Review: PROMISING START TO A NEW SERIES
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 07 4, 2014
There is lots to like in “Against The Clock” starting with our heroine, Shirin Reyes.In the first few pages we learn that she is very, very good at sex and very, very good at violence. Alas, her prowess at the first is limited to the opening, but she displays her skills at the latter many times in the course of an adventure that spans one very busy 24 hours or so (all helpfully tracked by clock-themed mini-chapter headings).Indeed, Shirin is a female Jack Bauer as we rush from one action scene to the next.  And while the plot is a bit clunky, the set pieces are well set up and described, providing the needed adrenaline rush for the reader.As to the plot, set in an unnamed country in the Anglosphere something like the author’s native Australia, it seems to revolve around a security head’s desire for greater appropriations – even though he is already well-funded enough to be able, in one city in one day, to send at least eight different “teams” of “Federal agents” out to commit kidnappings and assassinations without any sense that he’s substantially used up his current resources or put himself in any position for recriminations as their dead bodies mount up.  It’s a plot for our time, murder to justify the acquisition of greater tax dollars for blind power.Not that we’re complaining.  Shirrin is a captivating character who starts as a loner before picking up several interesting sidekicks by episode’s end.  We look forward to their adventures in the next chapter.