knee. Jack has his own room, which he keeps padlocked so Raymond can’t get in. How did Jack’s bed get into Raymond’s room? We have no idea. At location #3198, some “. . . lying little sluts were trying to exhort money from him.” Sounds like it should be “extort,” right?

I’m sorry, but this is just bad writing. The premise of the story had promise, but the author simply failed to deliver on it. Character development is very thin, even though the author introduces a great many characters, by name, into the narrative. I found the book to be a tedious read, and would not recommend it to anybody. I award only two stars and will be careful not to read any more of this author’s works. You might like it, but I didn’t.

[Sue Wallace · Rating 5 out of 5]

Killing time by Mark Roberts.
A young Czech girl, missing for eight days, is found in a deserted playground. Starving and terrified, she may be alive but the horrors she's survived have left her mute.
DCI Eve Clay is on her way to try and interview the girl, when another case is called in. Two Polish migrant workers have been found dead in their burnt out flat. But this is no normal house fire. The men's bodies had been doused in petrol. Then Clay uncovers a sinister message at the scene: killing time is here, embrace it. It's clear this is only the beginning, but how long does Eve have before another life is taken?
A fantastic read with brilliant characters. I loved eve. She was my favourite character. I loved the ending as she saw the nun who helped raise her in the care home. 5*.

[Helen Stead · Rating 3 out of 5]

Hard going at times, with all the political references. Slow to start but did get better towards the end.

[Gordon Johnston · Rating 3 out of 5]

I want to love this series but it feels stalled. As a standalone novel, Killing Time is a good thriller. Some of the twists are a little obvious but the plot of Eastern European migrants being killed in order to stir up hatred is a strong one. Yet, as the fourth in a series I'd expect to see far more character development. It is also becoming tiresome that every case has a link to the Roman Catholic church, and every book contains at least one person who knows of Eve Clay as a child.

Also, the lack of proofreading in this edition is almost comical. Names are switched, so that at one point a builder talks of receiving a phone call from himself and one interaction between two brothers at the centre of the case becomes difficult to fathom. Ranks of the police officers involved vary, with Barney Cole switching between Detective Sergeant and Detective Constable several times, and even DCI Eve Clay herself, the lead character of the series, is introduced as Detective Inspector and in one section as a Detective Constable. Such sloppy work becomes really annoying and detracts from the plot.

[Simona · Rating 1 out of 5]

Firstly, thank you for NetGalley and Head of Zeus for this book, but it will not impact my opinion at all.

Where I should start first? Well, I was, actually, very surprised to find out that it wasn't a debut novel, because it sure did look like that.

It was just messy. No character development, no back stories to any of the officers, no depth to them at all, I couldn't even imagine them, because there were no description of how they look. So for me there were just bunch of faceless uniformed people. At some points of the book it felt like I was reading a newspaper, where there are a bunch a different surnames and that's just it.

Talking about a plot, I have to say I was confused until the middle of the book. Bunch of characters, bunch of murders, too much street names and descriptions made this book look like it was made from different mystery novels. Like there were mistake in the printing house where they put two or three books in to one.

The other thing that I noticed was recurrence of the same phrases and names. Especially one. Looks like the author is obsessed with iPhones.  Actually, I tried to count how many times it was mentioned, but after 30% of the book I lost the count and in the end of the book it was even getting annoying.

Another thing that made me even angry was a slut shaming. For instance, the woman wears a short skirt with a tighter T-shirt, then it means "come and get it", I kid you not, this phrase was used in a book. I won't even go deeper than that, because it makes me furious.

Overall this book don't have any redeeming aspects to it. I forced myself to finish it, just because I'm the part of book tour.

Definitely not recommending, there are plenty of much better crime/ mystery novels.

[Beata Dobrogoszcz · Rating 3 out of 5]

My third book by Mark Roberts in DCI Eve Clay series. And up to now the last one in my liking. I still loved MR writing. The events are coming very quickly. Eve's team is working efficiently as always and all characters are lovable. I think my problem is that I don't understand religious fanatism. Especially the way it became the background in the story. The crimes in the story are gruesome, the minds of suspects really twisted. And the author knowledge of Liverpool makes all even more believable. I didn't like the professor Bell daughter, Lucy Bell, the character from the beginning. But then I assumed it supposed to be that way. She was portrayed perfectly. Somewhere after passing two-third of the book, I figured out the ending however it came to me with a twist anyway. The title highly recommended for a good crime story.

[Donna Maguire · Rating 4 out of 5]

https://donnasbookblog.wordpress.com/...

I was intrigued by the blurb for this book and couldn't wait to get started but I will admit I am not a fan of the cover at all, normally something with a dead animal on it would put me off but I am glad that it didn't on this occasion as I found quite a lot in the book that I enjoyed.

I really enjoy the crime fiction genre and those that feature serial killers are my favourite and this one was very good - a menacing character, full of evil and violence. The book was tense and suspenseful and I enjoyed the different characters. I haven't read any of the other books in this series and this one is fine to be read as a stand alone.

3.5 stars from me, rounded up to 4 stars for Amazon and Goodreads!

[Jane Hunt · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fast-paced with a likeable female protagonist this is a suspenseful crime thriller.

Extremism and racial hatred is the premise of this novel with graphically described psychotic delusions and racially motivated hate crimes. The characters are either good or evil, there is no middle ground in this story, and the authenticity suffers.

Probably because this is the fourth book in the detective series, there is minimal character description, making most of the characters difficult to empathise since I haven't read the previous books in the series.

I enjoyed the suspense element.

I received a copy of this book from Head of Zeus via NetGalley in return for an honest review.

[Jo · Rating 4 out of 5]

DCI Eve Clay and her team are juggling the murder of two Polish men and the kidnapping of a Czech Roma girl until they find links between the two. The clues lead them to the Roman Catholic Church and a far right hate group called the Black Sun. Another thrilling novel from Roberts with some great twists.

[Chris Nolan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another brilliant Eve Clay novel from the splendid Mark Roberts. An interesting cop with an interesting back story, a fascinating city--Liverpool--and a lot which includes racial tension, religion, white supremacists and serial killers! I loved it!

[Vivien · Rating 3 out of 5]

OK but not as good as the earlier books

[Simona · Rating 4 out of 5]

First book I have read in this series - enjoyed it with the global issue - will go and read the earlier ones.

[E Cheong · Rating 2 out of 5]

DNF. Story not interesting enough to hold my attention ...

[Michelle Debnam · Rating 5 out of 5]

DCI Eve Clay investigates a series of seemingly racial motivated murders as well as a missing child, i did not see the twist at the end coming. Highly recommended

[Jess · Rating 5 out of 5]

Interesting characters and enthralling plot

[Lynne Haynes · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great read

I have enjoyed all.the books in the series and this one didn't disappoint! Really good twists and turns, no easy guessing, a real page turner.

[Iain Hudson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another good thriller from Mark Roberts.

[Karen · Rating 5 out of 5]

When a young Czech girl is found abandoned in a Liverpool park, there is a huge sense of relief as this is the same child who has been missing for the past eight days. DCI Eve Clay is on her way to interview the clearly traumatised victim when she receives a call detailing another incident – two Polish men have been found dead in their burnt out flat. With the two cases occurring so close to each other, Clay begins to think that there may be a connection. When the chilling message, ‘killing time is here, embrace it’, is discovered at the flat, the police fear that there is much more to come.

Killing Time is the fourth book in the Eve Clay series and is one I’ve been looking forward to ever since reading the previous three. Although this is another dark tale of Liverpool’s underbelly, Mark Roberts has added a clever twist that sees the plot take in events in the United States. As in the previous books, being familiar with the setting added authenticity to the plot as I found myself picturing the places as I was reading.

From the start, it is hard to know which of the characters are exactly what they seem. The murdered men, Karl and Vaclav Adamczak, appear to the outside world to be hard-working and law-abiding. What, then, would make someone take their lives in such a vicious way and is there a connection to the abduction of the young Czech girl?

The Dare brothers, Raymond and Jack, however seem much more of an open and shut case. Raymond, a young man with mental health issues who is refusing to take his medication is clearly involved in petty crime. What we don’t know, though, is how far his criminal involvement has gone. His brother, Jack, a reformed criminal, is now involved with the church and his attempts to help his brother are proving futile. Jack clearly has something to hide but is it what we think? As the cases begin to merge, what Eve Clay and her detectives discover, is a story much bigger than they ever could have imagined.

I love the character of Eve Clay, a detective determined to right the world’s wrongs. Her back story is an absolutely fascinating one and I enjoy reading about her time, as a young child, in the children’s home. Her feisty character was evident from an early age and her Everton references made this Evertonian laugh out loud! I felt that Eve seemed much more relaxed than in previous books with regards to her son, and it was nice to see this side of her.

Killing Time is a very dark thriller full of twists and turns that kept me engrossed right until the end. One of the things I love most about Mark Roberts’ books is the atmospheric settings he chooses for the chilling climax to the story. Without going into too much detail for fear of giving away spoilers, the venue chosen for the closing of Killing Time is an iconic Liverpool location that fits in well with the tone of the book.

I thoroughly enjoyed Killing Time and hope it won’t be too long before the next installment.

With thanks to Aria/Head of Zeus and Net Galley for my ARC.

[Sue · Rating 5 out of 5]

Full of twists and turns!

[Elite Group · Rating 4 out of 5]

A chilling story of bigotry and hatred

This is the fourth book in the Liverpool-based DCI Eve Clay, and the Prologue, which details her early life in ‘care’, gives us a very clear picture of the clear and steadfast – dogged maybe? – the woman she turns out to be. It also enables the book to be a ‘standalone’ read.

A young Czech girl has been found after being missing for eight days, and as DCI Eve is on her way to talk to her, news comes in of the deaths of two Polish men in what looks like an arson attack. Could the two crimes be connected? If so, how? And what does the graffiti – ‘Killing Time Is Here Embrace It’ - at the scene of the arson attack mean?

This was an enjoyable read which embraced some uncomfortable subjects. These were handled cleverly and with some care. The plot mainly centres on Liverpool but also has a link to the USA.

All in all, this was good reading and I commend Mark Roberts for ‘Killing Time’.

Sméagol

Breakaway Reviewers received a copy of this book

[Rachelle · Rating 3 out of 5]

Killing Time by Mark Roberts was an excellent police procedural dealing with an uncomfortable topic. I wish the characters were fleshed out more. It was a little hard for me to connect with them.