The Killing Hour

The promo paragraph for The Killing Hour by Paul Cleave immediately caught my eye and sounded like the kind of thriller book I really enjoy - everyday person in the wrong spot at the wrong time.

"Imagine waking up covered in blood - but it's not your blood. There's a nasty bump on your head, and the morning paper reports that two young women were brutally murdered. You recognize their names. Pieces of the night before come back to you through the haze. And now you're the suspect in their grisly deaths. Welcome to Charlie's world."

Spoiler alert - If you have plans to read this book, stop here.

Although the premise is excellent, the delivery fell short, very short for me. We've got at least three viewpoints going on - the dying cop who show more decides to pursue Charlie on his own and exact justice on his terms, Charlie's narrative and that of Cyris, the man Charlie claims is the killer. The cop's narrative was the most readable of the three. Charlie's first person narrative was rambling. He also talks to 'ghosts'.

The plotting seemed over the top and far fetched. Charlie watches two women get attacked, jumps in, saves them, kills the bad guy and then accompanies them back their house to take a shower rather than go to or call the cops!? Really? There were other situations that just had me shaking my head - his wife going along with his plan to catch the 'real' killer was unrealistic as well. And still, they never call the police.....Same thing, over and over again.

And the killer. Well, the original incarnation of The Killing Hour as a horror novel is quite obvious. The guy won't die. And frankly, he just got tiresome. Cleave seems to delight in provide grisly, graphic details to shock the reader. Breast in a box on a bed anyone?

An excellent premise, but sadly it just fell (really) short for me. The Killing Hour was originally written as a unpublished horror novel in the nineties. Cleave reworked it as a crime novel after selling another book. And it was rewritten again for release to the North American market. (Cleave is a Kiwi author and this book is set in New Zealand)

For this reader, this first taste of Paul Cleave will be my last. Although his newer novels may be an improvement over The Killing Hour, I won't be bothering to pick up another book by this author. show less

I had previously read The Cleaner by Paul Cleave and found it a wonderfully clever and exciting read so I was really looking forward to The Killing Hour. Unfortunately, this book didn’t measure up to my expectations being a rather mediocre thriller. First and foremost, it just didn’t ring true to me and while there were plenty of chills and thrills, the whole story seemed rather overdone.

I have found out that the Killing Hour is actually the author’s first book. He originally worote it as a horror book but it was rejected by the publishers in that format so he had rewirtten it, taking out the supernatural aspects. It wasn’t a bad read, just not as good as I had hoped for.

I am not ready to give up on this author yet, I know he show more can write inventive, funny and exciting crime stories so I will keep my fingers crossed that his next book hits the mark. show less

After waiting for a couple of months I finally got Paul Cleave's first novel. I have read his other novels and was looking forward to this one. Right off the bat you can tell this was his first because it tends to linger a bit on the same scenes over and over. When he finally gets that nice fast pace going, he goes back to the same topic and you loose momentum. Nonetheless the story is quite good and I will keep on reading his work. In this book we meet Charlie, who's been having a real bad week. First he tried to save two women from being murdered and he failed. Then he tried to kill the murderer and failed as well. He tries to get his ex wife to believe him; and when she doesn't, he ties her up and kidnaps her in hopes of catching the show more killer with her help. It all goes into a roller coaster ride that keeps you wondering if they'll ever make it out of this one alive. show less

It just wasn’t Charlie Felman’s day. Waking from a dream, in cold sweats surrounded by ghosts, he is relieved to know the worst is over until he discovers a large bump on his forehead and blood all over his clothes; blood that does not belong to him.
Seemingly on the run from Cyrus, a man who authorities are unable to locate any record of, Charlie has a dickens of a job convincing the police, and his ex-wife Jo, that he is not losing his marbles and that the bodies that keep showing up in his wake are Cyrus’ victims not his.
Forcibly kidnapping Jo, and stuffing her in the trunk of the car probably is not the easiest way to show his innocence however it is the only way he knows to keep her safe.
Inspector Landry has nothing to lose. show more His body racked with cancer, he only has a short time left on this earth. He doesn’t believe Charlie’s innocence and drags him into the woods meaning to take care of him vigilante-style. Not until Cyrus shows up, also trying to dispatch Charlie, does Landry realize the error he made and the focus switches to helping each other escape from the claws of the madmen in order that Christchurch’s latest serial killer can be bought to justice.
This is a recent US release of Cleave’s first novel and although it does not involve his trusty and true detective Theo Tate it does involve the Christchurch police force and so again Cleave has managed to link together his collection of works into a malleable group of thrill-a-minute novels that are not to be missed. show less

I was given a copy of this book to give my honest opinion. I have to say I really enjoyed this book. I constantly questioned who was really the killer. This book has many twists and turns. Loved it.

I thought this book was great. It's got a sinister creepiness to it. I loved not knowing if Charlie was good or bad. Looking forward to reading more books from this author.

Not very interesting compared to Cleave's others.