A slow burner that starts with an outlandish offer that is so far-fetched it reduces credibility.
After reading T.M. Logan’s debut thriller, Lies, and finding it a fast paced and highly readable psychological thriller I was keen to read the author’s follow-up, 29 Seconds. Centred around the topical premise of sexual harassment in the workplace, specifically in the world of academia, 29 Seconds does however suffer on the grounds of plausibility. Whereas Lies opened with the conceivable scenario of a husband witnessing his wife is a heated exchange with the husband of a close female friend and quickly draws readers into a moral dilemma amid the fallout that takes hold within the first few chapters, 29 Seconds is more of a slow burner on outset that starts with an outlandish offer that is so far-fetched it suffuses the entire novel with a veneer of disbelief.
Dr Sarah Haywood is an intelligent thirty-two-year-old woman with a master’s degree, doctorate and the makings of a flourishing career in the world of academia. Ambitious and driven, she is the subject of the unwanted and lecherous advances of her boss, fifty-six-year-old and married Professor Alan Lovelock. Sarah grits her teeth and puts up with much of Lovelock’s odious behaviour knowing full well that he has the power to make or break her career in the palm of his hand. As the prized asset amongst the teaching body and single-handedly responsible for bringing in a sizeable grant, the Cambridge educated Lovelock has a burgeoning public persona as the head of a charitable foundation and BBC TV personality. As Lovelock manhandles and patronises Sarah with his dismissive stock phrase “good girl”, only to then present her funding idea as his own, he does everything to undermine her work and counteract the imminent decision of whether the department will offer her a permanent lecturing position or simply maintain the status quo of the current temporary contract that she holds. When she receives the first invitation of her tenure to Lovelock’s infamous annual gala party held at his luxurious home she is convinced that it is a sign that she is about to be invited to join the inner sanctum and the offer of a permanent contract will follow. When things go awry at the gala and Sarah publicly denies claims of Lovelock’s misogynistic behaviour, sexual harassment and blatant abuse of power she plays right into his hands and finds herself the unlucky recipient of his sleazy ultimatum; the promotion and the stability she craves and deserves, in exchange for submitting to his sexual demands...
Enraged and spitting feathers, matters take a drastic turn when a panicking Sarah, late for the school pick-up, witnesses and intervenes in an attempted child abduction and traffic accident, only for the police to receive no corroborating reports. If that sounds a little strange then just wait for the next part, when Sarah is taken prisoner by the criminally connected Russian magnate whose daughter was the attempted target and presented with what could potentially be the answer to her prayers and the chance to make one person disappear, without comeback or connection. With one phone call lasting just 29 seconds Sarah sets in motion a chain of events with some very unforeseen repercussions and it is at this point that the wheels come off and everything that follows takes on an element of superficiality only for the situation to backfire and destroy Sarah’s sanity, judgement and push her deeper into Lovelock’s twisted web of predatory attentions.
Logan’s novel sets out to explore the conflict between what is right and what is just, and in the case of Dr Sarah Haywood the major power imbalance between her and the ‘bulletproof prof’ accentuates her predicament, with one person holding sway over her entire career. As Sarah quickly recognises just what is at stake and that Lovelock holds the key to her livelihood and academic reputation she makes her own ‘deal with the devil’... In fact it is apposite that she is employed as part of the university’s specialist Christopher Marlowe given the eponymous Dr Faustus of Marlowe’s play who sells his solid to the Devil in exchange for twenty-four-years of charmed life. I am, however, pretty sure that Marlowe’s dilemma did not introduce a Russian mafioso element, CCTV or burner phones into the story!
Of the characterisation, Sarah is far too wet and indecisive to be in keeping with the confident and determined woman she is presented as and that she simply accepts Lovelock’s Machiavellian behaviour so meekly and wilfully complies with much of it make it hard to sympathise. A little more gumption, guile and fighting spirit would have kept me on board for longer but sadly she behaves like a daunted schoolgirl only for the conclusion to eschew her timorous behaviour over the course of the previous four hundred and feel totally out of character. As for pantomime villain, Alan Lovelock, whose attentions are neither discreet, subtle or anything other than public knowledge I did wonder how he found time to conduct any research at all and could never fully invest in DI Kate Rayner who seemed the very antithesis of a skilled investigator and let Sarah off without any form of rigorous grilling. At one point I did wonder if she herself was engaged in some kind of convoluted alliance with Lovelock...
Overall I think 29 Seconds had potential to be an intelligent and informed discussion of sexual harassment in the workplace, but by throwing in the Russian “magician” and taking the novel in a laughably unbelievably direction reduces the import with the one-dimensional characterisation meaning even lead protagonist Sarah lacks depth. That she does nothing to seriously accumulate evidence, seek advice earlier or raise the suggestion of an en masse attempt at bringing the weight of the combined females in the department to bear by taking their claims public or instigating an Employment Tribunal reduces empathy. The novel runs out of steam and becomes somewhat repetitive into the close and the last third limps along only for an out of character denouement to usher in a very abrupt and unconvincing resolution, doing a disservice to readers.
As was the case in Lies, much of the unfolding action relies on omission of detail and as the novel progressed I found the questions which go unaddressed rapidly stacking up. Whilst perhaps not as fast-paced and dynamic as Lies the novel does raise a number of issues which are ideally suited to the psychological thriller and is certainly a passable attempt at integrating the #MeToo culture into the fictional arena. Disappointingly though, the off the cuff mentions of Operation Yewtree and Jimmy Savile are unwarranted as is the casual barbed slur on maternity leave.
Dr Sarah Haywood is an intelligent thirty-two-year-old woman with a master’s degree, doctorate and the makings of a flourishing career in the world of academia. Ambitious and driven, she is the subject of the unwanted and lecherous advances of her boss, fifty-six-year-old and married Professor Alan Lovelock. Sarah grits her teeth and puts up with much of Lovelock’s odious behaviour knowing full well that he has the power to make or break her career in the palm of his hand. As the prized asset amongst the teaching body and single-handedly responsible for bringing in a sizeable grant, the Cambridge educated Lovelock has a burgeoning public persona as the head of a charitable foundation and BBC TV personality. As Lovelock manhandles and patronises Sarah with his dismissive stock phrase “good girl”, only to then present her funding idea as his own, he does everything to undermine her work and counteract the imminent decision of whether the department will offer her a permanent lecturing position or simply maintain the status quo of the current temporary contract that she holds. When she receives the first invitation of her tenure to Lovelock’s infamous annual gala party held at his luxurious home she is convinced that it is a sign that she is about to be invited to join the inner sanctum and the offer of a permanent contract will follow. When things go awry at the gala and Sarah publicly denies claims of Lovelock’s misogynistic behaviour, sexual harassment and blatant abuse of power she plays right into his hands and finds herself the unlucky recipient of his sleazy ultimatum; the promotion and the stability she craves and deserves, in exchange for submitting to his sexual demands...
Enraged and spitting feathers, matters take a drastic turn when a panicking Sarah, late for the school pick-up, witnesses and intervenes in an attempted child abduction and traffic accident, only for the police to receive no corroborating reports. If that sounds a little strange then just wait for the next part, when Sarah is taken prisoner by the criminally connected Russian magnate whose daughter was the attempted target and presented with what could potentially be the answer to her prayers and the chance to make one person disappear, without comeback or connection. With one phone call lasting just 29 seconds Sarah sets in motion a chain of events with some very unforeseen repercussions and it is at this point that the wheels come off and everything that follows takes on an element of superficiality only for the situation to backfire and destroy Sarah’s sanity, judgement and push her deeper into Lovelock’s twisted web of predatory attentions.
Logan’s novel sets out to explore the conflict between what is right and what is just, and in the case of Dr Sarah Haywood the major power imbalance between her and the ‘bulletproof prof’ accentuates her predicament, with one person holding sway over her entire career. As Sarah quickly recognises just what is at stake and that Lovelock holds the key to her livelihood and academic reputation she makes her own ‘deal with the devil’... In fact it is apposite that she is employed as part of the university’s specialist Christopher Marlowe given the eponymous Dr Faustus of Marlowe’s play who sells his solid to the Devil in exchange for twenty-four-years of charmed life. I am, however, pretty sure that Marlowe’s dilemma did not introduce a Russian mafioso element, CCTV or burner phones into the story!
Of the characterisation, Sarah is far too wet and indecisive to be in keeping with the confident and determined woman she is presented as and that she simply accepts Lovelock’s Machiavellian behaviour so meekly and wilfully complies with much of it make it hard to sympathise. A little more gumption, guile and fighting spirit would have kept me on board for longer but sadly she behaves like a daunted schoolgirl only for the conclusion to eschew her timorous behaviour over the course of the previous four hundred and feel totally out of character. As for pantomime villain, Alan Lovelock, whose attentions are neither discreet, subtle or anything other than public knowledge I did wonder how he found time to conduct any research at all and could never fully invest in DI Kate Rayner who seemed the very antithesis of a skilled investigator and let Sarah off without any form of rigorous grilling. At one point I did wonder if she herself was engaged in some kind of convoluted alliance with Lovelock...
Overall I think 29 Seconds had potential to be an intelligent and informed discussion of sexual harassment in the workplace, but by throwing in the Russian “magician” and taking the novel in a laughably unbelievably direction reduces the import with the one-dimensional characterisation meaning even lead protagonist Sarah lacks depth. That she does nothing to seriously accumulate evidence, seek advice earlier or raise the suggestion of an en masse attempt at bringing the weight of the combined females in the department to bear by taking their claims public or instigating an Employment Tribunal reduces empathy. The novel runs out of steam and becomes somewhat repetitive into the close and the last third limps along only for an out of character denouement to usher in a very abrupt and unconvincing resolution, doing a disservice to readers.
As was the case in Lies, much of the unfolding action relies on omission of detail and as the novel progressed I found the questions which go unaddressed rapidly stacking up. Whilst perhaps not as fast-paced and dynamic as Lies the novel does raise a number of issues which are ideally suited to the psychological thriller and is certainly a passable attempt at integrating the #MeToo culture into the fictional arena. Disappointingly though, the off the cuff mentions of Operation Yewtree and Jimmy Savile are unwarranted as is the casual barbed slur on maternity leave.