Sunday 31 December 2017

THREE HOURS PAST MIDNIGHT by Tony Knighton

4 out of 5 stars

On Amazon UK
On Amazon.com
On Goodreads



How I discovered this book: it was submitted to Rosie Amber's Book Review Team, of which I am a member.

Genre: Hard-boiled crime

The Blurb:
  
His last job a disaster, a professional thief teams with an old partner eager for one last score – a safe in the home of a wealthy Philadelphia politician. But they are not the only ones set on the cash. His partner dead and the goods missing, he hunts for his money and the killer to find out that this may have been a job best left undone.


I liked this!  I enjoyed Tony Knighton's writing style, and it's a well-paced, cat-and-mouse page-turner with no unnecessary padding, and plenty of action. 

I felt the author must know the dark streets of Philadelphia well; it's highly atmospheric without being wordy or overly-descriptive.  Telling the story through the eyes of the violent thief anti-hero made me feel far more involved in the story than I might have done had it been told using a third person narrative; even though the thief is ruthless, with little disregard for anyone, I kind of liked him.  That's an art; making the reader like an unlikeable person.  

It's gripping, sharp, not too long, with excellently observed dialogue and convincing secondary characters.  Good job.  My only criticism is the Kindle price, from the point of view of those who might want to buy it; at over £5, it's more expensive than most full-length novels by more established authors.  The publisher might want to have a think about this, as it would be a shame to lose out on potential sales of a highly readable book.  It is available on Kindle Unlimited, though.

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