The synopsis of this book really hooked me in, but when I began to read the book I struggled to stay with it. I found it very slow and boring for the most part. It is translated from French and I wondered if something had literally been lost in translation? Most of the sentences did not make sense to me - they read in a abstract way, perhaps it is the authors style? But I did not like it.

The book flips between 1989 and 2016 - although each era is labelled as such, I still felt disorientated at times as to which timeline I was reading about. Probably me - but I also brought forward in my minds eye the teenage Clotilde from 1989 into the present day and could not imagine her as a lawyer in 2016.

What I do like is a mystery and about half way through the book things began to get interesting enough for me to want to know the ending to this book. There were still long descriptive passages, which I did not think added to the story line, but several events kept me reading.

At one point I did think I had half guessed what had happened all those years ago in 1989 - and I was partly right but not for the reasons uncovered in the book. The last quarter of the book did live up to the promise from the synopsis but it was hard work getting to it.

I've always wanted to visit Corsica and I must say this book has made me want to do that even more as the descriptions of the island were one of the best parts of the book.

I am giving this book three out of five stars. My thanks to Netgalley for a copy of the book for review.

This is the story of Clotide, who escaped a tragic accident many years ago, now she has come back to show her daughter the scene of the accident but it’s not as it seems.... someone doesn’t want the truth to come out.

This was brilliantly written and it kept me intrigued right until the end. Whilst some parts were predictable it did keep me guessing and there was some twists and turns that I just didn’t see coming.

As always I’d love to find out more about the characters as it’s well written and you get to like and know the characters as part of the story.

I read this book whilst on holiday on one of the Italian islands which made a wonderful place to read this tale of a Corsican family mystery that has haunted them for years. Even if Corsica is not part of Italy it still has a similar terrain.
A wonderful sense of the island, the herbs and plants give this novel a magnificent atmosphere. You can almost smell the sea.
It is a mystery story and it hooks you in., it is a long read so again an ideal holiday companion.
Very enjoyable.
It is translated from the French.

A dark and complicated book. While I enjoyed it and did become quite involved in the story, I also found the plot slightly over-contrived and too complicated.

However, Bussi writes with style and fluidity and this book is utterly readable, and recommended if you like a challenging thriller with complex twists and turns.

Every summer Clotilde, her brother, Nicolas and her parents, Paul and Palma Idrissi visit Paul’s parents in Corsica. What really happened in Corsica that last year she was there 27 years ago that led up to the car crash that killed her parents and brother? It had taken her that long to summon up the courage to return to Corsica. Clotilde thinks she knows, but a letter from her mother sets her on a trail to the truth. Her husband and daughter just want her to come to terms with the past, in fact her daughter is not interested in the past and is closer to her father than to her mother. Clotilde’s grandparents are still alive but are reluctant to talk about the accident and the locals seem to resent her presence. As Clotilde delves into her memories she begins to realise that the past is not quite as she thought it was.

The narrative switches between the present and the past – the past told as an unknown person reads Clotilde’s diary that she had been writing about her holiday, her family and friends. She had left the diary behind just before they all set off in the car and after the accident it had disappeared. In it she had recorded what they did as well as her thoughts about her family and friends and their relationships. Some of the friends she had at the time are still in Corsica, most notably Natale, the girl who had fascinated Nicolas so much and she has much to reveal about what happened prior to the car crash.

After a somewhat slow start, I was totally gripped by the story. Just who is this unknown man reading her thoughts on her family and friends? He is worried that she has returned to the island wondering just how far down into the past she will be able to dig, and what secrets she will discover. I had little idea for quite a while. The clues are there but well hidden and there are many twists as one by one secrets are revealed that make Clotilde question everything she thought she knew about her family.

I loved the setting, Corsica is a place I’ve never visited but I could easily see the scenes, helped by the plan showing the Revellata Peninsula, a wild and beautiful coastline, where Clotilde’s grandparents lived, and all the key locations. I loved the way Clotilde wrote in her diary, in which she poured out her thoughts and dreams – describing it as ‘Top Secret and Totally embargoed‘. I loved the drama of the story and the way it only gradually revealed the secrets of the Idrissi family – and what really happened.

Many thanks to Weidenfeld & Nicolson for a review copy via NetGalley.

Thanks Orion Publishing Group and netgalley for this ARC.

Awesome contemporary thriller by a master author! The past never can be forgotten and it will come back to haunt you.

It took me a while to get into this book and to become familiar with the different characters, I haven’t read any of Michael Bussi’s novels before but, when I did I couldn’t put it down!
The story begins in 1989 with 15 year old Clotilde as the only survivor of a terrible accident and the contents of her lost diary written in the days leading up to it. Truly intriguing, who is in possession of the dairy?
When Clotilde revisits the island in Corsica with her husband Franck and daughter Victoria on the anniversary of the accident 27 years later in 2016 the truth of what really happened on that fateful day in 1989 begins to unfold.
This story with all its twists and turns will keep you guessing right to the end.

A really good story. I was engrossed from the start. The descriptions of Corsica and the characters were excellent. I could visualise everything. The story goes back and forward in time and links everything together perfectly. This book is definitely worth reading. Curl up on a chair and forget the outside world for a few hours.

Thank you to Netgalley for my copy.

Brilliant book, I really enjoyed it. Highly recommended.

Many thanks to Netgalley and Michel Bussi for the copy of this book. I agreed to give my unbiased opinion voluntarily.

The reviews I had read of this book and author enticed me to want to read it but unfortunately I struggled to get into it. The initial story of Clothilde being left alone following the devastating crash that killed her family was an intriguing start with much potential but I found there were too many characters and the storyline so slow moving that I lost the will to carry on reading it. The descriptive writing however is wonderful, just a shame that this was not my type of read but you can't have everything.

I received a copy of this book for my independent honest review.
I have absolutely enjoyed his other works translated into English. However I have to say this latest one was only an ok read for me. At times the translation didn't feel as coherent as usual and I really didn't feel invested in the characters like I usually do with his books.
The style,especially Clo's teenage notes wasn't for me this time sorry.

Not for me. I found the writing frustrating and irritating. I had no empathy for the characters.

In 1989, Clotilde was on vacation with her parents in Corsica. Their car plunged into a ravine in a curve on a curvy mountain road. Clotilde was the only survivor as her parents and older brother were killed. It is now 27 years later, and Clotilde has returned to Corsica with her husband and teenage daughter. She receives a letter signed by her mother as if she were still alive. Someone is tormenting Clotilde with memories from her past.

I found the book to be interesting, but it wasn't one of the best I ever read. It was also a very long book--so long that I was tempted to skim it to finally reach the end. I don't think I will read any more books by this author as I prefer a more fast-paced thriller.

This is a very cleverly written thriller, that is full of suspense and secrets which are slowly revealed opening up a compelling past and present storyline.
The characters all play there part by intertwining and bringing the twists and turns to life.

Thank you netgalley, Michel Bussi and Weldenfeld for allowing me to read and review this book.

The description of Corsica in this book is wonderful and really made me want to visit the island. The story is well written and the plot is intriguing, with a fair amount of suspense.
I just really didn’t like the characters and found the main plot twist pretty unbelievable.
My thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for this copy.

This book jumps around in time from past to present - I found some of this frustrating as the tale sometimes lost its way a little. However, the book did draw me in and I had to finish it to find out what happened and how all the characters played their part on the tragedy.

I didn't read this book because it dated back to far for what I read

My earliest memories in life were of Corsica and that was over 60 years ago. 'Time is a Killer' certainly evoked for me the rugged beauty of the place and the fragrance of the maquis all surrounded by the turqoise Mediterranean. Set across several generations we are faced with a car accident where the fatalities numbered three and now one of them has made contact with the sole survivor. That in itself could form a novel but Time is a Killer carefully crafts a background story to events modern and old. Love, unrequited love, family allegiance, honour and wasted youth are the warp and weft in the fabric of this excellent novel. It seemed to distil in its pages all that is Corsica and I'll raise a glass of myrtle to that!

If you are looking for engaging novels more complex and intricately byzantine than they may seem, you can do no better than Michel Bussi, as I have come to find reading Time is a Killer. I first became aware of this French writer's ferocious talent with Black Water Lilies and haven't been the same since. That book set the mark high for me and I am thrilled to report that Time is a Killer is just as touching, gripping and surprising yet thoroughly different. A great find!

Time is a Killer takes place in Corsica when Clotilde returns to the island of her childhood summers after a 27 year absence. She stays away so long because her parents and brother died in a terrible car accident on her last trip, the fateful summer of 1989. During her current stay, with husband and daughter in tow, we recount through the journal of her 15-year-old self the events that took place that summer. A number of odd occurrences take place that lead Clo to the conclusion that the story she grew up believing may not be the full truth.

I loved everything about this book. Clotilde is a sympathetic yet strong character. Her persona at the age of 15 is utterly delightful! I felt her youthful enthusiasm for life and the conviction of her beliefs in a tangible way. I adored her and loved seeing events play out through her rose tinted glasses. The adult Clo is just as authentic but in an "I'm an adult who has lived a real adult's life" sort of way. Just as charming but more grounded. The location of Corsica plays a key role and makes me want desperately to go there. It feels magical and serves as the perfect backdrop to this rich multi-generational drama. The story plot is dealt out on a pitch perfect need-to-know basis that is so well timed. Lots of twists and turns to go around but revealed at the exact right moment. Five stars just doesn't do this novel justice. It is richer and more intense than that. I feel pleased to have read it, having already gifted a copy to a friend. Is there a better endorsement than that?!

Clotilde was 15 years old in 1989. Holidaying, as usual, in her father’s birthplace on the island of Corsica and staying at a campsite on land owned by her grandfather. She is a fairly typical girl of her age – moody, dressing all in black, writing all her thoughts and feelings down in the notebook which never leaves her side – but all normality disappears on the night when the family car goes over a cliff and Clotilde is the only survivor. In 2016, 27 years later, she returns to the island with her husband and her own fifteen-year-old daughter to try to remember the events of that summer. Her memories are sporadic, the notebook containing her thoughts and feelings was never given back to her after her stay in hospital, and the faces from the past she meets give her a variety of contrasting points of view. But then her world is turned upside down when she receives a letter which appears to be from her mother: the mother who perished all those years ago. Her memory gradually resurfaces as she finds out more about the events of that fatal day, old enmities and romances are rekindled and Clotilde’s family are once again in terrible danger. The need for revenge is still active in Corsica.

I really enjoy Michel Bussi’s thrillers. They are atmospheric stories with very, very French settings and, so far, I’ve not yet spotted the real villain before Bussi is ready to reveal them.