24 HOURS ***Guest Review ***

A Review of 24 Hours

By Michele Murphy

24 Hours is the first book written by Iserie Valult (a Preston Child type combo of Iseult Murphy – The Moonwolf Chronicles, 7 Days in Hell etc. and Valinora Troy – The Lucky Diamond, Black Rabbit Island, etc.). It is a sci fi futuristic thriller, but mainly just a thriller – that is, a non stop action, page turning, cliff hanging, who’s getting the chop next kind of thriller.

A group of travellers are on a space shuttle to Oilers city when their shuttle stops for a refuelling on the deserted planet of Ely with its two suns and non-interrupted views of uninhabitable desert. There, in the glaring suns, the shuttle is stolen, by a ruthless killer, escaped convict and master of disguises leaving the passengers to the tender mercies of the refueller and his daughter – both slightly (and charmingly) other worldly and eccentric. So far so good, they only have to wait 24 hours (albeit in relatively primitive surroundings) for another shuttle. Except strange things start happening… of course strange things start happening.

First of all the vicious killer crashes the shuttle, why? He is seriously injured but the killings go on. Why? And then the dead bodies disappear… and the body count rises… and soon it’s not safe inside and its not safe outside and it’s not even safe when the new shuttle comes…

Of course, in keeping with the genre, there is something decidedly fishy about a lot of the passengers – each has his or her agenda which prevents full disclosure and honesty which ultimately makes it worse for them.

There’s nothing much more I can say about the plot without giving a lot away. As a plot it’s nothing special although it’s very good – it’s tight, it’s fast moving and it resolves fairly satisfactorily. While I would have preferred a little more plot, it’s certainly adequate. It’s a thriller that relies more on the ‘inescapable menace’ factor and the ‘we’re all trapped in the dark’ factor rather than twists and turns and surprises. Not to say that there aren’t twists and turns and surprises, there are, and they are well spaced and nicely timed but they don’t drive the plot.

I had the privilege to read the original version, written in tandem by the authors in little more than 24 hours and I have to say this impressed me tremendously. Each of the 2 writers wrote alternative chapters without reading the intervening ones. In reading the book, you will not notice this, it is seamless. In fact it reads like one author only and I think that is an amazing achievement. The characters are great, very deftly drawn, they live from the minute they grace the page. Even the quick sketches of the first victims breathe enough humanity for the reader to feel pity at their demise.

I also love the world created, again it is very deftly done, just a few throw away lines and comments but it lives – completely believable and easily imagined. In fact a world which hints as being multi-dimensional and interesting but never dominating the characters or situation.

In conclusion, 24 hours is a rattling good yarn but with more, great writing, characters you want to know more about and a fascinating world.