On behalf of The Write Reads, I am excited today to share my review of Maybe It’s About Time by Neil Boss.
Synopsis
Two people trapped in their different worlds. One by wealth and one by poverty. Twenty years working for The Firm has given Marcus Barlow everything he wants but has taken his soul in return. Finding a way to leave has become an obsession.
Claire Halford’s life hits rock bottom when she is caught stealing food from Tesco Express. Left alone by her husband with two small children and an STI, her suicide music is starting to play louder in her head.
A chance meeting brings them together. As a mystery virus from China starts to run riot across the country, their world’s collide and they find they have more in common than they knew.
Set in the early months of 2020, Maybe It’s About Time is a story about the difficulty of changing lives for the better. Starting as a funny and satirical view of the egocentric world of professional services, it gives way to a heart-warming story of an unlikely friendship that rejuvenates Marcus and Claire, giving them both hope for a better future.
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My Thoughts
Neil Boss has taken two extremes of Life through Marcus and Claire and combined them in such a clever way. I really enjoyed the stark contacts between their lives – particularly financially but how in terms of mental health and humanity it demonstrates how we all can experience issues in our lives.
Claire is a single mum who is broken mentally and financially. Marcus’ life is so different with a high flying job and affluent lifestyle but both characters so desperate to get out of their current situations.
Both characters are fascinating and completely imperfect. Claire’s story is heartbreaking whilst Marcus Marcus is a little harder to feel for – I think it highlights the problem that mental health issues don’t discriminate.
I don’t come from an office or business perspective so I’m inexperienced in the matter but I very much imagine that Boss’s office workplace satire isn’t as exaggerated as you may initially think.
Covid isn’t something I would normally chose to read about, however Neil Boss brings it into the story in a way that just adds depth to the story and the character development. He captures the way those times started as something far away and quickly became part of our daily lives. It was such an awful and confusing time for people however so much good emerged too within communities and this is really portrayed in Maybe It’s About Time.
It was impossible not to get wrapped in the lives of Claire and Marcus. There are uplifting moments of joy wrapped up in a huge dose of reality. Maybe It’s About Time is an intriguing, character driven novel that most people can relate to in some way. I was completely absorbed in their story and very much enjoyed being part of their world.
Author Bio – Neil Boss
I retired from a career in the corporate world in November 2019 with three objectives. To travel around the world and fly fish in the most exotic locations, to play my electric guitar better than I do and to write a novel that I could be genuinely proud of. The pandemic and lockdown in March 2020 put my first two objectives on hold leaving me no option but to start writing. Two and half years later, ‘Maybe It’s About Time’, my first novel, was published.
As a piece of work, I am incredibly proud of it. It makes me laugh and cry in equal measure. I am even more proud that readers seem to be enjoying it just as much and it is getting great reviews.
Travel and fly fishing has now started again, my guitar playing is improving and a sequel to ‘Maybe It’s About Time’ is planned to start in 2023!
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