I think I can say with some certainty that this new thriller by Thomas Waugh will not find a big audience among Guardian reviewers and the like. The author’s two main protagonists, James Marshal and Daniel Ambler have trenchant views some way to the right of the spectrum.

Politics aside I have to say I thoroughly enjoyed Time to Kill. It put me in mind of the revenge-thriller Death Wish films directed by Michael Winner. In the first Death Wish, an architect goes on the rampage seeking vengeance on the thugs who broke into the family apartment and assaulted his daughter and his wife, who dies following the assault. A tale of vigilantism in other words. Time To Kill falls into the same category. In it, Waugh’s former soldier and private military contractor protagonist Marshal goes on the warpath against the local South London gangsters and drug lords responsible for the death of an innocent teenager. The young man, son of Florence, a former neighbour of Marshal’s, found himself in the wrong place at the wrong time and was stabbed by a young drug-dealer. Marshal’s revenge project is largely a solo effort although he does get some intelligence assistance from his former MI6 agent friend Ambler. Marshal is only at full liberty to undertake his project because his wife is away on a cruise. He naturally worries about his wife finding out or, worse, having to cope with a disastrous result if the project somehow goes awry. His anxieties do not deter him however.

This compelling book is written in a breezily entertaining style. I read its 164 pages in just two sittings. The characterisation is deft and the book is laced with humour. There are twists and turns a’plenty. Waugh’s London is bleak and corrupt. I am not sure how he went about his research but the author’s description of the structure and operations of the drug gangs in the capital is very convincing.

All in all an excellent and thrilling read which I’m happy to recommend. Thomas Waugh has written several thrillers featuring one or other or both of his two protagonists here. I have read one other, Endgame, in which Ambler takes the lead. That book is more of a spy thriller. I am happy to recommend it too, and I look forward to reading the other books in the series when I get a chance.

Time to Kill by Thomas Waugh in published by Sharpe Books

Reviewer: Mark Ellis is the author of Death of an Officer