The further adventures of Mathew, Luke, and Jane, trainee team 236 of the Time Police, in which they may not survive everything continuing to go wrong. ( )

'Hard Time' was a pleasant surprise. It reminded me of the tone of early St Mary's books.

The beat of the story is set by bouncy humour that grips optimism like a shield to fend off self-doubt and deep-rooted fears and to keep an emotional distance from all the unpleasant things the world throws at you. I like the snark in the humour but what I like most is the affection and trust that it builds between the characters.

Yet, like the best of the St Mary's books, there's more to 'Hard Time' than a bit of banter and team building. In 'Hard Time'. Team Weird are out of training and into the real world and the real world can be a very unpleasant place. The plot that Team Weird uncover and attempt to thwart is a dark one that speaks to human cruelty and greed. It felt horrible plausible. When I realised what the bad guys were doing, I was, for the first time, able to see the Time Police not just as thugs ruthlessly protecting the timeline but as the only possible response to malevolent, powerful sociopathy. The Time Police may be bastards that everyone is scared of but this time, they were the bastards everyone needed.

I liked the way the characters in Team Weird and in the leadership of the Time Police were rounded out. We got to see more of where they came from and of the attitudes and circumstances that had shaped them. It was nicely done. No one got a sainthood but my empathy for most of the characters was increased.

As usual, the time travel pieces and the action scenes were well done. This time the action scenes had more bite to them. These were Time Police action scenes, not St Mary's actions scenes. The mindset was military and uncompromising rather than academic and improvising. It takes skill to get the nuance of this right. There was one point when St. Mary's got involved and, although they were helpful and ingenious, seeing them through the eyes of the Time Police, they seemed undisciplined, unfocused and unreliable - except for the fact that everything they did worked.

To me, this series has found its legs now. It's no longer an off-shoot of St. Mary's. It's a whole world of its own. I'm looking forward to finding out more about it in the next book, 'Saving Time', which is already on my shelves. ( )

Hard Time - Taylor
Audio performance by Zara Ramm
4 stars

Book 2 of the spin-off Time Police series, or more adventures with Team Weird. This was more fun than the first book featuring Matthew Farrell and his cohorts. This one actually felt more like the original St. Mary’s series, full of narrow escapes and team loyalty. It was a fun book. But, even if the whole book had been a dud, it would have been worth it for the epilogue report concerning Mrs. Cherry Chub and the time vortex in her refrigerator. I laughed until I cried. ( )

Team Weird establishes itself by continually engaging in behavior that rocks, and almost sinks the TP boat. Sent off on a dangerous undercover mission with Luke as an effete rich guy and Jane as his therapeutic minder; things quickly go awry as they discover horrendous crimes being foisted on the locals in the Pleistocene Era. Mayhem, with St Mary's as a catalyst ensues and the TPs go in with blasters blasting and sticky string galore. Great dialogue and irreverence towards authority serve to drive the plot to a messy but apt ending. Caution: spoiler, as several villains still lurk. ( )