Books On Tour (Review): Gone in Seconds by Ed James

Picking up essentially where Tell Me Lies left off, the action in this book just keeps on rolling.

As in the first book of the Max Carter series, we start with a child abduction. If you read the first one, you know that makes sense because that’s Carter’s specialty. But it becomes apparent early on that there is much more going on than just that. There are nefarious characters, intricate connections, ulterior motives, and shady pasts (and presents) that need to be sorted out.

Fortunately, Carter is a hero who looks at the whole picture. Although there are times that he is on the wrong path, he is astute enough to realize it and change course accordingly. I like that he follows his instincts as much as the clues. I think his background (having been abducted by his father) sometimes gives him a different type of instinct.

As mentioned, there are a lot of mysterious connections and not everything is as it seems during the investigation. If you did not read the first book, you will definitely be missing some of them, and a few plot points may seem out of place (but they really aren’t).

I did find Carter’s relationship and interactions with his father to be somewhat jarring as they took me out of the main story. But I understand why they were important to the plot, because they gave more depth and insight into Carter’s reasonings and motivations.

There is an awful lot going on through the whole book, and there were a few times that I had to go back and make sure I knew what the connection or who the character was; and I read the first book. If you didn’t read it, I would highly recommend doing so, because it will make this one much clearer. And there is definitely a cliffhanger that indicates at least a third book in the series.

It’s a good one to get in on before the story gets more complicated, so start with Tell Me Lies and then move into this one for a strong hero and page-turning action.

Author Bio

Ed James is the author of multiple series of crime novels. The bestselling DI Simon Fenchurch series is set in East London and published by Thomas & Mercer. The self-published Scott Cullen series of Scottish police procedurals features a young Edinburgh Detective Constable investigating crimes from the bottom rung of the career ladder he’s desperate to climb. The first book, “Ghost in the Machine”, has been downloaded over 400,000 times, hitting both the Amazon UK & US top five.

The Craig Hunter books is a sister series to the Cullen novels, with a PTSD-suffering ex-squaddie now working as a cop investigating sexual abuse cases. With lots of slapstick and banter.

Ed lives in East Lothian, Scotland and writes full-time, but used to work in IT project management, where he filled his weekly commute to London by literally writing on planes, trains and automobiles.