I read The Catch by T.M. Logan last year and was surprised by how much I enjoyed it. I actually listened to the audiobook on my way back from dropping my parents off a few hours away and was shocked by how quickly the car journey seemed to go after that. Therefore when I was perusing through a charity shop and saw another T.M. Logan book The Curfew, I was quick to pick it up.
Please note that this article contains affiliate links. This means that if you purchase any products via any of the links below, I may receive a small commission at no extra cost to you. These affiliate links do not affect my final opinion of the product.
From my limited knowledge of the thriller genre, T.M. Logan is one of the few male writers writing in the contemporary thriller genre. I’ve read some Will Dean before and there are plenty of male writers in the action thriller genre but it’s nice to read a thriller from a male author to see how they differently portray things.
The Curfew focuses on Andy and the story of when his son misses his curfew and the incredible events that unfold after this. Everything has been fairly normal with their family until one night Connor goes out to celebrate the end of their exams, misses his curfew and then is arrested!
The Curfew plot – 4/5
I was a big fan of the pace of the plot in The Curfew. Like in The Catch where Logan would gently drop little teasers at the end of each chapter, he does the same with The Curfew. Sometimes the mini cliffhangers did feel a bit forced and so they didn’t really have quite the same effect as others but in general, there were enough times in this book where I was like “Oooh, where’s that going to lead” that it kept me reading at a quick rate.
As with most of these thriller books, you essentially are drip-fed information as you get closer and closer to the finale which then eventually presents us with a slight twist and the summary of the story, answering all of the questions you have satisfyingly.
The story isn’t going to blow your mind and I sometimes find it hard to believe a twist when there aren’t many hints to it leading up to the moment itself and this is the case here. It’s not like the twist was inconceivable it just wasn’t particularly clever and if you randomly guessed, you may guess it earlier.
The Curfew characters – 3.75/5
Andy is the main protagonist throughout The Curfew – he is the father if Connor who initially goes missing. He’s a loyal father and Logan does a great job of expressing what I imagine would be his own honest reactions to the many life-altering things that happen throughout the book.
This builds the figure of a father who shows that his children have taken over his sole focus in his life – almost everything else in life can take a back burner whilst he ensures that his first child is safe and acquitted for everything he’s been accused of. He’s fine as a protagonist but he’s not overly engaging. He doesn’t seem to have much of a sense of humour (though maybe that’s more due to his predicament – lol) he seems to take everything overly seriously, he’s not particularly smart in a lot of situations, and he doesn’t really react to much. He’s quite “meh”.
However, one of the standout characters in The Curfew is Andy’s daughter and Connor’s sister, Harriet. Harriet is incredibly intelligent and isn’t the most popular at school as a result and at one point it even notes she was teased at school. However, she’s the absolute hero of this story, literally saving the day in a couple of instances and constantly bringing some humour, wit and intelligence to a cast of characters who can feel very stale at times.
The Curfew final rating – 4
The Curfew is another solid thriller from T.M. Logan, but I don’t feel like I enjoyed it quite as much as The Catch. This may be because the father who acts as the protagonist isn’t quite as unhinged and erratic as in The Catch or it may just be that the story itself never truly got going in quite the same way and then suddenly hits you with a slightly weak twist. Don’t get me wrong though, The Curfew does what Logan does best, it drip-feeds you just enough information at the end of each information to keep you rapidly flipping the pages throughout. If you’re looking to scratch a thriller itch, The Curfew may just be your aloe vera!
Pick up a copy of The Curfew from Amazon
