Wednesday, August 20, 2008
Severed by Simon Kernick.
You wake up in a strange room on a bed covered in blood. You have no idea how you got there. Beside you is a dead girl. Your girlfriend. The phone rings, and a voice tells you to press play on the room's DVD machine. The film shows you killing your girlfriend. Then you're told to go to an address in East London where you're to deliver a briefcase and await further instructions...
...The above is what I read on the back cover of this book in WH Smith. It sounds an awful situation to find yourself in, a nightmare that could happen to the best of us. What a shock it would be to find yourself in the same situation. That is a very chilling thought so I paid my £7 and brought this book home.
So what do you get for your £7? This novel is a thriller but not a standard thriller. This is a thriller on acid, I have never read a book with such a fast pace before. This book is written from the viewpoint of the lead character, a man called Tyler. This book is all action and what happens to Tyler in 48 hours is just amazing. Tyler is no ordinary guy, he is a butch ex-army soldier who now runs a successful BMW car dealership. He is God's gift to women and this guy is brash, cocky, flash, big headed and a typical BMW car owner. There are no limits to the talents of Tyler - rub, rub, rub - oh!!! SPLAT this man is wonderful in a masturbatory way, a real all action hero. I did not like the character of Tyler and I thought he was an arrogant fool, but then look at the average BMW car driver.
The pace of this novel is tremendous with fast action all the way. However this story lacks credibility. Yes, the detail and research are good but you cannot imagine these sequences of events happening in real life. These things simply would not happen. This book is childish fantasy, maybe okay for a 19 year old young man feeling his feet in the big world but not for a 49 year old coach driver. There is a quote on the inside back cover of this book, "The next time I see Simon Kernick's name on a book, I will pick it up. Brilliant! - Richard Madeley". Well Richard you have lost my respect straight away!
Well, I read the whole book, it was unbelievable but entertaining. There was nothing about this book that was outstanding and there was nothing to challenge the readers' attitudes. Nothing challenges the reader, it is just like watching a regular police drama on television. Simon has a tight structure to this book and everything fits in neatly in the end. There are many twists to the story and you have many doubts about all the characters. I will not be buying another of Simon's books and at the end of Severed is the first chapter of his next novel called Deadline. The inclusion of this first chapter is supposed to whet your appetite but for me it confirmed that Deadline will be more of the same. I like realism in books, not childish fantasy. I vote this book a MISS and to illustrate the unbelievable nature of this book I will finish this blog post by quoting from page 419 so that bloggers can judge for themselves...
...I pick up the desk phone and dial. He answers after three rings, his voice a slow yet breathless drawl, as if the very act of speaking is an effort.
'Yes.'
'I was given your name by Martin Lukersson.'
'I know no-one of that name. I think you've got the wrong number.'
'You're Dorriel Graham?'
'Sorry,' he says, not sounding it at all,'I don't know a Dorriel Graham either. Goodbye.'
'Please, listen. This is a quick job. It'll take you ten minutes and I'll pay you five hundred pounds.'
There's a pause.
'Lukersson should be more careful who he gives our my number to.'
'I need addresses for two people, and I need them urgently. Like now.'
'I don't like being woken up.'
'No-one does. But this is worth five hundred pounds.'
'Five hundred pounds isn't that much money,' he says, sounding bored.
'It's for ten minutes work,' I remind him, my voice hardening.
'Do you have a credit card?'
'Visa.'
...And the story continues in the same unbelievable fashion. Yeah, five hundred pounds is peanuts to our make believe super butch hero Tyler. Five hundred pounds for ten minutes work for a man he has never met or done business with before.
NEXT BOOK PLEASE!
You wake up in a strange room on a bed covered in blood. You have no idea how you got there. Beside you is a dead girl. Your girlfriend. The phone rings, and a voice tells you to press play on the room's DVD machine. The film shows you killing your girlfriend. Then you're told to go to an address in East London where you're to deliver a briefcase and await further instructions...
...The above is what I read on the back cover of this book in WH Smith. It sounds an awful situation to find yourself in, a nightmare that could happen to the best of us. What a shock it would be to find yourself in the same situation. That is a very chilling thought so I paid my £7 and brought this book home.
So what do you get for your £7? This novel is a thriller but not a standard thriller. This is a thriller on acid, I have never read a book with such a fast pace before. This book is written from the viewpoint of the lead character, a man called Tyler. This book is all action and what happens to Tyler in 48 hours is just amazing. Tyler is no ordinary guy, he is a butch ex-army soldier who now runs a successful BMW car dealership. He is God's gift to women and this guy is brash, cocky, flash, big headed and a typical BMW car owner. There are no limits to the talents of Tyler - rub, rub, rub - oh!!! SPLAT this man is wonderful in a masturbatory way, a real all action hero. I did not like the character of Tyler and I thought he was an arrogant fool, but then look at the average BMW car driver.
The pace of this novel is tremendous with fast action all the way. However this story lacks credibility. Yes, the detail and research are good but you cannot imagine these sequences of events happening in real life. These things simply would not happen. This book is childish fantasy, maybe okay for a 19 year old young man feeling his feet in the big world but not for a 49 year old coach driver. There is a quote on the inside back cover of this book, "The next time I see Simon Kernick's name on a book, I will pick it up. Brilliant! - Richard Madeley". Well Richard you have lost my respect straight away!
Well, I read the whole book, it was unbelievable but entertaining. There was nothing about this book that was outstanding and there was nothing to challenge the readers' attitudes. Nothing challenges the reader, it is just like watching a regular police drama on television. Simon has a tight structure to this book and everything fits in neatly in the end. There are many twists to the story and you have many doubts about all the characters. I will not be buying another of Simon's books and at the end of Severed is the first chapter of his next novel called Deadline. The inclusion of this first chapter is supposed to whet your appetite but for me it confirmed that Deadline will be more of the same. I like realism in books, not childish fantasy. I vote this book a MISS and to illustrate the unbelievable nature of this book I will finish this blog post by quoting from page 419 so that bloggers can judge for themselves...
...I pick up the desk phone and dial. He answers after three rings, his voice a slow yet breathless drawl, as if the very act of speaking is an effort.
'Yes.'
'I was given your name by Martin Lukersson.'
'I know no-one of that name. I think you've got the wrong number.'
'You're Dorriel Graham?'
'Sorry,' he says, not sounding it at all,'I don't know a Dorriel Graham either. Goodbye.'
'Please, listen. This is a quick job. It'll take you ten minutes and I'll pay you five hundred pounds.'
There's a pause.
'Lukersson should be more careful who he gives our my number to.'
'I need addresses for two people, and I need them urgently. Like now.'
'I don't like being woken up.'
'No-one does. But this is worth five hundred pounds.'
'Five hundred pounds isn't that much money,' he says, sounding bored.
'It's for ten minutes work,' I remind him, my voice hardening.
'Do you have a credit card?'
'Visa.'
...And the story continues in the same unbelievable fashion. Yeah, five hundred pounds is peanuts to our make believe super butch hero Tyler. Five hundred pounds for ten minutes work for a man he has never met or done business with before.
NEXT BOOK PLEASE!
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