Title: Time To Go
Author: Lisa Hartley
Publisher: Canelo
Publication Date: 29th August 2019
Format: eARC
This book was received from the publisher in return for an honest review
About the book:
Caelan Small is leading a quiet life, lying low and off the force until her old boss calls. A woman is in trouble, threatened with kidnap or worse.
Back in the Met, she goes undercover with the vicious dealer Mulligan, entering a dark underworld of drugs, scammers and thieves. Nobody can be trusted.
As Caelan gets drawn into the investigation, she starts to uncover a shocking trade in human flesh. Tensions reach boiling point and the search becomes increasingly desperate.
But something is wrong. Information, their most priceless asset, is leaking. If Caelan isn’t careful, she won’t survive.
What I Thought:
First up a word of warning, while I’ll do my utmost not to spoil Time To Go it’s impossible to discuss without some spoilers from the previous books. While it’s possible to read Time To Go without having read the two previous novels in the series I would certainly recommend reading them both, or as the minimum picking up Tell No Lies, the second book in the series to get a better understanding of the background to this book. So now you’ve been warned and it’s time to leave if you don’t want earlier books spoiled!
Following on from the events at the end of Tell No Lies Caelan has quit the force for a second time, enjoying the peace that comes from hiding away at Ewan’s cottage in Wales she’s surprised to get home to find her former boss Ian Penrith sitting waiting for her. Caelan is quite convinced she has no wish to rejoin the force but when Penrith shows her the images of three dead girls, victims of a trafficking ring they’re trying to break, and shares that the innocent sister of James Mulligan is in danger she finds herself returning as a consultant to go undercover with James, who has been released from prison to cooperate with the investigation.
Time To Go deals with some subjects than can be difficult to read, drug and human trafficking feature heavily but as I don’t mind my crime on the dark side I found it a really gripping read. I confess the ending really snuck up on me, there was a lot of build up and seeming dead ends and then suddenly I was 90% of the way through the book and the end was upon me. As I’ve now come to expect from Lisa there’s a bit of a cliffhanger relating to Caelan’s personal life right at the end of the book – she gets me with them every time! There had best be a book 4 on the way!
I really like Caelan’s character in general, she’s been through a fair amount just in the books, not taking into account the things that happened previously. She genuinely cares, and while others may play on this to get her to take on operations she’d rather not I still think it’s a positive. I also find it really interesting to get an insight into how working undercover affects her, the loneliness that can accompany it, and the idea that no one really knows you or would miss you if you were gone.
After Ewan spent much of Tell No Lies recovering from his injuries it was great seeing him taking a more prominent role in this book, he was one of my favourites in the first book. I thought it was really interesting to get the contrasting viewpoints between Caelan, the experienced undercover office, and Ewan who is still new to the job. I’m really intrigued to see what’s next for both of these characters going forward.
Final Thoughts
Another great installment in the Caelan Small series from Lisa Hartley. It was great to see Ewan back playing a significant role, and after the ending I’m very much hoping for a book 4!
More books in the Detective Caelan Small series on Goodreads
More Lisa Hartley on SWB
About The Author
Lisa Hartley lives with her partner, son, two dogs and several cats.
She graduated with a BA (Hons) in English Studies, then had a variety of jobs but kept writing in her spare time.
Connect With Lisa
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As always if you’ve read the book let me know what you thought! If you’ve not read it yet will my review convince you to pick it up?
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CharlotteSomewhere
I need to read this. But also I M not ready for another cliff hanger
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