A Dark Time by Dennis E. BradfordMy rating: 2 of 5 stars
Time Taken To Read - 2 days
Blurb From Goodreads
A college student vanishes. Her worried grandfather asks one of her favorite professors, Max Stephansson, to solve the mystery. What Max discovers is tragic. The suspense surrounding her disappearance unfolds to yield insight, but at the cost of danger and death.
My Review
A wealthy locals granddaughter goes missing and in his distress the grandfather asks her old college professor to investigate. The hunt for the girl reveals murder, sadness, secrets and new friendships to which all come at a cost.
To be honest my main issue was why on earth would you ask a professor that teaches humanities who once taught her class to investigate? (To be fair the professor does ask this question himself but still). He has no experience in this kind of thing yet has access to things you wouldn't expect from an academic professor and he does a great job for his first stab at an investigation.
The format of the book was off putting although sadly this is how the place it was printed from does the layout, after the first 5 chapters though I did get used to it. The writing itself isn't what I am used to and quite different from my usual authors but still very readable, you can tell he has put a lot of effort and thought into his characters and the plot.
It sadly just wasn't for me and the pace of the book changed a bit but was mostly slow going and building up which some people love but it isn't for me. It started off well and a murder before the first 50 pages is really good going but the book then took a different turn so that it almost felt like two different stories (the professor and a new relationship). Also near the end I found one of the characters to be vile, disgusting and a sexual deviant which made for very uncomfortable reading and there isn't any warning until you happen upon it.
All in all I think this will make for a great read for people who like to read about an academic hero with some intellectual discussions spotted through the book and a few twists and turns. I would try this author again but this time for this book it is a 2/5 for me. Thank you so much to the author for giving me the chance to read his work and for the bonus thrown into the book. A free consultation worth $300 so that itself you might fancy a wee look into. For more information please check out his site http://dennis-bradford.com/
Oh no, I don't think I'd enjoy this much either. I really don't like to be taken by surprise by a nasty sexual act. It's happened to me before while reading and it instantly pulled me out of the story.
ReplyDeleteThis sounds intriguing but I agree that horrible sexual events/deviancy can be really difficult to read about - The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo springs to mind, there was a scene in that (if you've read it you will know what I'm talking about) where I had to literally close the book mid sentence!
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