Book Review: ‘Killing Hour’ by Andrew Gross

Title: Killing Hour
Author: Andrew Gross
Genre: Crime/Thriller

Storyline: After his troubled nephew is found to have committed suicide Dr Jay Handler is drawn in to a legacy of murder, torture, manipulation and betrayal – plus buried secrets in his brothers past. Convincing anyone that there was more to this than meets the eye pushes him to the edge of sanity and threatens everything, and everyone, he loves. Can he piece it all together, is there a deeper and darker truth, and just how far back does all this go?

Review: This is the fifth book from the bestselling author, and the third that I have read (you can read my review of ‘The Blue Zone’ here) – and it’s always interesting to see how an author develops, especially after having co-written with a prominent author such as James Patterson. Andrew Gross is definitely not a Patterson clone and writes with a very fluid and addictive style. One of the joys with Patterson novels is that I can’t put them down and I just devour them, this is proving to be very true here.

With a tragic foundation in the real-life death of his bi-polar nephew the author draws us into a tangle of lies, deceit, murder and the lasting effects of a long-dead cult. You can’t take anything for granted and there are surprises all the way to the last page of the book.

The characters are well-rounded and you are drawn in very quickly, finding yourself caring about Jay and his family whilst also despising and cringing away from the odious cult leader. It’s this depth of character that really provides the flesh and identity for the skeleton of the story, and it’s this emotive connection that marks Gross out as a real standout talent in the ever-crowded genre (not that I’m complaining about the depth and variety of authors that are out there at the moment – it gives a load of variety and ensures that there are always new ideas and new stories to read)

The flow of the story is at a pleasantly fast pace, not too fast to rush by and give no detail but avoiding the slow, procedural, drudge that some authors can slip into as they flood you with more detail than is needed. The twists and turns are a mix of the anticipated, the expected and the complete shock. If it were possible to be made to jump whilst reading a book then there would definitely be some moments in this book.

If you are a fan of Deaver, Patterson et al then you will find this an easy book to get into – but a hard book to put down.

Score: 4.5/5

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