Race Against Time: A Claire Abbott Mystery

By Gail Anderson-Dargatz

Small-town reporter Claire Abbott wakes from a nightmare, convinced a bomb will go off in the local school. And then, strangely enough, there really is a bomb scare. After the school is cleared by police and their sniffer dog, Claire is certain the threat isn't over. People are behaving strangely. Claire believes a bomber will attack the school. But when? And who is the bomber? Claire must track down the culprit and stop him before the bomb goes off.

Race Against Time is the third novel in a series of mysteries featuring journalist and sleuth Claire Abbott.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Orca Book Publishers
• Release date: Sep 13, 2016
• ISBN: 9781459808454

Gail Anderson-Dargatz

GAIL ANDERSON-DARGATZ’s first novel, The Cure for Death by Lightning, was a finalist for the Scotiabank Giller Prize and won the UK’s Betty Trask Award, the BC Book Prize for Fiction and the Vancity Book Prize. Her second novel, A Recipe for Bees, was nominated for the IMPAC Dublin Literary Award and was a finalist for the Scotiabank Giller Prize. The Spawning Grounds was nominated for the Sunburst Award and the Ontario Library Association Evergreen Award and short-listed for the Canadian Authors Association Award for Fiction. Her thriller, The Almost Wife, hit the Canadian bestseller lists in 2021. She taught for nearly a decade in the MFA program in creative writing at the University of British Columbia and now mentors writers online. Gail Anderson-Dargatz lives in the Shuswap region of British Columbia.  

Book preview

SIXTEEN

ONE

Inside the school, the bomb squad tried to find a bomb that could go off at any moment. Police cars and fire trucks surrounded the building. Their emergency lights blazed in the dreary light of this winter afternoon. I shivered from cold as I waited beside the cop cars.

The students had been evacuated. They now stood in the snow-covered sports field below the school. The kids knew someone had made a bomb threat. They were also watched over by their teachers. So I was surprised to see a teenage boy run into a side entrance of the school. He wore a red hoodie with a black skull on the back.

Hey, stop! I cried. Then I turned to the nearest cop, Officer Banks. A kid just ran inside.

We have things under control, Banks said. All the students have been evacuated.

There’s a boy in that building, I insisted. If that school blows, he’ll die!

The cop turned his back on me. When I tried to tell him again, he ignored me as if I wasn’t there.

I tried the firefighters. There’s a kid in there! But they also acted as if I was invisible.

I bolted inside the school after the kid, hoping to stop him. The rows of lockers seemed to go on forever as I raced from room to room. I had only minutes to find the boy and get out of this building before it blew.

Yet as I turned the corner to race down another hallway, I saw a janitor calmly mopping the floor. Can I help you? he said.

What are you doing here? I yelled as I ran toward him. There’s a bomb. This place is about to explode!

The janitor looked at me blankly.

Didn’t you see the cops and their sniffer dog? I asked him. They cleared the building. They’re trying to track down the bomb before it goes off.

"Why are you here then?" he asked me.

I followed a kid inside. Did he run this way?

You shouldn’t be here.

Yeah, I thought, tell me something I don’t know. I tried to tell the cops the boy was here, but they wouldn’t believe me. I started off again down the hall. I’ve got to find him. I glanced back briefly as I called, Get the hell out of here!

I can help, the janitor said, but he didn’t run after me. He just stood there in his gray uniform, holding the mop. Even so, as I turned the corner and started down the next hallway, I heard him repeat himself. He sounded as if he were right behind me. I can help.

Then the boom of the explosion sounded, throwing me to the floor. A moment later a ball of fire shot down the hallway toward me. I knew in that instant, before the searing heat hit, that I would certainly die.

TWO

"No!" I cried, sitting upright in bed. I blinked into the dark, confused. Where was I? Only a moment ago I’d been running down the high-school hallway, trying to save a kid. Then the school exploded around me. I was so sure I was about to die.

What? Matt said. Claire, what’s the matter? He turned on the lamp on the bedside table. We’d been dating for a couple of months. He’d slept over after our date the night before.

What is it? he asked again.

There was a bomb. The high school exploded! Oh my god, Matt. There was a kid in there with me!

It was just a dream, a nightmare.

A dream? No, it was all so real. A boy charged into the school, like he was on a mission. I searched the school, but I couldn’t see him anywhere. I ran a hand through my mess of curls, trying to remember. The dream was already starting to fade. There was a janitor too.

A janitor?

He was in the building with me before it exploded. He said he could help me.

Well, I imagine he could. Matt grinned as he glanced around my bedroom. Clothes were scattered across the floor. You sure could use a janitor in this place.

He had a point. My one-bedroom apartment was cluttered. I had very little storage space, so I ended

Reviews for Race Against Time

[readerbynight · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

What can you do to prove what you know when nobody else will believe you? That is the dilemma facing Claire Abbot in this short but fully formed terrifying mystery. Claire has the thankless ability to dream into the future. A horrifying talent, one which needs to be believed. But how do you prevent what you are so sure is about to happen?This is the third book in the Claire Abbott series. It is every parent's nightmare and she must get the police to believe her. She has dreamed a nightmare that the local high school is about to be blown up. How can she get the police and the school to believe this is really going to happen? This is a fast-paced book, unfortunately almost a possibility in this time of attacks on schools and other buildings with a large number of people in one place. This book is suggested as suitable adult fiction for ages 16+, and I would believe that is reasonable. A fast read, a tight plot, an interesting series.

[jadavid-1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Claire is having bad dreams. She realizes that she is seeing the future. When she tries to tell everyone that there really is a bomb in the school, she loses her job, her reputation and the respect of the police and fire departments. She knows she is right, but how to convince everyone else.

[owlie13 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

The story was fine, however, I can't imagine paying $9.99 (the price on the back of the copy I received) for this book. I literally started and finished the book during the 30 minutes it took to eat my lunch. It's 104 pages, but the book itself is small, the print is huge, and the margins are wide. It is labeled as a "Rapid Read" and that's certainly true. Given this, it's not surprising there wasn't much space for character development. This was the third book in the series, and hopefully if you had read the first two, you would have more understanding of the main character. Without that prior knowledge, she tended to come off as obnoxious and even delusional. The secondary characters are pretty much just names and not much else. It wasn't a bad read, and probably a good fit in a high school library.

[draak_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Claire Abbott is a small time reporter that is having nightmares about an explosion at the local high school. But when a threat is made can she convince the police that it is real. This is definitely a fast read at only 104 pages long not enough time to really get to know the characters. But it is good if all you are looking for is a quick read.I received this book from LibraryThing Early Reviewers.

[katebaxter_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Good story; written with just enough detail to tell the tale but not so much to bog down the reader. There are a few twists and turns and at least one red herring to hold the readers interest. It's a relatively short book and would be a handy companion for that short flight or waiting in an airport or doctor's office. I am grateful to author Gail Anderson-Dargatz and LibraryThing Early Reviewers for having provided a free advance reading copy of this book. Their generosity, however, did not influence this review - the words of which are mine alone. Synopsis ( from Goodreads):Small-town reporter Claire Abbott wakes from a nightmare, convinced a bomb will go off in the local school. And then, strangely enough, there really is a bomb scare. After the school is cleared by police and their sniffer dog, Claire is certain the threat isn't over. People are behaving strangely. Claire believes a bomber will attack the school. But when? And who is the bomber? Claire must track down the culprit and stop him before the bomb goes off."Race Against Time" is the third novel in a series of mysteries featuring journalist and sleuth Claire Abbott.

[johntgriffin · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

This is a rapid read book which is not a bad thing for I have read other rapid read books that were very good. This one is just not that good. I could only read the fist couple of chapters. The story is for young readers, but this was to simplistic for even them. I have read the earlier books so maybe that is why i could not get into the story. Sorry

[squeex_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Super quick to read, pretty much everything happens with a couple of days in the story. Claire is a reporter for a small town newspaper and she has visions of events. Not that everyone believes her even though she's helped in the past. This time she has a nightmare of a bomb in the local high school. The school has been evacuated like in her dream/vision, but no bomb is found. She is absolutely certain but the police and the fire department are weary of her stories. She has to investigate on her own. This is the third in the series and I've not read the first two books, but I didn't need to read them to enjoy this one. I can recommend.

[bah195 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Like her mother, Claire Abbott has visions. One night she dreams that the local high school has exploded. Claire learns that someone has posted a bomb threat on social media and the High School has been evacuated. Has her dream become a reality?Claire, a reporter for the local newspaper, is at the high school and sees a teen in a hoodie sneak into a side door of the school. Is that the bomber? Can Claire convince the cops her vision is coming true or will she have to track down the bomber on her own.Race Against Time is the third novel in the series but you don't have to read the first two to enjoy this story. It's a quick read(104 pages long) and an easy read. I can't wait to read the first two books in this series. A great book for cozy mystery lovers.

[crazybatcow · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

This is the 3rd or 4th Rapid Reads book I've read. It was my least favorite of them... I think the story was more simple than usual, and it actually had the feel as if it were intended for a young adult audience (i.e. the high school setting was more than just a setting, but who the author intended as the audience as well). It was also - albeit very loosely - supernatural in nature, which I don't enjoy... Like the entire line of books - it is literally a Rapid Read - and if English was your second language, it would be an excellent way to dip your toes into a manageable story. As I was reading it, I was thinking that I wished the same type of rapid read books existed in other languages, so I could read them as a second language learner. If you're in a hurry and just want something quick you can pick up and finish while waiting for something, this might fit the bill, though, to be honest, for the price, you would be better served to buy a readers digest magazine... this story is just not complex enough, unless you were using it as a learning experience.

[therealjim · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Claire Abbott a reporter with a gift of seeing visions of events that will happen.When she has a vision she tries to convince people that something will happen. When they find nothing, they doubt her.However, she takes matters into her own hands. Will she be proven right? A good story, but I would have liked it more if it had been longer. Overall a good story, I ordered her first two in the series.

[grumpydan · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Being a Rapid Reads book, this is a short book (112 pages) that has to get the reader’s attention quickly and hold onto it. And it does. Claire Abbott has premonitions and this one begins with a vision of a bomb in the school. She tries to warn everyone and thinks she knows who did it but do the police and faculty believe her or think s she’s a nut. Well written and good characters, but as a mystery, I didn’t feel it. I enjoyed the fast pace of the story even if it weren’t as suspenseful as I hoped.

[jfe16 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This Claire Abbott mystery, part of the Rapid Reads program, offering contemporary, entertaining, adult-themed books that focus on strong on storytelling, and designed to draw in reluctant adult readers by being short enough to read in one sitting.In this, the third outing for reporter Claire Abbott, Claire is convinced that her nightmare about a bomb explosion at the local high school is about to come true. When there is a bomb threat at the school, Claire tries to convince the police of the danger, but the authorities brush her premonitions aside. Eventually, her obsession gets her banned from the school grounds. Will she be able to track down the bomber and save the students and the school? Although readers will be tempted to roll their eyes at some of Claire’s obsessive behavior, the plot is action-filled and the characters are well-drawn. Reluctant adult readers and older teens will find much to enjoy in this quick read.Recommended.I received a free copy of this book through the LibraryThing Early Readers program

[peggy.s · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Claire Abbott is a newspaper reporter in a small town. She is also a psychic who has helped the police and fire departments several times. When she dreams of the local high school being blown up, she wants to believe it was just a dream. However, later that day the high school receives a bomb threat. Clair risks her reputation, job – and even her life – to prove that her dream is really going to come true unless she can stop it. As a former teacher who has spent many hours standing on playing fields waiting for the police and bomb-sniffing dogs to clear a building, I found this book very interesting. It had a credible story line, good characters, and was suspenseful – what more could you ask for? I have not read any other books in this series – but would like to.It is part of the Rapid Read Series – a series of short books designed to grab and hold a reader’s interest from the beginning until the end. It does do that. I feel the length of the book would be wonderful to have to read in airports or waiting rooms – places where you need something that doesn’t take up a lot of room. I was lucky enough to win this book from the Early Reviewers program through LibraryThing in return for an honest review.

[lehack · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This 104 page mystery was a quick read. Claire is a reporter working for a very small town newspaper. Claire has visions of the future such as the local school being blown up by a bomb. She convinces the police to check, but nothing is found. She is convinced this tragedy will happen, but the police no longer believe her. The story is somewhat predictable, but you can feel satisfied that you figured it out. This is a great YA book.