20 Minutes Around the Bonfire (20 Minutes #7) by Daniel Hurst
Genre: Psychological thriller
Read: 22nd February 2025
Published: 1st November 2020
★★★★ 5 stars
DESCRIPTION:
Fireworks. Flames. Fate.
Set five days after the events on Halloween, the citizens of London descend on Battersea Park for the annual 5th November celebrations.
With everybody in one place, and the mood in the park high, what could possibly go wrong?
MY THOUGHTS:
Just five days after the events in "20 Minutes at Halloween", several characters return alongside a few new ones as the people of London gather for the annual bonfire night. And we catch a glimpse of another 20 minutes in the lives of those people.
After recent events, Jelena has grown suspicious of boyfriend Bogdan's secretiveness and tonight she is following him as he kissed her goodnight for another shift working security. But instead of heading in the direction of work, he is heading south as she tails him into the crowded confines of Battersea Park and to the stage area overlooking the huge bonfire. She sees him meet the gangster and hand over an envelope.
Bogdan has done it. He has finally got the money to pay off his debt to Ronnie and tonight he hands over the rest of the cash that will see the end of their business. With that done, he just wants to return home to Jelena and move on with their lives.
Will's life was turned upside down five nights ago when he returned home after performing to a sea of adoring fans. A tragedy which rocked his world and only adding to his already existing feeling of depression.
Valentin is not in Battersea park to enjoy the fireworks but to claim his fourth victim thus crowning him with the status of serial killer.
Curtis returns with his colleagues as they are on hand should there be any emergency. We first met him in the second book as he doused the flames of the flat in which Jelena had been kept prisoner for four months.
Tom is also on patrol at Battersea Park tonight with his colleague Lizzy, to help keep everything under control. But a scream from the food stalls hails their attention.
Carol, Lindsey and Diego also return along with Harry who told his mum he was at a sleepover at a friends in order to stealthily scarper to south London for the fireworks. April and her friend Katie also return, getting drunk as per the norm while Joe and Louise round of the regulars of this story.
New faces include 18 year old Scarlett, who is working the burger van at Battersea Park tonight but is struggling to meet the demands of customers without her colleague Lucas who stole a few minutes for a cigarette; Zara, the event organiser for the event in Battersea Park; Jonny, who is in charge of the fireworks; Melanie, there with her Syrian boyfriend Jamal not for the fireworks but for another plan they've set in motion; Archie, the sixty-something stall holder who cons the money out of unsuspecting players to his stall, intent on making a killing tonight; Rose, a quiet mouse of a woman who is set on gambling her way into winning at Archie's rigged stall and Faye, an Armed Response officer deployed with her team as they descend on Battersea Park looking for the suspected terrorist in their midst. And that ending? Wow! Didn't see that coming! Let's just say I would have much preferred Diego to be caught up in those fireworks of a different kind!
All play a part in this series of interconnected stories that is skillfully plotted. It is so hard to review without giving too much away. So if you are here reading this you are either taking this journey with me or you are considering doing so. If so, then you need to go back to the prequel "20 Minutes Earlier" and start from the beginning because, while the author does recap some of each characters' backstory, these books are not standalone and all are connected. Each book is novella and a quick read. I devoured books 6 and 7 in one day! Meanwhile...onto the next!
Next...20 Minutes Before Christmas
MEET THE AUTHOR:
He has been employed in several glamorous roles in his lifetime, including bartending, shelf stacking and procurement administration, all while based in some of the most exotic places on the planet, like Bolton, Preston and South London.
Daniel writes psychological thrillers and loves to tell tales about unusual things happening to normal people. He has written all his life, making the progression from handing scribbled stories to his parents as a boy to writing full length novels in his thirties. He lives in the North West of England and when he isn’t writing, he is usually watching a game of football in a pub where his wife can’t find him.
Since following his lifelong passion for writing in 2020, he has amassed a loyal and devoted set of readers, and regularly has several books in the top 100 of the Psychological Thriller Charts on Amazon. His title The Passenger became the #1 selling psychological thriller in the UK in October 2021. The Doctor's Wife is his first publication with Bookouture.
A prolific writer, Daniel likes to keep readers on their toes by self publishing even more books in between those released through his publisher.
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