Published by Zaffre Books
Publication Date 17th March 2022
Genre: Psychological Thrillers
Book Description:
Your son said he was home. WHY DID HE LIE?
I should have known something was wrong. I should have sensed it. Felt it in the air, like the build-up of pressure before a thunderstorm, that heavy, loaded calm.
The curfew
Andy and Laura are good parents. They tell their son Connor that he can go out with friends to celebrate completing his exams, but he must be home by midnight.
The lie
When Connor misses his curfew, it sets off a series of events that will change the lives of five families forever.
The truth?
Because five teenagers went into the woods that night, but only four came out. And telling the truth might mean losing everything...
WHAT WOULD YOU DO?
My Thoughts:
As a parent this book captures in technicolour detail all your worst fears for your teenage children. Laura and Andy Boyd are respected members of their community, a teacher and a local GP and as such are well known and recognised by everyone. Their children Connor and Harriet are high achievers academically although Harriet has some issues with others in school due to her "nerdiness", her parents accepting of the fact that she may well be on the autistic spectrum.
The trouble starts for Connor on the night he decides to go in to Beacon Hill Woods to celebrate the end of school exams with a small group of friends. Andy wakes in the small hours wondering if Connor has made it home in time for his curfew, and wife Laura assures him that everything is fine. Feeling uneasy Andy pushes his son's bedroom door open and sees his sleeping form wrapped in the duvet so goes back to bed. The following day Andy heads out to take his dog for a walk and receives a phone call from his brother asking whether he has seen Zac, Andy's nephew at all. Replying that no, he's not seen him he agrees to help look for Zac as he hasn't returned home from last night's celebrations. This is the point where things start to feel very uncomfortable for Andy; his brother is holding something back from him where they've always been so close previously. Zac is missing, then word comes through that another girl from last night's party has also not returned home. What on earth happened in the woods after dark?
I really liked the family dynamic of the Boyd household. The parents are supportive both of one another and of each of the children, protective yet not stifling characters. Harriet is probably my favourite character in the entire book as she works away in her own quiet manner to help protect her big brother who certainly gets the rubbish end of the stick in this story. There are some wonderfully unlikeable characters too whose glossy veneer of respectability proves to be too good to be true. They're present in most communities but hopefully aren't as vile as those featured here. It's certainly a book which makes you wonder how you would react if it was your child involved.
The pace of the story is perfect with the true facts being teased out gradually right the way through, interlaced with some very credible decoys. The Curfew is bang up to date with its references to social media and other IT systems which are used to both help and hinder the investigation. Where would we be without the superior knowledge of the younger generation when it comes to technology??
This is my favourite of TM Logan's work so far. The writing flows easily from the page and I whizzed through the whole book far more quickly than I expected. Definitely one to wrap yourself up in when you know you have a chunk of reading time available.
About the Author:
Bestselling author TM Logan was a national newspaper journalist before turning to novel-writing full time. His debut thriller LIES was one of Amazon UK’s biggest ebooks of 2017, selling 350,000 copies and gathering more than 1,400 5-star reviews.
Together with his second standalone thriller, ’29 Seconds’ (2018), his books are now published in a dozen countries around the world including the USA, South Korea, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Poland, Hungary, Serbia, Romania and the Netherlands.
Tim lives in Nottinghamshire with his wife and two children, and writes in a cabin at the bottom of his garden.
You can contact Tim via Twitter @TMLoganAuthor or through his website www.tmlogan.com
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