Nick of Time

by Tim Downs

Thomas Nelson, 2011
336 pages

Page Turning Murder Mystery

As fiction readers, many of us know a fictional character or two we love seeing in action on an annual basis. After following their adventures for a few years, you feel you know the character intimately. Some of my personal favorites are Steven James' Patrick Bowers, Michael Connelly's Harry Bosch, William Kent Krueger's Corcoran O'Connor, and Vince Flynn's Mitch Rapp. Each of these characters are highly defined. They have specific and unique traits, and they're all very human, not immune to mistakes, misjudgments, and failures.

One of my all-time favorite characters would be highly insulted if you called him human: Tim Downs' bug man, Nick Polchak. Nick is a forensic entomologist, which means he studies bugs on dead people. He finds bugs far more fascinating--and definitely more reliable--than the human species from which he likes to keep his distance.

But in Downs' latest, Nick of Time, things change. You see, Nick is engaged to be married (to another wonderfully quirky character, Alena) and his wedding is coming up within a week. Yet, even with his impending nuptials, Nick decides to attend an out-of-town meeting leaving Alena behind to finalize wedding plans.

The problem is, when he arrives at the meeting, his good friend, who would never miss the meeting, isn't there. Naturally, Nick has to go look for him. And finds him dead.

Now Nick completely disregards the fact that he's supposed to get married on Saturday and strikes out to find his friend's murderer. Add to that, Alena begins her own investigation as she searches for Nick, and you've got a page-turning mystery.

In Nick of Time, Polchak's sarcastic wit is back in full force. His dialogue is rife with tactless honesty and he says things that many of us probably want to say but are too nice. Even in the middle of a murder mystery I find myself chuckling out loud.

My one complaint about Downs' writing is that the dialogue sounds the same no matter who is speaking and each of his characters seem to have the same sardonic wit. If Downs could make his characters' voices unique and give them a disparate personality, his writing would greatly improve. But, I'm willing to forgive this one flaw since I enjoy Nick Polchak so much.

What I really liked in this book was seeing Nick "evolve" into a human. In a "lightbulb" moment, Nick finally realizes who is is ... and what he is not ...

And what is truly important in life.

The question is, does he realize that in the Nick of Time, or he is too late?

Tim Downs is a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Indiana University. After graduation in 1976 he created a comic strip, Downstown, which was syndicated by Universal Press Syndicate until 1986. His cartooning has appeared in more than a hundred major newspapers worldwide.  His first book, a work of non-fiction, was awarded the Gold Medallion Award in 2000, and his third novel, PlagueMaker, was awarded the Christy Award for best CBA suspense novel of 2007. Tim lives in Cary, North Carolina, with his wife Joy.

Learn more about Tim Downs at http://www.timdowns.net/

Colton Parker Mystery Series

Original Sin (2006), 276 pages
Seventy Times Seven (2006), 276 pages
The Root of All Evil (2007), 288 pages
The Lost Sheep (2007), 288 pages

by Brandt Dodson

Published by Harvest House Publishers

Fired by the FBI and newly widowed, Colton Parker is a private detective who, in the midst of trying to investigate his first case, is also struggling to deal with the single parenthood thrust upon him. His “cowboy” style of justice frequently leads him into more trouble and, all too often, drives him further away from his thirteen year old daughter. What is made evident, throughout these books, is that Parker’s investigations parallel his search for God.

Brandt Dodson has created a unique character for Christian fiction. Perhaps his most unique characteristic is that Colton Parker is not a Christian, nor does he experience the “Damascus” type of conversion that is prevalent in much Christian literature. Yet he is surrounded by people who are taking the “walk across the room” to gently teach him about Christ. He is learning to listen, but is not yet ready to take the message to heart.

The books are detailed, well thought out, and suspenseful. It is clear that the author has connections in law enforcement (see biography following review).

I find the Colton Parker character to be very similar to a famous character in popular literature: Michael Connelly’s Hieronymous (Harry) Bosch. Both characters experienced a similar childhood, growing up in foster homes thus engendering a loner persona. Bosch is a member of the LAPD homicide division and is known for his rough and tumble, going out of the box style of policing—similar to that of Colton Parker. Both Parker and Bosch struggle with personal issues which seem to be the driving force behind their desire to see that justice is served. Thus, showing their very human side.

The big difference is in the telling of their story. Typical of secular literature, the characters in Connelly’s novels find difficulty speaking without lacing the dialogue with profanity. An encounter with a member of the opposite sex usually find the characters in bed. They are not books I would recommend for my fourteen year old daughter.

Conversely, Dodson’s Colton Parker character is definitely imperfect, but the reader doesn’t have to wade through the muck of cursing and bedroom scenes to understand that point.

What we find at the end of the Colton Parker mysteries is a message of hope, a message that is frequently absent in literature today.