29 SECONDSby T.M. Logan is a taut crime thriller with an intriguing moral question at its center. If you could make someone disappear, someone who truly deserved to die, whose continued existence would harm you and others, and you wouldn’t get caught, would you do it? That is the question Sarah, a young university junior professor, has to wrestle with. Sarah has run afoul of Alan Hawthorne, a senior professor at her university. Hawthorne is a well known academic, tv presenter, and is considered to have an unimpeachable reputation. That reputation is the shield he uses to prey on women like Sarah, pressuring her to sleep with him or he’ll ruin her career. Through a series of unlikely circumstances, Sarah now has an opportunity to be rid of Hawthorne forever. But can she live with herself if she goes through with it?
That moral conundrum alone could make for an entire novel, but T.M. Logan merely uses it as a jumping-off point for his story. It’s all the better for it, as it might have ended up too predictable. Believe me when I say that this novel will surprise you with how it’s plot unfolds, always staying one step ahead of the reader’s expectations. Logan’s prose shines brightly in 29 SECONDS, creating utterly addictive writing that puts the reader into the mind of its panicked protagonist. We feel the same rage and raw despair as Sarah when her career is stymied by Hawthorne, and most of us wouldn’t hesitate to see him killed after witnessing his slimy advances on her. Yet Sarah’s conscience won’t let her sink to his level, and we feel the palpable weight of the decision constantly on her mind. Even with such a despicable character, the act of taking his life, even if it isn’t with her own hands, doesn’t seem like such an easy decision when viewed from Sarah’s perspective. Sarah feels like such a lived-in character that despite the novel’s shorter length, she is like an old friend by the time it concludes. Hawthorne himself is a timely and thought out villain, his sexual indiscretions merely part of his thirst for power over others. It’s easy to see where the inspiration for the character came from, and while it may seem easy to have a sexual predator as the villain, it’s a feat to make one that the reader feels just as frightened by him as the protagonist.
If there are any flaws, it’s that it feels like the first third of the novel takes it’s time even when things have all been put in place. We have the hero, the villain, the moral conundrum, but Logan keeps adding to Sarah’s rage even when it’s far past the point the reader would tolerate if they were in his shoes. Perhaps it’s just my anger over someone having to put up with a sexual predator, but it feels like things could have been sped up to the meat of the story after the first time we see the depths of his depravity.
29 SECONDS is a timely, compelling novel that utilizes its well-realized character to grip its readers. The type of thriller that readers won’t be able to put down.
From T.M. Logan, the bestselling author of Lies, comes 29 Seconds, a sensational new thriller that explores what happens when a split second thought of revenge takes on a life of its own.
“Give me one name. One person. And I will make them disappear.”
Sarah is a young professor struggling to prove herself in a workplace controlled by the charming and manipulative Alan Hawthorne. A renowned scholar and television host, Hawthorne rakes in million-dollar grants for the university where Sarah works--so his inappropriate treatment of female colleagues behind closed doors has gone unchallenged for years. And Sarah is his newest target.
When Hawthorne's advances become threatening, Sarah is left with nowhere to turn. Until the night she witnesses an attempted kidnapping of a young child on her drive home, and impulsively jumps in to intervene. The child’s father turns out to be a successful businessman with dangerous connections--and her act of bravery has put this powerful man in her debt. He gives Sarah a burner phone and an unbelievable offer. A once-in-a-lifetime deal that can make all her problems disappear.
No consequences. No traces. All it takes is a 29-second phone call.
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