Book Review: 29 Seconds | T. M. Logan

A twisting, tantalizing ride that had me glued to this book to the very final page. What a story!!! What an ending!!! T. M. Logan is one of my favorite writers and this was probably my favorite book yet. In 29 Seconds, a good deed leads to an offer that is hard to turn down, and those 29 seconds set a plan in motion that will change everything…

About the Book | 29 Seconds

Sarah Haywood is working hard to get a permanent position at Queen Anne University for two years. She gets top marks from her students, has a steady publication record, has helped launch a new program, and has even found leads for grant funding for their department. But all of her hard work won’t matter as long as Alan Hawthorne is in charge of the department. Given his TV fame, high grant funding, and social connections with the University bigwigs, no one goes anywhere without Alan’s approval.

When Sarah is picking her kids up from daycare one day and witnesses something horrible, she acts on instinct and saves the life of a young girl. A few days later, Sarah is contacted by someone who knows what she did. He wants to reward a rare act of selflessness in a very unique way. He gives Sarah and phone and he tells her that she has 72 hours to call the number in the phone and give them a name. Any name. And that person will disappear.

No second chances. Once the decision is made, Sarah can’t change her mind. Sarah can’t imagine herself taking the deal. Until she gets pushed too far. Sarah makes a 29 second phone call, and it sets in motion a series of events that can’t be stopped…

Review | 29 Seconds

The premise of this book gives me chills whenever I think about it. When I first thought about the deal I felt like Sarah did. Sure, there are people I’d prefer to not have to deal with. But making that call would mean I took action that adversely impacted someone else. But as the story unfolds, we see the terrifying events that push Sarah to her limits.

Let’s step away from the deal and the 29 second phone call for a second. Alan Hawthorne is QUITE a character. As a doctoral student myself, Logan’s portrayal of the university environment really resonated with me. Because as much as Academia can be a beacon of light in a world going increasingly more corporate, it is also a place where power and influence is allowed to thrive.

When you are lower in academia—a grad student or a new professor trying to make tenure—the system rarely works for you. In fact, more than any other job I’ve been in (and I work for a Fortune 100 company currently), academia is about the most perfect place for someone in power to hold that over the head of others. A bad track record in academia, even when undeserved, blacklists you from the industry. Most people in academia are great people. But there are the bad apples (anyone who doesn’t remember the grad student at Penn State who tried to report about that messy situation probably doesn’t remember it because it didn’t go well for the student). The ones who abuse their influence. The ones who the system will always favor.

Let me get off my soapbox and just say that Alan Hawthorne was flawlessly written. He is the perfect villain—manipulative, seductive, and diabolical enough that I fell into the trap over and over thinking he might have a limit to his behavior. I can’t wait for readers to see the way Hawthorne works—it is terrifying and brilliant!

Sarah is such a wonderful character as well. She has so much complexity to her story. In fact, I didn’t share quite a bit about Sarah in my teaser and I think I will hold off here, because her life situation is so fascinating. Her family dynamics, her background in her field, and where she is at in her career—these all made Sarah’s character leap right off the page. And as the book unfolds, from her good deed to the phone call to the aftermath, Sarah is full of surprises. She is a delightful character. I’d read a whole series about Sarah if I could!

The ending…it’s quite frankly jaw-dropping!!! The entire book is twisted, fast-paced, and completely diabolical!!! A must-read thriller with a fascinating premise and an even better delivery!!

Thank you to St. Martin’s Press for my copy. Opinions are my own.

About the Author

Tim was born in Berkshire and studied in London and Cardiff before becoming a national newspaper journalist. He currently writes full-time and lives in Nottinghamshire with his wife and two children. 

His debut thriller Lies (2017) sold more than 350,000 copies and was one of Amazon’s biggest selling e-books of 2017. Together with his second standalone thriller, 29 Seconds (2018), his books are now published in a dozen countries around the world including the USA, South Korea, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Poland, Hungary, Serbia, Romania and the Netherlands.

His next thriller takes place over a sweltering summer week in the south of France, as four best friends see the holiday of a lifetime turn into a nightmare of suspicion, betrayal and murder… The Holiday is due to be published in the UK by Bonnier Zaffre on 13 June 2019.

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