Hard Time

by Alex Laybourne

Rookie officer Peter Malone and his heavily armed team are sent on a deadly mission to extract a dangerous criminal from a classified prison world. A Kruger Correctional facility where only the hardest, most vicious criminals are sent to fend for themselves, never to return.

But when the team come face to face with ancient beasts from a lost world, their mission is changed. The new objective: Survive.

Genres: Horror, Fiction

92 pages, Paperback

First published August 31, 2015

About the author

Born and raised in the coastal English town Lowestoft, it should come as no surprise (to those that have the misfortune of knowing this place) that I became a horror writer.

From an early age I was sent to schools which were at least 30 minutes drive away and so spent the most of my free time alone, as the friends I did have lived too far away for me to be able to hang out with them in the weekends or holidays.

I have been a writer as long as I can remember and have always had a vivid imagination. To this very day I find it all too easy to just drift away into my own mind and explore the world I create, where the conditions always seem to be just perfect for the cultivation of ideas, plots, scenes, characters and lines of dialogue everything basically, and when the time is right, I can simply pluck them from the allotment of my mind serve them up on the pages of whatever work is to be their home.

I am married and have four children and my biggest dream for them is that they grow up and spend their lives doing what makes them happy, whatever that is.

Reviews

[chucklesthescot · Rating 2 out of 5]

A new prison system sends all the high security inmates off-0world to serve their time. If they are still alive at a certain part of their sentence they get parole, which means an armed extraction team from the prison have to go and collect him. The team are nervous about all the prisoners who are waiting there for a chance of revenge on the officers but when they arrive to be confronted by raptors in a hostile jungle environment, the guards realise that they are now in a dinosaur ruled world and survival is going to be their main focus.

I liked the idea of the story, sending prisoners to another world that they can't escape from, and it is understandable why this is the first man ever to be paroled from this world after serving twelve years. But I had a lot of issues with this story. Firstly, who is going to send their top team to a place like that with inadequate weapons and no warning about what they are going to face? That makes no sense at all and you are just sacrificing your men in the process. I found that a bit stupid. And with that technology, you couldn't drop the team much closer to where you know the guy is instead of having them trek to find him, putting him in more danger? I don't get that at all.

It gets off to an explosive start with the men arriving right on top of a pack of raptors which is carnage from the beginning. Now I love a dino gore fest as much as the next person but the main issue with this book is that it all felt so rushed and underdeveloped. We had raptors, seconds later it was huge crocodile, followed by pteranadons and poisoness creatures, then this predator and that predator and TRex and big raptors and Spinosaurus and...there is no break from constant dinosaur attack other than men attacking the team. It jumps from one to the next with no break, which means there is no attempt to build up the tension of things stalking you and maybe a few narrow escapes here and there, or a false alarm to give the reader a few minor scares. It felt like the author had decided on the 90 odd pages and was then determined to fit in attacks by every single dinosaur he could think off.

I wanted a bit more story and getting to know and give a damn about a few of the team before they became dino bait. I wanted to see actual story and proper world building, tension and fear as they move through the area-not just running from one dinosaur to the next to the next to the next. It took all the anticipation and tension out of the story, and left it as just people getting eaten. I felt that so much more could have been done with the story and I was left a bit disappointed by the overall delivery of what could have been a really good story, given all the ideas.

This is the second book I've tried by the author and I haven't greatly liked the way he puts the story together so I won't be trying any more. If you want a good dinosaur read try something like Viktor Zarkov's 'Jurassic Island' or Rick Jones 'The Valley', which is Jurassic Park meets The Running Man.

[C.p. Bialois · Rating 4 out of 5]

I think it’s only fair to say I’m a huge fan of the sci-fi angle with dinosaurs, and as a fan of the author’s other work it was only a matter of time until I got to this one. First off, I loved the synopsis. I think the idea of a prison sending their prisoners doing hard time to a prehistoric world is a perfect fit in the dystopian genre.

The “out of sight, out of mind” thought process really hits home when the guards are sent to retrieve the lone prisoner to ever make it through his sentence alive. The thought of being in a place where you’re surrounded by plants and animals, yet unable to see them is terrifying, and I thought that was captured with the story’s claustrophobic nature. Add to that the fun of witnessing a different way for the creatures to eat the men made it a fun and entertaining plot.

The characters were an interesting mix with the guards offering a civilized approach to nature while the prisoners adopted a wild animal type of personalities similar to what we hear of real prisons. I do have to admit I’m curious how or why they couldn’t find a way to come together to build something for their mutual benefit. It could just be the optimist in me. lol

One thing that bothered me was the ending. The author’s approach didn’t bother me as much as the how of a certain pair came about. I don’t want to go into greater detail due to spoilers, but it’s an interesting idea that leaves open the potential for a sequel. I did love the fight scene near the end, as my favorite dinosaur won, but I’ll leave the details to you all to figure out.

If you’re a fan of dinosaurs, sci-fi, and dystopian settings, then this is the thing for you.

[BookishDramas · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is a short story and a less than an hour's reading.
In the future where time-travel/portals are a part of life, hardened convicted criminals at a modern prison are shunted off to an unknown location to complete their sentence. A Rookie officer joins an armed team to extract a criminal from the classified prison world. He is the first of the parolees to be alive for release.
The team reaches #theLostWorld
Blood gore and dismemberment follow and there is whispers of "A Sound of Thunder" ending but in this case the past arrives at the present.
Story is too short and abrupt, good premise is underwritten.

[Jayne · Rating 5 out of 5]

Everything you liked about Jurassic Park

But with more blood, bone, and ick!

A very good story and a decently fast read. You will not put this down.

With all the carnage and bullets, I learned of new dinosaur I'd not heard of before: Spinosaurus.

[Mkittysamom · Rating 3 out of 5]

Short novella about Dinosaurs and a sneaky use of using them to separate criminals from society.. or power gone wrong...

[Emma · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5 stars

[Robert · Rating 5 out of 5]

Here's an interesting and fast paced time travel/dinosaur story. Action kicks off pretty quickly, and while a short book, definitely easy to follow. Travel to a prison unlike any other and witness what the inmates have to deal with to survive. Quite a fun novel to take a spun through

[FictionFreak · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hard Time is a fun Dino thriller, I carved through it very quickly and happily. I hope there will be a sequel someday, though, it deserves one!

[Uncle Dave Avis · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was ok , fast paced, and a novel idea. It , however seemed a bit superficial in the depth of the development.