A TIME TO LIE
A FEW REVIEWS
Imagine being a cop and from one second to the next, the system suddenly turns against you? This what Officer John Drake finds himself dealing with in "A Time to Lie". While helping out fellow Officer Frank Glass on an off duty security job, a shooting takes place, resulting in two dead and big trouble, legal and otherwise, for Drake. "A Time to Lie", Hardin's second novel, recounts the story of a cop at the wrong place at the wrong time who suddenly finds himself not only fired from the force but quite possibly heading to prison for murder. Written completely in the first person, Drake, rather than Hardin, tells his story as it occurs and Hardin successfully wrote in Drake's voice. Present in all scenes, Drake expresses his feelings to the reader as his tale unfolds in real time, through the adrenalin rush of a shooting, the brotherhood as well as the hypocrisy and dishonesty in the system he risked his life for daily and the importance of family as the nightmare he is faced with brings him back to his estranged wife and closer to his father. Though the book does have a few action scenes, I don't consider it an action novel. Rather, it is the baring of a cop's heart and soul as he shares his fears, anger, frustration, love and joy with us, his audience. (5 stars from Claude Bouchard -- Montreal, Canada, Amazon reviews)
I thoroughly enjoyed this book. A police shooting that goes awry. Officer John Drake's life is suddenly thrust into turmoil. Doug Hardin provides an insight into the politics and bureaucracy of the cop world like few other can. Full of conflict, I was sucked in from the beginning to the end. John Drake struggles to gain his innocence and freedom, while trying to win his family back, and reestablish a frayed bond with his dad. This book is an accurate portrayal of every cop's nightmare, as Drake is sucked into an emotional vortex. I highly recommend this book. (5 stars from Mike Roche -- Florida, Amazon reviews)
A hard riding author who pulls no punches telling the story., October 17, 2012 By Chas Wells "Chas" (Georgia USA) from Amazon reviews. In "A Time to Lie", Doug Hardin creates a true to life police procedural thriller best read from the comfort of home and not a holding cell. I suggest one not enjoin this narrative expecting anything less than a unique almost grandiloquent format that waste no space with poetically descriptive words. If you are looking for raw, real life good guys vs. bad guys spoken in a similar way to Sgt. Joe Friday (aka Jack Web of Dragnet fame) then you are going to feel right at home with Police Officer John Drake and the rest of the rustic styled writing and characters. As the reviews of this work demonstrate, there is no mid ground for likes and dislikes of the book and story. English professors would grade it a failure because Hardin doesn't play well with others when it comes to coat and tie style writing. In my view, there's no room for such style in a book of this nature so I've ignored the negative remarks listed by others and followed my own curiosity into a rough and tumble world of cops with their humanness showing. Bottom line? This book you will love or hate because there is no other option in the menu. As the grown son of a retired Police officer, I give the book a high 5 rating for plot, putting the reader in the same world as the characters, and keeping the action crisp and fresh from page one to the end. "A Time to Lie".. handle Code 3. Chas Wells from Amazon reviews.
This book was one of those books that grabs you in a head lock and doesn't release you even after the book itself is finished. Excerpt from Amazon reviews.
