I found the premise of the story to be interesting. If given the chance to do something drastic to someone else without being caught, would you do it? Sarah is in a terrible situation that is quickly spiraling out of control. Her marriage is falling apart and although she loves the work she does, her work environment is toxic. She is constantly harassed by a beloved colleague and has no way of reporting him.

I am not sure how I feel about this book. It has been a full week since I finished it and I don’t remember the ending. This obviously wasn’t too memorable for me.

Alan Hawthorne is hitting on Sarah Haywood in a cab taking them back to their hotel. A group of them are attending a conference. After dinner, they went out a get a cab. Alan had grabbed Sarah and pushed her into a taxi and took off leaving the others behind. When they get to the hotel, she is able to get away from him and breathes a sigh of relief.

Dr. Sarah Haywood has a good job at a university and is hoping to continue to prove herself and finally get a permanent position. Unfortunately, she is at the mercy of Professor Hawthorne who is a man who cannot keep his hands to himself. He literally preys on women, but the heads of the university look the other way because Alan is a charismatic man who brings in a lot of money to the university. He even has his own TV series. He is known as the Bulletproof Professor.

Sarah’s husband has left her and their two young children to take a break and find himself. Therefore, all the responsibility falls upon her. But she manages to get the children to school, teach her classes at the university, and get back to pick up the children from their after school program.

Driving home one day, Sarah sees a man and child on the sidewalk when a Mercedes in front of her purposely runs the man down and tries to kidnap the little girl. Before he can get to her, Sarah rams into him crushing his legs. Someone in the car takes a picture of her car and now she is afraid they will come after her for revenge.

Alan calls Sarah into his office and tells her that if she wants her promotion, she is going to have to play the game and have sex with him. Furious, she refuses and manages to get away from him.

When Sarah is purposely bypassed for a permanent position by Alan and the position goes to a man with much fewer qualifications and whom she had been mentoring, she is devastated.

One day she is grabbed and taken to a private place where she meets a man who is very wealthy. He is the father of the little girl she saved. He says that since she saved her, he wants to return the favor to Sarah. He tells to her give him the name of one person and he will make them disappear. She assures him that there is no one. But he gives her time to get back to him.

Sarah is faced with a serious decision to make. Could she be revengeful enough to get rid of the devil in her life? If so, could she then live with herself? What will she decide to do?

I have just described what is just the tip of the iceberg of this magnificent thriller. The author has presented to the reader how evil sexual predators can be to women and how many of them get away with it, especially if they have power and money. The author shows us the feelings of desperation and loneliness that victims of abuse feel and why many of them are left with their lives destroyed. I really loved this book and I know both women and men alike will enjoy it. I would like to see it become a movie.

Copy provided by NetGalley in exchange for a fair and honest review.

The phone call lasted just 29 seconds. “How many ripples would flow out of that call? How far would they reach?” Sarah was given a one time deal, a once in a lifetime offer, but would she take it? There were just 3 conditions, but would those conditions be met? With Sarah’s options closing in on her will she choose fight or flight? Logan writes a tight, taut, thrilling read. Tense and nerve wracking, this is a fast paced thriller with an unexpected ending.

29 Seconds is a slow starter with a considerable amount of time spent on setting the stage. In fact, I almost set this one aside as I kept waiting for Sarah to be presented with the choice that is described in the blurb. After a little more of the mundane than I thought absolutely necessary, we do eventually get there, and by this time the author has achieved the goal of making us really hate Hawthorne. The only problem is I didn't much like Sarah either. She comes across as weak and incapable of taking action against her despicable boss. But, yes, there is a but, take action, she does, in a moment of desperation? Exasperation? Infuriation? Whatever 'ation' she feels in that moment, it was enough to finally do something. This is where the story took a turn for the better for me. Sarah is still whiney to the point of tedium, but she does have reason for some of it. Anyone with a shred of morals would have at least had second thoughts. But the twists and the way things play out saved this one for me. I can usually see the twists coming, and there were a couple that didn't take me by surprise, but they were still done excellently. That said, there were also a couple of twists that snuck right up on me and had me sitting up in my chair and paying attention, and the conclusion was perfect for this crazy, twisted story. Looking back and thinking about it all, I would say this book really starts at almost halfway through, but from there, it has a steadily rising tension and explosive twists that kept those pages turning.

I found T.M. Logan’s last book, Lies, to be pretty entertaining so I had high hopes for 29 Seconds. Unfortunately, I didn’t enjoy it nearly as much as I was hoping to.

The topic is a timely #MeToo scenario. Sarah is a junior faculty member at a university and her boss is notorious for getting away with sexually harassing/assaulting his young, female subordinates. He has his sights set on Sarah and much of the book is her trying to figure out how to avoid his advances without ruining her career. With this being such a current and important topic, I was hoping for a strong female character who would do the right thing. Instead, Sarah was pretty spineless and just felt sorry for herself. I found her more annoying than anything else.

Then there’s the 29 Seconds part of the book. Sarah helps interrupt a kidnapping and to repay her, the little girl’s sketchy, mobster father offers to make someone in Sarah’s life disappear. Sarah initially refuses, but when things with her boss go from bad to worse, she makes a 29 second phone call to make her boss disappear. What follows is a lot of paranoia and a bumbled disappearance that kind of made the whole thing pointless. While I initially thought this idea was kind of intriguing, it just ended up being kind of ridiculous.

Overall, I found 29 Seconds kind of disappointing. While I liked the short chapters, the story did drag a bit. The characters were unlikable and the “twist” wasn’t really much of a twist at all. There was also an issue with the ARC copy I had where the villain’s last name kept changing between two different names. Hopefully this will be all sorted out by the final copy, but it made for a confusing and frustrating reading experience.

Overall Rating (out of 5): 2 Stars

Thank you to Netgalley and St Martin Press for the opportunity to read this book. I give it five stars though if I could I would give it 4.75 stars. There was just a tiny something missing for me, though I cannot accurately describe what. I was hooked into this story from the beginning and definitely did not see the ending coming. This book was so good and got me out of a recent reading slump. I highly recommend it.

"Everyone has a name to give. Everyone. Whether they admit it to themselves or not."

Given the chance, do you take the opportunity to make an adversary, someone making your life miserable by threatening your livelihood, your career, all that you've worked for, simply disappear? In 29 Seconds T.M. Logan creates a psychological thriller with this interesting and unique premise and kept me captivated from start to end and made me wonder, does everyone have a name to give?

Sarah is a female professor trying to make it onto the roster as a permanent member of the faculty. She's stressed by the dissolution of her marriage and trying to protect her young children from the fallout. Worst of all, she's contending with very inappropriate advances and misdeeds of her boss. When she witnesses and thwarts the near abduction of a young girl, she finds herself in an ethical dilemma. But when her boss goes too far, takes credit for her work, and threatens her livelihood, she finds herself contemplating what seems like her only way out.

The story is fast-paced with never a dull or extraneous moment. The twists and turns are well orchestrated and all the secondary characters cleverly influence Sarah in her choice and help to bring about vindication. 4 Stars and recommendation.

What would you do in an unthinkable situation? All it takes is 29 seconds to set an out of control situation even more out of control. How much would you agonize over something illegal? What can I say about this book other than pick it up and begin the ride! I guarantee you will not be disappointed! You'll never see the end coming!

Sarah is a professor working with a manipulative boss, Alan Hawthorne. Alan is holding back Sarah's advancement with the university. She is not the only woman he has mistreated and threatened. Sarah knows he brings a lot of money to the university, and the higher ups always stand by him. When Sarah is given the opportunity to make her problem disappear, she has to decide if she can handle the consequences.

Sarah has put up with a lot while working with Alan. A woman can only be pushed so far though, and Alan has pushed Sarah until she doesn't think she can handle anymore. The question is how far she is willing to go. Sarah's turmoil over her decisions is realistic.

A fast-paced and compelling thriller. Unlikable characters. Twisty plot. This is the second novel I have read by T.M. Logan, and they have both been entertaining reads. I look forward to his next book.

I received a free digital copy of this book from the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

“To give me whatsoever I shall ask, / To tell me whatsoever I demand, / To slay mine enemies and aid my friends” - The Tragical History of Doctor Faustus by Christopher Marlowe

Let’s just say right off the bat that when I realized the main character, English professor Dr. Sarah Haywood was a Christopher Marlowe academic, researcher, and instructor, I was giddy. He’s always been my favorite English playwright (sorry, not sorry, Bard) with The Tragical History of Doctor Faustus being my favorite play. I immediately knew she and I would be friends because we have much in common since we both have the same career and interests. I definitely know from personal experience how hard Sarah worked to obtain her Ph.D. while juggling marriage, raising two small children, and building up her reputation as an academic researcher while also researching and publishing the requisite journal articles required of all academics in any university teaching field. It’s soul-sucking at times. Add in a sexual predator who is your department head, and that’s utter hell.

Sarah’s been teaching at Queen Anne University for the past two years and is hoping this is finally the year she’ll receive a promotion to a permanent position. It’s been two years of hard work but exhausting stress thanks to fighting off Professor Alan Hawthorne, who is nothing but a man who uses his position to sexually harass women, but no one at the university will do anything because he brings in too much grant money and has too much clout for the university to risk losing him. Now though, Hawthorne’s upped the pressure on Sarah with threats to her career, and she’s at a loss of what to do―that is until fate throws her into a situation with a man deeply indebted to her. He offers her the chance to make a Faustian bargain to permanently get rid of anyone...all she needs is to give him one name and the deed is done. But can Sarah, an expert in Marlowe, who knows how Faustus’ tragedy ended in damnation and the ethical implications involved cross a line that can never be uncrossed?

Sarah’s situation was horrifying, emotionally and mentally, and I so felt for her. Senior academia in universities is still, by and large, a man’s world with more men teaching than woman and more men in roles of authority, so I truly understood the powerlessness she felt as I’ve had to deal with men similar to Hawthorne in my own career rise to tenure (thankfully NOT to this extent). It’s an old boy's network of inequality in a system that needs to be fixed, and I felt the impossibility of her situation with every page that I turned. She’s worked so hard to prove herself but no one will listen and moving on to another university is almost career suicide. I honestly asked myself what I would do in her shoes. Would I make a deal with the devil to save my career, my sanity, and rid the world of a monster? When is the ability to have one's enemies slain like Faustus requests not too big to ask? Will Sarah make such a request? You definitely have to read this one and find out!

29 Seconds is just a fabulous page-turning psychological thriller. I loved Lies by Logan, but I loved 29 Seconds even more. I thought I’d pick it up right before bed, but it was another one of those situations were I was so engrossed in this thrill ride that I was up till the middle of the night to finish it in one sitting―absolutely worth it though! It was well-paced, plotted, and the twists are killer. The ending...it was especially fitting, I felt. Now I can’t wait to read what Logan writes next.

**Thank you, Netgalley and Katie Bassel at St. Martin's Press for the gifted copy. All opinions are my own.**

***I received this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review***

This book will keep you guessing until the very last page. Definitely a must read!!!

"A split second decision could change everything...."

T.M. Logan knocks it out of the park with this nail-biting read! My first T.M read was Lies and enjoyed it very much, so I knew this one was going to be stellar! Lots of plot twists and intriguing storytelling. Definitely an author to keep on your watch list!

*I voluntarily read and reviewed and ARC of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.*
DNF @ 30%

This book isn't what I thought it would be. I assumed it would be more intense and deal more with the ramifications of Sarah making the phone call. The thing is, the phone call doesn't happen until over 100 pages into the book. All that time-- most of Part I is spent setting up how crummy her life is. Really, I only needed 2 maybe 3 chapters for that. I tried to persevere and hold out for what would happen after the phone call, but by that point I was bored.

Sarah whines all the time. I totally understand why, her life has some major roadblocks: her husband is gone and cheating on her and her boss is sexually harassing her, while making it impossible for her to advance in her career. Yeah, that sucks. But, she never tries to rectify it. I understand how hard sticking up for yourself is, I truly get it, which is why I waited for the phone call, waited to see how things would become intense. Unfortunately, she makes the call... and then feels guilty about it. I also couldn't see how or why this book would gain the intensity I enjoy from thrillers. So, I skimmed a bit and just became annoyed with her character some more.

To enjoy a thriller I need to be seriously hooked and invested in the characters-- it is the only way I feel the intensity of the moments. Sarah just didn't pull me in or captivate me at any time. I also wasn't convinced by some of the actions by other characters. Perhaps I'm just more picky with these types of books.

I'll be honest...I've never been a big fan of male authors writing from a female perspective. It rarely sounds authentic, and certainly didn't in this case. Sarah, our protagonist, was whiny and not even remotely likable. It's hard to feel sympathy for a person who lets herself be victimized over and over, yet does nothing to remedy the situation. Her actions were endlessly irritating.

While I appreciate the concept and theme here, and believe this novel had the potential to be absolutely amazing (particularly in the era of the #metoo movement), it ultimately missed the mark. Not a single character was well-developed and I felt as though there were a few threads that went absolutely nowhere. The conclusion, while satisfying, was also pretty damn cheesy.

Having said all this, the story is still gripping and a generally quick read. Overall, a pretty average book.

**Many thanks to the publisher for providing me an advance copy.

Publication date: September 10, 2019
Goodreads review: September 7, 2019

In 29 seconds your entire life could change...and you could destroy someone's life in 29 seconds...all with one little phone call...

If you could make someone disappear with just a simple phone call and nobody would ever know you were behind it. Would you do it? Would you be tempted? How is that for a teaser for this book?! I had to read it. Not only that but I loved T.M. Logan's last book- Lies. I was so intrigued by this blurb that I couldn't wait to see what this was about.

Alan Hawthorne is quite frankly a piece of work. We all probably know one. That guy that has been with the company for so long and everyone knows of him so he becomes "untouchable". Basically Alan can do whatever Alan feels like and get away with it. He should really be fired for all the disgusting things he does, but it is a good old boys club and boys will be boys. Got to love that! UGH! I was so angry for Sarah that she had to endure this behavior. I wanted to scream at Sarah to leave the situation. It was so frustrating to read all the things she had to put up with. However, Sarah made a great point, why should she leave the job she has worked for so hard? Sarah has done nothing wrong, other than be a female in a man dominated environment.

So when Sarah is offered a sweet deal from a shady character, well it sounded too good to be true. She has 72 hours to pick a name, any name, someone that she could make disappear. Would she do it? This could solve all her problems. Or is it too good to be true?

This book had me on the edge of my seat for most of this crazy, intriguing ride. I love that the author stuck with his short chapters, much like Lies. He has a knack for ending each one with a line that would draw me right into turning the next page and saying okay one more chapter.

Thank you so much to St. Martin's Press for providing me with a gorgeous ARC. I really enjoyed getting the chance to read another great book from T.M. Logan!

I read Lies by T.M. Logan last year, and I think 29 Seconds was even better. The concept was original and I wanted to keep reading to find out what happened. To me, Lies had a narrator that should have questioned a lot more than he did. In 29 Seconds, Sarah was more relateable. She is a single mom (with her father that helps out a lot). She's being sexually harassed by her boss and feels trapped.

The author does a great job of letting the reader feel the frustration that Sarah feels, leading up to the point where she has to make a decision. 29 seconds that change her life and the aftermath that follows.

This book is gripping. I wanted to know what happened and how it was all going to end up. There were certainly twists I didn't expect and I wanted to keep reading. I liked how it ended, and the loose ends were tied up, which I always appreciate.

This is a pretty good psychological thriller. If a woman was sexually harassed in her workplace by her direct supervisor and the upper management turned their heads, how far would you go to get revenge and save your dignity? Would you go as far as agreeing to having them disappear or would you take it on yourself? Read this story and see if you still have the same opinion.
The book starts out great, but about half way through, I was beginning to wonder, then it takes off again and goes out with a bang. The author has a talent for discussing something that you think you know what he is talking about, but really, you know nothing. He has you going down one road but he is really way over so far ahead of you on the other route. I loved that, made the story so good, very well written.
I completely despised Alan, he was the worst of the worst, and his co-workers were no better. Was wondering if Sarah was going to pull her big girl panties on and take him out, I’ll let you read this one and decide for yourself if she did. This is a 5-star read.
I was very pleased to have been given the opportunity to receive this book from St. Martin’s Press through NetGalley. The opinions expressed in this review are completely my own. This one gets the 5*****’s.

Thank you to St Martin’s Press and Netgalley for a copy of 29 Seconds by T.M. Logan for review. This fast paced thriller is available Tuesday, September 10th.

29 Seconds was quite fast paced and I enjoyed it for that but I have to say I’m on the fence about it. I read it and liked it but wasn’t particularly invested in it because it was outrageous and repetitive at the same time. Sarah is being repeatedly propositioned by her boss and is struggling to find a way out. She also saves a mysterious girl from what looks like a kidnapping (the outrageous part) and her father offers to “take care” of one person for her.
This is the part that seemed to take the story off the rails. I probably would have enjoyed a book with her scheming to take down her boss but the whole middle bit with the mysterious hitman type business man was just not for me.

Everyone has a name to give. Don’t they?

What if you could make your worst enemy disappear?
No consequences. No trace. No one would ever find out. Just make one, quick, tiny, 29-second phone call.

I LOVED Lies, and immediately knew I needed to read the new T.M. Logan thriller! His books are fast paced and the epitome of riveting. You will go up and down and all around and feel like you went ten rounds in a boxing match and make it out on the other side totally blindsided and saying out loud: "What the heck just happened?!"

When Sarah rescues a little girl in trouble, the girls father - a very dangerous man - offers to thank her in the only way he knows how: a deal that will make her disgusting and insufferable boss disappear.

Will Sarah do it? Will she give his name?

Fantastic... and so much fun. A totally unique story that whips you around in twists and turns that cause such emotional whiplash, that you stopped trying to guess what would happen. And the ending. Wowsa.

Given the chance, would you make someone disappear? Think about it. Dr Allen Hawthorne is an odious man and, even in the woke me-too era, he's a slug. He also controls Sarah's future. SO when she saves a child and that child's father offers her the reward of offing someone, what does she do? What would you do? No spoilers on this page turner but you can bet things don't go exactly as planned or hoped. It's a very good read. Thanks to the publisher for the ARC. This would be the perfect travel book- will keep you completely occupied as you race to the end (which has a twist).