8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
More than just a great thriller, January 6, 2009
This review is from: What Time Devours (Mass Market Paperback)
For those who have already read AJ Hartley's work, What Time Devours definitely lives up to expectations. Like On The Fifth Day and The Mask of Atreus, this is a great thriller with plenty of action and drama. This time, though, Hartley also shows us a more thoughtful and reflective Thomas as he grapples with more than just "the bad guys." Definitely worth reading.
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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Thomas Knight Returns!, January 23, 2009
This review is from: What Time Devours (Mass Market Paperback)
Finally, A. J. Hartley's protagonist Thomas Knight returns to thrill Hartley's readers. In Hartley's latest novel What Time Devours,the fast-paced action begins in the first pages as Knight discovers the terrifying face of a dead woman against his window.
Because the novel opens with a murder leading to multiple layers of intrigue, What Time Devours might easily be cast as an intense thriller. However, readers should not ignore the historical and literary accuracy woven between theft, murder, and deceit. Through Thomas Knight, Hartley reveals his own knowledge of European history and geography. Knight's character also appears quite knowledgeable about the trends and topics in current scholarly work about William Shakespeare. One might easily compliment Hartley's thorough research, but this reader senses that the preparations for this novel were too enjoyable to categorize as "research."
Read What Time Devours. You will enjoy the story, the thrills, and the characters.
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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Enormously Entertaining, January 6, 2009
This review is from: What Time Devours (Mass Market Paperback)
To my delight, Thomas Knight, the protagonist of A.J. Hartley's On The Fifth Day, has returned in the fascinating new mystery, What Time Devours. The new book combines exciting story developments and interesting historical and literary details. It is fast-paced and enormously entertaining.
The new book involves a lost Shakespeare play called Love's Labours Won. It is set around Chicago, London and Stratford in England as well as the Champagne region of northern France. Following the appearance of a dead woman leaning against his kitchen window, Thomas Knight, an Evanston High School English teacher, finds himself caught in a series of developments that sends him searching for a lost play which was, according to some, written by Shakespeare.
One surprising pleasure of What Time Devours is that it is a wonderful travel mystery. Those of you who have visited Stratford, England, should fondly reminisce about Shakespeare's birth place - - a picture post-card timbered house with an exquisite garden, as well as ancient halls and the streets of Stratford - - as Thomas Knight pursues the mystery of the lost play. Those of you who have visited Westminster Abbey are likely to empathize with Tom: " In this building, every monarch of England had been crowned since William the Conqueror in 1066... The depth of antiquity, the weight of it, was unlike anything Thomas had ever experienced."(Read Chapter 24.)
If you are a European history buff you should find the book highly intriguing. For example, when was the last time you read about the Kingdom of Navarre? How does it relate to Shakespeare's plays or Mary Antoinette? (Read Chapter 44.)
Enjoy the book!
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