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    The Killing Hour: A Thriller
    Unavailable
    The Killing Hour: A Thriller
    Unavailable
    The Killing Hour: A Thriller
    Ebook390 pages5 hours

    The Killing Hour: A Thriller

    By Paul Cleave

    3.5/5

    ()

    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this ebook

    “Anyone who likes their crime fiction on the black and bloody side should move Paul Cleave straight to the top of their must-read list” (Mark Billingham, award-winning author of the Tom Thorne crime series).

    Imagine waking up covered in blood—but it’s not your blood. There’s a nasty bump on your head, and you can’t remember a thing about last night. The morning paper reports that two young women were brutally murdered. You recognize their names. Pieces of the night before come back to you through the haze. And now you’re the suspect in their grisly deaths. Welcome to Charlie’s world.

    In this heart-pounding thriller, only the dead know what happened last night. On the run, Charlie suspects a man named Cyris, but no one believes that Cyris exists. Not the police and not Charlie’s ex-wife Jo, though she wants to trust that the man she once loved is innocent. Soon, Charlie has Jo bound and gagged in the trunk of his car, fleeing across the countryside while the killing hour approaches yet again.

    Originally published in 2007 in Cleave’s native New Zealand, The Killing Hour represents the early, “pulse-pounding” (Publishers Weekly) work of a writer known the world over for a style that combines gruesome thrills with clever twists and a heavy dose of devilish humor. Cleave keeps us guessing until the last page of this fantastic psychological thriller.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherAtria Books
    Release dateApr 23, 2013
    ISBN9781451677829
    Unavailable
    The Killing Hour: A Thriller
    Author

    Paul Cleave

    Paul Cleave is an award-winning author who often divides his time between his home city of Christchurch, New Zealand, where most of his novels are set, and Europe. He’s won the New Zealand Ngaio Marsh Award three times, the Saint-Maur book festival’s crime novel of the year award in France, and has been shortlisted for the Edgar and the Barry in the US and the Ned Kelly in Australia. His books have been translated into more than twenty languages. He’s thrown his Frisbee in more than forty countries, plays tennis badly, golf even worse, and has two cats – which is often two too many. The critically acclaimed The Quiet People was published in 2021, with The Pain Tourist following in 2022.

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    Reviews for The Killing Hour

    3.5/5

    6 ratings6 reviews

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    • 3/5
      I had previously read The Cleaner by Paul Cleave and found it a wonderfully clever and exciting read so I was really looking forward to The Killing Hour. Unfortunately, this book didn’t measure up to my expectations being a rather mediocre thriller. First and foremost, it just didn’t ring true to me and while there were plenty of chills and thrills, the whole story seemed rather overdone.I have found out that the Killing Hour is actually the author’s first book. He originally worote it as a horror book but it was rejected by the publishers in that format so he had rewirtten it, taking out the supernatural aspects. It wasn’t a bad read, just not as good as I had hoped for.I am not ready to give up on this author yet, I know he can write inventive, funny and exciting crime stories so I will keep my fingers crossed that his next book hits the mark.
    • 5/5
      It just wasn’t Charlie Felman’s day. Waking from a dream, in cold sweats surrounded by ghosts, he is relieved to know the worst is over until he discovers a large bump on his forehead and blood all over his clothes; blood that does not belong to him.
      Seemingly on the run from Cyrus, a man who authorities are unable to locate any record of, Charlie has a dickens of a job convincing the police, and his ex-wife Jo, that he is not losing his marbles and that the bodies that keep showing up in his wake are Cyrus’ victims not his.
      Forcibly kidnapping Jo, and stuffing her in the trunk of the car probably is not the easiest way to show his innocence however it is the only way he knows to keep her safe.
      Inspector Landry has nothing to lose. His body racked with cancer, he only has a short time left on this earth. He doesn’t believe Charlie’s innocence and drags him into the woods meaning to take care of him vigilante-style. Not until Cyrus shows up, also trying to dispatch Charlie, does Landry realize the error he made and the focus switches to helping each other escape from the claws of the madmen in order that Christchurch’s latest serial killer can be bought to justice.
      This is a recent US release of Cleave’s first novel and although it does not involve his trusty and true detective Theo Tate it does involve the Christchurch police force and so again Cleave has managed to link together his collection of works into a malleable group of thrill-a-minute novels that are not to be missed.
    • 3/5
      Originally published in 2007 in the author's native New Zealand, Cleave starts this first US edition with an Introduction explaining this book's origins which is informative for a reader interested in Cleave's work from a chronological point of view. It was enlightening to me and my read of this book which was actually his first written but second published. Not nearly as good as "The Cleaner", lacking the fine-tuning of that thriller, this is nevertheless still an engaging mystery that had me baffled the entire time. I could not for the life of me figure out what was going on and that kept me reading and turning the pages even through the parts that got a bit dull. The story is on high-powered overdrive from the get-go and Cleave does have some spots where he is unable to hold the adrenaline and as mentioned it becomes dull, but the unique plot keeps it moving over these humps. As to being part of a series, it really is a stand-alone. There is mention of the case from the first book and the same detective is in charge of both cases, though he is not a major character in either book. Mention is also made of the Private Detective who will be featured in the next few books and which forms another sub-series within Cleave's overall Christchurch mystery series.
    • 4/5
      I thought this book was great. It's got a sinister creepiness to it. I loved not knowing if Charlie was good or bad. Looking forward to reading more books from this author.
    • 3/5
      The promo paragraph for The Killing Hour by Paul Cleave immediately caught my eye and sounded like the kind of thriller book I really enjoy - everyday person in the wrong spot at the wrong time. "Imagine waking up covered in blood - but it's not your blood. There's a nasty bump on your head, and the morning paper reports that two young women were brutally murdered. You recognize their names. Pieces of the night before come back to you through the haze. And now you're the suspect in their grisly deaths. Welcome to Charlie's world." Spoiler alert - If you have plans to read this book, stop here. Although the premise is excellent, the delivery fell short, very short for me. We've got at least three viewpoints going on - the dying cop who decides to pursue Charlie on his own and exact justice on his terms, Charlie's narrative and that of Cyris, the man Charlie claims is the killer. The cop's narrative was the most readable of the three. Charlie's first person narrative was rambling. He also talks to 'ghosts'. The plotting seemed over the top and far fetched. Charlie watches two women get attacked, jumps in, saves them, kills the bad guy and then accompanies them back their house to take a shower rather than go to or call the cops!? Really? There were other situations that just had me shaking my head - his wife going along with his plan to catch the 'real' killer was unrealistic as well. And still, they never call the police.....Same thing, over and over again. And the killer. Well, the original incarnation of The Killing Hour as a horror novel is quite obvious. The guy won't die. And frankly, he just got tiresome. Cleave seems to delight in provide grisly, graphic details to shock the reader. Breast in a box on a bed anyone? An excellent premise, but sadly it just fell (really) short for me. The Killing Hour was originally written as a unpublished horror novel in the nineties. Cleave reworked it as a crime novel after selling another book. And it was rewritten again for release to the North American market. (Cleave is a Kiwi author and this book is set in New Zealand) For this reader, this first taste of Paul Cleave will be my last. Although his newer novels may be an improvement over The Killing Hour, I won't be bothering to pick up another book by this author.
    • 4/5
      I was given a copy of this book to give my honest opinion. I have to say I really enjoyed this book. I constantly questioned who was really the killer. This book has many twists and turns. Loved it.