Past imperfect

David Hewson is perhaps best known for his popular Nic Costa series, an entertaining series of crime novels set in Rome. Hewson has also written a number of other, stand-alone crime novels and The Promised Land is his latest offering. This is a fast-paced story and Hewson does not give his characters, or the reader, time to ease into the story or take a break from the action.

Bierce, once a policeman leading a seemingly normal life, is on death row for the brutal murder of his wife and son. Twenty-three years after his conviction, and despite his protestations of innocence and amnesia, he is about to die. Then, inexplicably, he is released literally seconds before his execution.

From here onwards, the story unravels at a dizzying pace. Bierce has no time to rest or even think about what has happened. He is suddenly plunged into a world that, to him, is entirely new. This emphasis on a completely changed world is perhaps the least attractive feature of an otherwise good novel. Twenty-three years is a long time, but sometimes Bierce's fascination with what is new borders on the maddeningly naïve. Admittedly, iPods were not present in 1983, but the 1980s were the age of the walkman, so the concept of portable music, for example, is not such a staggering one. Bierce's childlike fascination with iPods, however, is often tiresome.

Fortunately, our hero has some help in the technology department and he is not left to face this confusing world alone. Out of nowhere he meets Alice Loong, a feisty, half-Chinese woman who joins him on this adventure. Thankfully, she is technologically savvy and is quite good at getting Bierce to shut up, listen and learn. Neither Bierce nor the reader can ever really be sure if Alice is to be trusted. Her involvement with the story is very mysterious, and Hewson slowly unravels the links between these two very different lives. Meantime, Bierce quickly realises he cannot rely on anybody from his old life. Old friends are suddenly enemies, with one notable exception, and loyalties are as unsure and ever-changing as the world he now lives in.

With Alice's help, Bierce slowly starts to piece the events of the fateful night. In the process, he realises that his former life as a happily married policeman was an illusion. He soon understands that he has to remember what happened that night, and fast. Mysterious enemies are convinced that he knows more than he will admit to, and their pursuit is relentless. Bierce's introduction to the modern world is indeed a baptism by fire.

The vulnerability of the main character is very engaging and the reader cannot help but empathise with this very lost man. Twenty-three long years on death row were clearly not punishment enough. Bierce soon finds out that the new world is not the only world which has changed - his old, familiar world was far more dark and deceptive than he ever imagined.

Alice is perhaps one of the more intriguing characters in the novel. Her practical disposition is essential - without her Bierce would have probably perished by page 25. Yet as intriguing as her story is, Hewson never fully develops her character. We learn about Alice's story, but not much about Alice herself.

The Promised Land is fairly new territory for Hewson, not because it is his first stand-alone novel (it is not), but because it is the first time he experiments with writing in the first person. Bierce's mind is confused and murky at the best of times, and the reader is sometimes unsure whether the character is in the present or in another realm entirely. The slight hint of supernatural is, perhaps, the ingredient that gives this story a bit more spice.

• Ms Vella Gregory is an archaeologist and devoted foodie. When she is not busy with ancient artefacts, she can be found cooking and enjoying good food and entertaining friends.

• A review copy of this title was supplied by Agenda Bookshop.