Synopsis:
Everyone deserves a second chance, but how far would you go for one?
In the gritty streets of Edinburgh, Garry Plumb is about to find out. Living life on the periphery, never fitting in and always on his own, Garry’s world opens up when he meets Billy, the peculiar bus driver who has been watching him. Billy knows exactly how it feels to be ignored and his influence on Garry is immediate.
For the first time, Garry knows what it means to have his very own best friend. But this friendship is unlike any other, as Billy reveals how Garry can fix his entire life by changing his past.
But when the DCI John Waters, a relentless detective hunting a clever serial killer, enters Garry’s life, their friendship is put to the ultimate test.
Garry is willing to do anything for a second chance at life but, after meeting Billy, he has to ask would he kill for it?
This dark and captivating tale of self-discovery, murder and redemption will keep readers on the edge of their seats. With Time to Book One, a perfect blend of Scottish crime and sci-fi thriller, will leave you wanting more.
Favorite Lines:
“Good morning, fabulous Major Investigations Team of this fair city.”
“It was clear to anyone observing Waters and his team that the level of respect he commanded and, in turn, the support he provided was unparalleled.”
“The sky was clear and the air a little muggy, which was great for the flowers. Doing not nearly so well was the salmon pink shirt Billy wore, which threatened to show the world exactly what his nipples looked like as he made his way to the hospital.”
My Opinion:
I received a copy of this book from the author in exchange for my honest opinion.
Frank Ferrari’s With Time to Kill doesn’t so much open as detonate. Within the first few pages we meet Garry Plumb, an Edinburgh every-man whose crippling invisibility at the office hides a far darker secret: he is also “one of the most prolific serial killers no one has ever heard of”. Ferrari drops that bombshell with such off-hand confidence that you know you’re not putting this book down after that.
From there the book splits its focus between Garry’s quietly methodical murders and Detective Chief Inspector John Waters, a rum-voiced Highlander whose Major Investigations Team is scrambling to explain a sudden spike in corpses around the city. Waters’s squad-room banter—equal parts gallows humour and procedural grit—gives the thriller its pulse, and the moment they realise all the victims were “assigned female at birth” the anxiety kicks up a gear. Running parallel is the oily bus-driver Billy Blunt, whose cheerful note slips under Garry’s fingers at lunchtime and drags the story into a gloriously seedy pub called The Northern Lights.
What elevates the novel beyond a straight serial-killer chase is Ferrari’s time-travel conceit. Garry isn’t just killing; he’s pruning history with an organic device he calls a “Carrier,” hopping back to erase abusers and bullies before they ever bloom. The ethical whiplash is terrific fun: one minute you’re rooting for him as avenging angel, the next you’re recoiling as the body-count rises. Ferrari keeps that moral compass spinning but never lets the sci-fi mechanics bog the narrative; the rules are clear enough to follow yet just sketchy enough to stay unnerving.
Stylistically, the prose lands somewhere between Tartan Noir and Blake Crouch’s twisty thrillers. Ferrari writes working-class Edinburgh with an affectionate sneer—sticky pub carpets, passive-aggressive rain, and HR managers you’d cheerfully shove off North Bridge. The pacing sprints, brakes, then careens again, and while a couple of subplot threads feel set up for book two, the central cat-and-mouse delivers the promised gut-punch. A special shout-out to Waters, whose Occam’s-razor lecture is the most charming digression on medieval philosophy I’ve read in a police procedural
Summary:
Overall, With Time to Kill is a gleefully dark mash-up of police procedural, serial-killer horror, and high-concept time travel. If you like your thrillers smart, Scottish, and just a little bit unhinged, clear an evening—you’ll race through this and immediately want the sequel. Happy reading!
Check out With Time to Kill here!