This is a very entangled , twisty suspense thriller, in which Clothilde discovers the truth about the car crash that killed her family twenty-odd years ago on Corsica. The setting is atmospheric and adds an exotic feel. However, I did not engage with the characters at all and thought the plot was similar to other novels of this type.

Michel Bussi writes stunning psychological thrillers, and Time is a Killer is just amazing. Translated from the French, it shifts from the past to the present, set on the island of Corsica. A 15 year old Clothilde Idrissi is the sole survivor of a car crash which kills her parents, Paul and Palma, and her 18 year old brother, Nicolas in 1989. 27 years later, now Clothilde Baron, married to Franck, and with 15 year old daughter, Valentine, aka Valou, she returns to lay the ghosts that have haunted her to rest and to visit her family from her father's side. As a teenager, Clothilde dressed as a Goth, immersed in the character of Lydia Deetz from Beetlejuice, and Dangerous Liaisons is her choice of symbolic reading matter, a harbinger of events that unfold in 1989. She believes her whole life is a dark room, a belief that is firmly reinforced in the present day. Her presence awakens the past as strange and sinister events begin to envelop Clothilde, as long forgotten echoes filter into her life, threatening to splinter her family apart and bring danger and darkness swirling thickly around her. This leaves Clothilde scared, terrified and wondering if there is anyone around her that she can trust and rely on.


Clothilde was closer to her father and extremely jealous of her mother, and now she struggles to be close to Valou and connect with her. Valou is not interested in her mother's past or Idrissi family history and is closer to Franck. The narrative goes back to 1989, resurrected through the missing notebook kept by the young Clothilde but in the hands of a unknown man. We become acquainted with the petty rivalries, jealousies, relationships and machinations of a group of hormonal teenagers surrounding Nicolas. Clothilde is also privy to some of the fissures apparent within her parents marriage and the powerful Idrissi family willing to do anything to keep Corsica free from the commercial development blighting other islands. Clothilde encounters characters from her past, many in completely unexpected circumstances than she would ever imagined them to be from what she knew of them in the past, including the charismatic Natale, the fisher king of princesses, dolphins and magic, her obsession and love. Clothilde begins to slowly disintegrate as she receives letters that imply her mother is still alive, a breakfast table laid out as it would have been from the past, her wallet disappears from the safe, and her daughter comes to be endangered. Idrissi family secrets slowly begin to seep out, challenging everything that Clothilde thought she knew of the past.

Michel Bussi evokes Corsica beautifully, through the characters, the landscape, family traditions and the sea that envelops the island. His ability to capture the world of a teenagers and Clothilde is extraordinary, the overheated emotions, the obsessions and passions. I loved that Clothilde was reading Dangerous Liaisons, which Bussi uses to good effect as Clothilde begins to become aware of all that eluded her in 1989. This is a cracking psychological thriller with twists that just keep on coming, making me avidly turn the pages to find out where it all ends. A superb read which I recommend highly. Many thanks to Orion for an ARC.

I would like to thank Netgalley and Orion Publishing Group for an advance copy of Time is a Killer, a stand alone novel set in Corsica.

27 years after 15 year old Clotilde Baron survived a car crash which killed her parents and her brother she returns to Corsica to introduce her husband and daughter to her heritage and come to terms with the accident but strange things start happening, not least a letter from her dead mother. She feels as if she's going mad but it awakens in her a dogged determination to find the truth.

I thoroughly enjoyed Time is a Killer but it may not be for all readers. It is a long, slow read, redolent of the heat and Clotilde's history so when the twists come they are a bit of a jolt. The timeline switches between the present day, 2016, and excerpts from Clotilde's 1989 diary with the conceit that it is being read by an unnamed male as Clotilde has not seen it since the accident. Who is this man? I had a few guesses and didn't get it right. Mr Bussi excels at unforeseen twists and creating a general sense of uneasiness throughout the novel.

Throughout the novel Clotilde is trying to reconstruct the events of that fateful day. It is interesting to watch her attempts as everyone she talks to has a different perspective and a different agenda. It muddies the pool as she strives to establish the truth but it certainly brings the characters and human nature to life. I particularly enjoyed the damage done to her marriage by Franck's indifference to her quest, not because I'm sadistic but because their essential differences become more obvious when away from their routine. It is a telling point. I'm not sure if I like Clotilde but I understand her need for answers and the warts and all picture Mr Bussi paints of her is probably too well done to make her entirely sympathetic.

I would also like to commend Shaun Whiteside's translation which gives the novel a very readable style.

Time is a Killer is a good read which I have no hesitation in recommending.

Thank you for the opportunity to read this book. I found it a bit boring to begin with, it’s not one of those books that sucks you in from the first chapter, although it turned out to be a very good book. Great storyline and characters. The twists where brilliant. I didn’t want it to end but couldn’t put it down either. I would recommend this book to anyone.