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Showing posts with label #SimonMayo. Show all posts
Showing posts with label #SimonMayo. Show all posts

Sunday, 21 August 2022

Tick Tock by Simon Mayo

 


Description from Goodreads:

"It starts quietly enough. A tick tick ticking you can hear in your ear. Tinnitus, you think. It will pass. But it doesn't. It gets worse - and then you pass it on.

Before you know it, it spreads. Elsewhere across the globe, it emerges, small outbreaks at first, contained groups of people, young and old, and suddenly it's a plague - and ten days later it's killing people. The hospitals are overflowing and there is no cure. There is a paranoid panic which sets friend against friend, neighbour against neighbour. Where does the world go from here?

In the north London school where it is first discovered, head of English, Kit Chaplin is struggling to understand what he is witnessing. Even eminent bacteriologist and his partner Lilly Slater can't help him. But as the virus rips through the school and into the outside world, the world starts to take notice. Kit is more concerned about his students - and his young daughter, Rose - but little by little he gets sucked into where this mystery illness might have come from. And how it's going to threaten his world."

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I have read one of Mr Mayo's previous outings, Knife Edge, before and although I thought the middle was a bit of a miss for me, the start and end were great so it didn't put me off reading more of his work and I'm pleased it didn't, as I enjoyed this one.

Having survived the Covid pandemic and things are returning to 'normal', another illness strikes that could prove just as deadly.   Kit, his daughter Rose and partner Lilly find themselves right in the centre as the new pandemic emerges and starts to spread.

There is a very strong sense of tension from the start which grows as Kit and Rose try to evade what you feel is inevitable infection whilst Lilly uncovers a possible family connection and secret Government research and dubious testing practices.

The characters are strong and are believable, the plot is current (maybe a little too current!) and the pacing is good.  There is quite a bit of scientific speak which I felt was a bit too much and, I think, wasn't particularly necessary or added to the story that much.

Overall, a decent thriller which kept me engaged and my thanks to Random House UK, Transworld Publishers and NetGalley for enabling me to read Tick Tock and share my views.

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Other books by Simon Mayo I have read and reviewed:


Saturday, 29 August 2020

Knife Edge by Simon Mayo

 



Description from Goodreads:

"You never know where danger may come from...

6.45am. A sweltering London rush hour. And in the last 27 minutes, seven people have been murdered.

In a series of coordinated attacks, seven men and women across London have been targeted. For journalist Famie Madden, the horror unfolds as she arrives for the morning shift.

The victims have one thing in common: they make up the investigations team at the news agency where Famie works. The question everyone’s asking: what were they working on that could prompt such brutal devastation?

As Famie starts to receive mysterious messages, she must find out whether she is being warned of the next attack, or being told that she will be the next victim..."


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I was really looking forward to reading this having been a fan of Simon Mayo for many years in his other guise as a radio DJ so was quite disappointed that it didn't really do it for me.

The start was brilliant and had me hooked but it just went a bit "bleh" for me in the middle and although the ending was as good as the start, it just didn't make up for the middle because by that time I had lost a lot of interest and just carried on reading because I hate not finishing books.  The characters were interesting but not particularly memorable enough to connect with me so I didn't really care what happened to them either way.  The themes and plot of this book are up to date and you can certainly see them playing out in the real world unfortunately but it felt a little over complicated at times.

As usual, I am likely to be in the minority on this one as there have been many 4 and 5 star reviews given; maybe I was having a bad week! so I suggest you give a go for yourself.  I have to say that this won't put me off reading Simon's books in the future purely based on the start and end of this particular book.

Thank you to Random House UK, Transworld Publishers via NetGalley for my copy in return for an unbiased review.


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