Schaduw van de tijd, De

Inhoud

Een meisje van drie, dochtertje van een Engelse kapper, wordt gekidnapt. Haar vader wordt door de daders zo onder druk gezet, dat hij de politie niets durft te vertellen. Wel vraagt hij de hulp van een particuliere detective. Die weet een spoor te vinden dat naar Frankrijk leidt. Maar inmiddels hebben de ontvoerders laten weten dat het kleine meisje nog maar drie dagen te leven heeft.

Bespreking

Decent crime novel, lacking some soul

A girl of three years old, daughter of an English hairdresser, is kidnapped. Her father is warned by the abductors to helping the police in finding his daughter, because otherwise he will never see her again. As a last resort he decides to contact a private investigator. When the detective finds the first clues it seems that the abductors are one step ahead. Then the message that everybody feared has arrived: the little girl has only three days left to live. The countdown has started.

The Shadow of Time is a decent crime novel written in 1959 by the rather unknown author Christopher Landon. The story is focussed on the hunt for abductors of a little girl and has some nice plot twists. Although the narrative never tires, it does lack some spirit. The pain and uncertainty of losing a daughter is the main driving force for the main characters, but is only weakly explained to the reader. This makes those same characters a bit flat and soulless. As such it never completely pulls the reader into the story.