A few weeks ago I was at a friend's place sat on her sofa and waiting for said friend to get ready so we could go out and have a few drinks for her birthday. On that day I'd brought a spare copy of 'Deadline' round as I've been trying to get said friend to read some SK. Whilst waiting, I started reading the book and when I got home later that night I continued reading it, except it was a different copy.
Andrea Devern is a well-paid, middle-class business woman who gets home one night to find the house is unusually quiet. And then she recieves a phone call which turns her world upside-down. Some kidnappers have taken her daughter and they want half a million pounds in cash or the daughter dies.
The reader is then presented with an extreme game of Cat & Mouse. Like all of SK's books, 'Deadline' is well-researched with characters you both like and dislike. This was a book I had trouble putting down, constantly finding myself reading until 4-5am, wanting to know what happens in the next chapter as, like with all Simon Kernick tales, this one is filled with cliffhangers at almost every chapter-end.
Another thing I liked about this book was that it had some of my favourite Kernick characters in it, notably Tina Boyd and Mike Bolt. Along with this it had a number of scenes in the City in areas that I knew or recognised. This meant that I could easily picture certain roads and areas. Failing that there was always Google Maps.
I wouldn't say this is SK's best book, but it comes pretty close. If you're a fan of fast-paced action and the London ciminal underworld 'Deadline' is well worth a read.
This one gets a tidy 4/5 from me.
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