by Jane
Review by: Slantedlight
Review
I don't have any idea, these days, what I'm going to get when I begin reading a story by Jane, although there are definite themes that run through her work. Sometimes I like what she does, other times I'm cringing my way as far as I can into it, and I must admit that there are some I've given up on entirely. She's a tendency to lecture, and a tendency to show off as an author rather than to make the reader feel good, and sometimes while she's saying one thing out loud it seems as though I'm not quite sure whether she means it - a tendency to protest too much, perhaps, upon occasion.
And, for me, Time and Motion did all of those things, although it picked up somewhere past half-way through (I was forcing myself at that time, unfortunately) and there was a moment towards the end where I really did want to find out what happened - although of course, deep down, I already knew.
In the mean time we learned What It Takes To Be A Serious Runner, and How Nutrition Works, that there are maps of England available to the author, and that African runners will always beat European runners as a result of their genes. (See what I mean - a touch dodgy of opinion at times) There is also the apparently standard lecture on how sex is about Love Not Pain, and anything above a bit of a spanking implies a seriously disturbed individual.
Apart from all that - Doyle finds out that he's got what it takes to be an Olympic-class runner, and begins to train seriously. Cowley and Macklin are both behind him and prepared to give him all the time off he needs, and Bodie of course is there too. Only, as ever, there are bad guys to be beaten, villains to be fought, and the path of love to be cleared...
Personally, I couldn't read it again, and I'm not sure I'm happy that I read it the first time, but it's Jane - and I go into Jane stories, these days, prepared for anything.
Slantedlight, November 2007