Borrowed Time

Thank you NetGalley and Severn House for the eARC and the discovery of David Mark!
I read Mausoleum and A Rush of Blood, both stunning reads in my humble opinion, and so is Borrowed Time.
Since I don't want to give anything away I'll just say that it was a fantastic read (again) with such a great cast of characters: the gangsters and the daughter who takes over from him, the wannabes, the cold hearted killer, the psychopaths and the much loved 15-year old girl who was brutally murdered and raped a long time ago. The protagonist is a young man at odds with himself, both in his personal life and his career. When he finds out his parents adopted him, his world tilts and he's obsessively looking for the truth. What he doesn't and does finds just about destroys him. Even when you think you have the answer, it changes and you end up with your mouth open ... What an ending!
I must add that the stone cold killer is one of the most interesting characters I've read; at once repulsive and heartbreaking.
Now I have the whole Aector McAvoy series to look forward to...
A resounding 5 stars and a Must Read!

I would like to thank Netgalley and Severn House Publishers for an advance copy of Borrowed Time, a stand alone thriller set in Essex and Portsmouth.

A body is found in Dedham Vale, mutilated and unrecognisable. It is finally identified as PI Larry Paris who has been hired by Adam Nunn to find his biological parents. Larry was investigating a local crime family and Adam gets pulled in to their world as he continues Larry’s investigation.

I thoroughly enjoyed Borrowed Time although I did not expect to do so. I requested to read it on the strength of Mr Mark’s name without reading the synopsis and when I finally did I wasn’t particularly looking forward to it as I’m not particularly interested in the gangland culture. This, however, is a tour de force of characterisation with a real twist in the tail that will stun most readers. It held my attention throughout and I read it in one sitting.

The plot is quite difficult to discuss without spoilers as it hinges on one violent event. There are several characters interested in revealing the truth and several others more interested in keeping it and their secrets quiet. The truth is gradually teased out over the course of the novel but it’s not particularly straightforward as all these competing interests take their own actions in furtherance of their goals. That sounds more complicated than it is and it certainly makes for an interesting read. I think the real story, apart from the amazing twist at the end lies in the interaction between the characters.

There are two main characters in the novel, Adam Nunn and the gangland enforcer, Irons, who are both interested in the truth for different reasons. Adam is an ordinary Joe with a fairly happy go lucky nature and a sudden burning need to discover his origins. Irons, on the other hand, is a sinister, violent character with a much deeper psychology. He is a fascinating character, impossible to second guess and the reader never knows which way he will turn, be it to violence or compassion. It certainly keeps you on your toes and in suspense. I can’t stress enough how much his character makes the novel such an enthralling read.

Borrowed Time is a good read that I have no hesitation in recommending.

I don't know why I let David Mark do this to me. I know bad things happen to bad people in his DS McAvoy series (Scorched Earth, Cold Bones) and other standalone books (Still Waters, A Rush of Blood), but good people are by no means immune from the horrors of crime and gang violence in his books either. I just wish he wouldn't make his characters so relatable and likeable in a way that leaves you approaching each development in each tense chapter of Borrowed Time, his latest standalone thriller, with a sense of trepidation about the danger they seem to have unwittingly got themselves into.

As far as Adam Nunn goes it seems to all go very wrong when he simply starts looking into his own origins, having discovered through an inadvertent comment from this Alzheimer's suffering father that he might have been adopted. Unfortunately the investigator and friend that he asked to look for his birth certificate has turned up in Dedham Vale, also known as Dead Mans Vale, an Essex location far away from Adam's home in Portsmouth. It's a location notoriously used by the Jardine family, a remnant from the old days of the East End gangs, a place where they would traditionally bury their problems, weighted down in water. Alison, the daughter currently in charge of the family operation thinks she's being set up and aims to fight back. There's going to be big trouble and it looks like Adam is going to be in the middle of it.

You have to sympathise with Adam. He isn't exactly an innocent, he's actually of a bit of a screw up with a history of unfortunate run-ins with the law and a few family complications that he probably hasn't handled all that well, but he's not unlikeable. It's not him you are worried for so much - although it looks like big trouble is heading his way - as much as it looks like those close to him are going to be collateral damage in this. They all seem lovely too, trying to help Adam, not realising what they are getting into. He has a young daughter, a new girlfriend and gets on well with her kids. You'd hate to see anything terrible happen to them but it doesn't look good when they make inquiries on his behalf, not so much opening up a can of worms as poking a stick around in a barrel of snakes.

As usual however, Mark has a way of living up to your expectations while at the same time overturning them. Halfway through Borrowed Time it seems like the main mystery over the identity of his parentage has been solved, even though Adam is not entirely pleased with what he finds out. By this stage however, Mark starts to make matters a little more nuanced and ambiguous and you begin to see characters in a different and more rounded way; the innocent maybe not so innocent, the apparent villains having something of a heart and a conscience, at least as far as looking after their own. It doesn't stop you anticipating that there is worse to come though.

What keeps you reading through the terror of never knowing what is coming next - although knowing David Mark the ending is almost guaranteed to be a major bloodbath - is the usual reliance on this author's ability to develop characters you can recognise and relate to in a gut wrenching way. The writing and dialogue flow with wit and insight, leading you inexorably down a path that is difficult to predetermine, other than for the fact that you know it's heading towards deep deep trouble and there's no way of stopping it coming. This is another terrific work from one of the best crime writers in the UK at the moment.

Freed from the constraints of writing a crime series, David Mark goes from strength to strength, plunging into the darkest corners of humanity in this unforgettable character driven crime novel. It begins in 2007 with the discovery of the dismembered body of Portsmouth PI Larry Paris in Dedham Vale, Essex, the place once associated with the disposal of bodies by Franco Jardine, the once notorious and feared gangland leader. Adam Nunn has a complicated personal life, he loves the woman he lives with, Zara, and her children, Selena and Jordan, but has a young daughter, Tilly, with his closest friend, Grace. Close to his family, his world is shattered when his dementia suffering father in a mean and nasty mood lashes out, informing he is adopted, a matter his mother refuses to address.

This is not something he could forget as he paid Paris to find his biological parents, but never heard back from him. Adam is pulled in by the police, Paris had his national insurance number on his hand, but soon released. He is helped by Grace in his search for his real parents, bringing him into the orbit of Alison Jardine, now boss of her father's criminal enterprises and her chief enforcer/hitman, Iron. Adam is knocked for six when he learns of the horrifying circumstances in 1971 that led to his birth, having him question his identity, trapped in a endless circle of worrying whether he has been shaped more by his evil father or his beautiful compassionate mother. The loyal and monstrous Iron, his face melting from being tortured with a blowtorch, has to know how much of his father is in Adam too as the past rears its ugly head with its secrets and unanswered questions.

It is Iron who steals the show and mesmerises in this riveting and compulsive piece of crime fiction. Mark's demonstrates just how good a writer he is in his portrayal of the complicated relationship, the highlight of the story for me, that develops between Iron and Adam. It would be so easy to judge Iron on the terrible things he has done, but there is so much more to him, in the few instances he loves, it means everything. Iron is a towering figure and presence, inspiring terror, yet compassionate, carrying out Franco's wishes right up to the end, wanting vengeance for Pamela, uncompromising once he makes the decision to transfer his love and commitment to her son. This is stellar crime fiction that I highly recommend and I just cannot wait to see where Mark goes next. Many thanks to Severn House for an ARC.