Description from Goodreads:
Featuring Simon Kernick's maverick detective, TINA BOYD, this is the gripping new race-against-time thriller by the best-selling author of Relentless, The Last 10 Seconds and Stay Alive.
"‘It’s night, and I’m in a strange house.
The lights are on, and and I’m standing outside a half-open door.
Feeling a terrible sense of forboding, I walk slowly inside.
And then I see her.
A woman lying sprawled across a huge double bed.
She’s dead. There’s blood everywhere.
And the most terrifying thing of all is that I think her killer might be me …’
A traumatic car-crash. A man with no memory, haunted by nightmares.
When the past comes calling in the most terrifying way imaginable, Matt Barron is forced to turn to the one person who can help.
Ex Met cop, turned private detective, Tina Boyd.
Soon they are both on the run .…."
****************************************
I must confess to being a huge Simon Kernick fan and his character, Tina Boyd, has to be one of my all time favourites so I was thrilled to receive a copy of this eBook from Netgalley and the publisher, Randomhouse UK Cornerstone, in return for an unbiased review and I wasn't disappointed. From the start right up to the finish, this was fast-paced, non-stop action which had me hooked from page 1.
The main character, Matt, struggles to remember anything about his life after having a car accident but realises that something is not quite right and goes from one hair-raising situation to another in his pursuit of deciphering who he is and what is real and how he reconciles what he is told, what he finds out about his past and how he sees himself in the present. The way the mystery of Matt's predicament develops and how we are drip fed information throughout makes this a book that is hard to stop reading because you want to know what’s going on as much as Matt does. His confusion and doubt about whether he is a good guy or not is transferred onto the reader and you start to wonder whether you should be backing him or not.
The other main character, Tina, starts off on what she thinks is a run-of-the-mill missing persons case but when she meets up with Matt, things quickly go sour and she is drawn into his nightmare. As I have already said, I love this character. She is feisty, brave, irresponsible at times but not afraid of following her gut instincts and going against the “establishment” to uncover the truth sometimes with dire outcomes … she’s not known as “The Black Widow” for nothing!
The supporting cast of characters are all equally interesting with Pen being a particular enigma and although she is a little cliché, with the provision of a back-story she becomes more of a real person. I think this is one of Simon Kernick’s strengths when writing, he provides just enough information about his characters to enable you to understand them and their motivations which give them authenticity and realism without it becoming boring or disrupting the flow of the story.
The book is written mainly from the perspectives of Matt and Tina but it also includes sections from other characters which provided differing points of view that further enhanced the story for me.
I have read the majority of Simon’s books and I can honestly say that I have not been disappointed by any of them and I will continue to be excited and chomping at the bit when the next one comes out. You don't necessarily have to have read previous novels that contain some of the recurring characters but I would recommend it as that knowledge certainly enhances the whole reading experience and you will enjoy the ride.
No comments:
Post a Comment