ISBN: 125007276X
Publisher: St. Martin's Press
Publication Date: 11/29/2016
Format: Other
Mr. Rating: TBR It’s been a rough five years for Lucy Hendricks. She hasn’t had an easy time of it since her husband, Jack―a devoted and upstanding Bayonne, New Jersey, cop―was murdered while on an investigation. There were suspicions that he’d been involved with the local Mafia, and the media wouldn’t let it go, making life unbearable, so Lucy moved to Florida to raise her son, Kevin, who was born without ever knowing his father.
The distance was healing, but now Lucy is back in New Jersey to pick up the pieces in the same house she and Jack once shared, trying to move on. But the past won’t loosen its grip on the young widow, and it seems to have taken hold of Kevin as well. At first his behavior becomes increasingly erratic; then he begins making statements wise beyond his years, offering specific details about Jack’s murder he couldn’t possibly know. Lucy decides to delve into the mystery surrounding her husband’s death, for her own sanity and for Kevin’s. She can’t trust the cops, it seems, and now the local Don has reached out to her, offering help in clearing Jack’s name. As Hurricane Sandy bears down on Bayonne, Lucy must trust her instincts to save herself and her son from much more than a deadly storm.
Praise for Time of Departure:
“Engrossing...It’s a tribute to criminal lawyer Schofield’s persuasive powers that his characters, procedural elements, and atmosphere are convincing enough to keep those pages turning without logic getting in the way.” ―Publishers Weekly (starred review)
“Schofield makes a big splash with this original debut mystery. Don’t expect to get any sleep if you start this novel tonight.”―Library Journal (starred review)
“Schofield delivers a whopping, complex tale. The characters are three-dimensional, and the gut-wrenching implications of the whole story will have readers’ minds racing.”―RT Book Reviews (Top Pick)
“If Michael Connelly and Audrey Niffenegger collaborated on a story and then sent it into the past to be edited by Rod Sterling, that novel would be Time of Departure. A hard-boiled detective thriller with a dash of fantasy . . . A clever read. Daring, even.” ―James Renner, author of The Man from Primrose Lane and True Crime Addict
“Time of Departure is the fictional equivalent of a carefully crafted set of Chinese boxes, with a gripping police procedural nested within an engaging character study, enveloped by an overarching narrative that grapples with this world’s essential questions.”―Les Standiford, author of Bone Key and Water to the Angels
“A surprising, original mystery. I’ve never read anything quite like Time of Departure, and I won’t soon forget this genre-defying novel. Douglas Schofield makes an impressive, gutsy debut.” ―Julia Dahl, author of Invisible City and Run You Down
About the Author
Douglas Schofield was raised and educated in British Columbia, where he earned degrees in History and Law. Over the past three decades, he has worked as a trial lawyer in Canada, Bermuda and the Cayman Islands. During those years, he has prosecuted and defended hundreds of cases of murder, sexual assault and other serious crimes. In 2013, after nine years as Assistant Solicitor General in the Cayman Islands Government, Douglas returned to private practice.
Douglas and his wife Melody live on Grand Cayman, along with their most excellent and amazing talking cat, Juno, who kindly permits them to share his home.
Although Douglas dabbled in creative writing for many years, Flight Risks was his first completed novel-length manuscript. The first draft was finished in 2002. The original 752-page manuscript went through several revisions and several years of sitting untouched in a drawer before it was finally picked up by a small publishing house in England. Enthusiastic reader feedback fully justified the publisher's initial reaction. A January 2011 review in Victoria Times-Colonist, a leading daily newspaper in Western Canada, described Flight Risks as: “...a fast-paced snappy thriller ... utterly believable ... The resolution, while something of a surprise, is absolutely satisfying” Douglas has also written a number of screenplays. In 2004, he enrolled in an intensive screenwriting seminar in Los Angeles. He spent the entire course sitting next to an engaging young actress named Drew Barrymore. Not surprisingly, this encounter was a bit distracting, but somehow Douglas managed to pick up the essentials. A year later, his script for Time Out Of Mind, a murder mystery love story, took first prize in its category in the Fade In Magazine/Writer's Network Screenwriting Competition. His next screenplay, Succession--a thriller set in New Jersey and England during the traumatic days following Princess Diana's death in that Paris tunnel--attracted serious attention in Hollywood.
In 2012, Flight Risks Flight Risks was re-issued in the UK by MIWK Publishing. That event was followed immediately by release of his second novel, Succession, based on the screenplay.
Douglas's third novel, Time Of Departure, based on his prize-winning screenplay, Time Out Of Mind, was released by his U.S. publisher, St. Martin’s Press, on December 1, 2015. It will be followed by Storm Rising, scheduled for release in November 2016. Douglas is currently working on a fifth novel, planned for release in 2017. Read More
