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Time to Think
TIME TO THINK
When Detective Sergeant JASON MAYFIELD responds to a call for assistance at the home of small time drug dealer EDDIE STEVENS, old wounds are opened and both men seize the opportunity to settle a score that has existed between them for a long time. Polite dialogue is the last thing on Stevens’ mind and Jason soon finds himself fighting for his life. Jason’s response is deemed excessive, with the result that he is arrested and sentenced to a lengthy term in Parkside prison, an old Victorian jail on the edge of his police station’s catchment area. Locked in the same cage as criminals he put away Jason realises he must 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 incarceration break his spirit. Fortunately his cell mate DONNIE BRISTOL is an old hand at doing time and he uses his considerable influence to make Jason’s life a little easier than it otherwise might have been.
While Jason languishes helplessly in his prison cell a mutilated body is discovered in Prenton Woods. When a second body is discovered at a nightclub in Essex the unusual and barbaric injuries on both bodies link them to the same killer. Jason’s former boss Detective Inspector BOB GARNETT has to concentrate on catching the killer(s) making Jason’s release less of a priority. He struggles for clues to the murderer’s identity until a major breakthrough is gifted to him by a most unlikely source.
Does Jason survive the rigours of prison life? Does Garnett catch the brutal murderers? Time to Think is an excellent first novel by Andy Laker.
When Detective Sergeant JASON MAYFIELD responds to a call for assistance at the home of small time drug dealer EDDIE STEVENS, old wounds are opened and both men seize the opportunity to settle a score that has existed between them for a long time. Polite dialogue is the last thing on Stevens’ mind and Jason soon finds himself fighting for his life. Jason’s response is deemed excessive, with the result that he is arrested and sentenced to a lengthy term in Parkside prison, an old Victorian jail on the edge of his police station’s catchment area. Locked in the same cage as criminals he put away Jason realises he must 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 incarceration break his spirit. Fortunately his cell mate DONNIE BRISTOL is an old hand at doing time and he uses his considerable influence to make Jason’s life a little easier than it otherwise might have been.
While Jason languishes helplessly in his prison cell a mutilated body is discovered in Prenton Woods. When a second body is discovered at a nightclub in Essex the unusual and barbaric injuries on both bodies link them to the same killer. Jason’s former boss Detective Inspector BOB GARNETT has to concentrate on catching the killer(s) making Jason’s release less of a priority. He struggles for clues to the murderer’s identity until a major breakthrough is gifted to him by a most unlikely source.
Does Jason survive the rigours of prison life? Does Garnett catch the brutal murderers? Time to Think is an excellent first novel by Andy Laker.
207 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 2012
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
May 13, 2014
‘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.
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.
April 12, 2013
I was recommended this book by a friend and i thoroughly enjoyed every minute of it. The storyline was great and really had me hooked from the start. Definitely will be looking for more books by this author in the future.
Well done Mr Laker on a fantastic debut.
Well done Mr Laker on a fantastic debut.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews