Simon Kernick
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Simon Kernick (born 1966 in Slough, Berkshire) is a British thriller/crime writer now living in Oxfordshire with his wife and two daughters.[1] Whilst he was a student his jobs included fruitpicker and Christmas-tree uprooter. He graduated from Brighton Polytechnic in 1991 with a degree in humanities.[2]. Kernick had a passion for crime fiction writing from a young age and produced many short stories during his time at polytechnic. After graduating Kernick joined MMT Computing in London in early 1992, where a relative was the Chairman and Managing Director. Kernick was a key member of the sales team and was very highly regarded. However, he left the company after 4 years in the hope of trying to secure a publishing deal. Despite interest from a number of publishers Kernick was unable to secure a deal, so he joined the sales force of the specialist IT and Business Consultancy Metaskil plc in Aldermaston, Berkshire in 1998 where he remained until he secured his first book deal (The Business of Dying) in September 2001. His novel Relentless was recommended on Richard & Judy's Summer book club 2007[3]. It was the 8th best-selling paperback, and the best-selling thriller in the UK in the same year[4].
Contents |
[edit] Bibliography
- The Business of Dying (2002) — (Bantam, ISBN 0-593-04978-0)
- The Murder Exchange (2003) — (Bantam, ISBN 0-593-04979-9)
- The Crime Trade (2004) — (Bantam, ISBN 0-593-05135-1)
- A Good Day To Die (2005) — (Bantam, ISBN 0-593-05146-7)
- Relentless (2006) — (Bantam, ISBN 0-593-05471-7)
- Severed (2007) — (Bantam, ISBN 0-593-05473-3)
- Deadline (July 2008)
- Target (June 2009)
- The Last 10 Seconds (Coming 21 January 2010)
- Executioner (Coming January 2011)
[edit] Main characters
Dennis Milne
Dennis Milne was a policeman and also an assassin who only likes to punish the bad guys. He has appearred in two of Simon Kernick's books, The Business of Dying and A Good Day to Die, (but he does get talked about in The Murder Exchange) and is set to be in another book (Executioner) to be released in January 2011. It will be set in between The Business of Dying and A Good Day to Die.
Mike Bolt
Mike Bolt has appeared in four of Simon Kernick's books (Relentless,Severed,Deadline and Target) although he only makes a small of a few chapters in Severed. In the stories we find he was once married, but his wife died in a car crash when he was driving and gave him a scar on his chin. He works closely with a friend called Mo Khan who has appeared beside him in the four books he has been in and works with Tina Boyd in deadline and target.
Tina Boyd
Tina Boyd "aka" The Black Widow, appears in six of Simon's books all apart from The Business of dying and Severed and only in one chapter in A Good Day to Die, and most with Mike Bolt. She got her nickname in Relentless where we find that she was going out with her lover John Gallan (who got killed by someone hired by Paul Wise).
John Gallan
John Gallan has appeared in three of Simon's books, in A Good Day to Die he only appears for one chapter, and is the last time we see him before he gets killed. John replaced Dennis Milne after what happened in "The Business of Dying". But he died in between the end of "A Good Day to Die" and "Relentless". We find out in "Target" that he got killed by Paul Wise.
Paul Wise
Paul Wise is a rich paedophile, in Simon Kernick's books, who has managed to slip the law for years. He first gets mentioned in A Good Day to Die just as Wise but Dennis Milne is told he is dead. But in Relentless, the book after A Good Day to Die, we find that he is actually still alive. We don't hear of Paul Wise in the next two books Severed (because Tina and Mike don't make an appearance in it) and Deadline (because it has nothing to do with Paul Wise anyway). We hear about Paul Wise in Target and that he set the kidnap and terrorist attack up. But there is no hard evidence and he still is free.
[edit] Blurbs
- The Business of Dying
Dennis Milne is no normal cop, he is also an assassin. But on his latest killing he has been set up he has killed two customs officers and an accountant. Now his friends and enemies are out to get him and he must use all his skills just to stay alive.
- The Murder Exchange
Five grand for a couple of hours work? It seems easy money, but the deal ex-mercenary Max Iversson is chasing has gone disastrously wrong, Two of his friends are dead. And now he wants to find out who's behind their killings. DS John Gallon is also looking for answer and when the leads are scarce and, when they do turn up so do bodies. As Iversson struggles to stay alive, Gallon keeps on digging, what neither man knows is that are heading devastating confrontation with one of them staring at the wrong end of a gun.
- The Crime Trade
When operation surgical strike goes horribly wrong, one of the officers is under suspicion: Stegs Jenner. Now he has decided to go it alone. DI John Gallan and DS Tina Boyd are also apart of the investigation. but what they don't know is that their enquiries will take them into the heart of one of London's most notorious criminal gangs.
- A Good Day to Die
Ex-cop Dennis Milne is intent on revenge. His best friend has been brutally executed, and Milne wants to know who did it - and why. But London is a dangerous place, especially for a man on his own. And although his former colleagues don't know Milne's in town, it soon becomes clear there are people who do. And that they'll stop at nothing to get him out of the way. From the beaches of the philippines to the mean streets of London, a hunt for justice becomes a terrifying battle for survival.
- Relentless
When Tom Meron gets a call at 3 o'clock on a normal Saturday afternoon, it changes his life forever. It's his best friend from school, someone he hasn't seen in a long time, but on the phone he is breath less and in much pain. He then cries out six word that changes Tom's life forever... the first two lines of his address.
- Severed
Tyler wakes up in a strange room on a bed covered in blood. He has no idea how he got there, beside him is a dead girl. His girlfriend. He then gets told to press play on the DVD player. The film shows him killing his girlfriend. He is then told to go to an address with a briefcase and await further instructions. If he is to survive the next 24 hours, he must find out who really killed his girlfriend, and why. Before they come for him...
- Deadline (July 2008)
Andrea Devern gets home late from work and the house is in darkness. She steps in side and the phone rings she answers it to find that her fourteen year old daughter has been taken and her kidnappers want half a million pounds in cash. They give her 48 hours to get the money and if she calls the police she will die. Andrea then realizes that her husband is also missing. Is he behind it all or is he a victim to all this. Andrea most find out before time runs out.
- Target
Did someone try to kill me or am I going mad? when writer Rob Fallan gets drunk one night and ends up joining his best friend's girlfriend, Jenny, back at her apartment in London's west end, he's feeling guilty before anything's even happened. But guilt quickly turns to shock when two men break into the apartment, abduct jenny, and try to kill Rob. somehow he manages to escape, but when he reportsthe abduction to the police no one believes him. Rob knows what he witnessed and he can't let thingslie - not with Jenny's life in danger. But when he starts asking questions, he finds himself the target of killers. But what is it they're so desperate to hide? Either Rob finds out, or he's dead. it's that simple...
[edit] Future Releases
- The Last 10 Seconds
When ex-police officer John Cone is found lying wounded in a room full of dead bodies, he has a terrifying story to tell. Three days earlier he was hired by a mysterious client to snatch a suspected serial killer, Andrew Kent (aka the Penthouse Predator) from custody while he's being transferred between prisons. But having seized Kent, things immediately go badly wrong. People start dying, Kent goes missing, and Cone begins to realize that the case against Kent may not be so cut and dried as he was led to believe. Someone else who shares that suspicion is newly promoted, DI Tina Boyd. She was one of the Murder Squad team who'd arrested and charged Kent several months earlier. A few hours before he was snatched, Kent had called Tina claiming he had highly important information about a murder, but refusing to divulge what it was on the phone. And now he's gone, and Tina has to find him. And find him fast, because it's clear some very high-powered people want to silence him. The question both Tina and John Cone are asking themselves as they race towards a terrifying confrontation, is why...
- Executioner
The third and (perhaps) final in the Dennis Milne series, it is a sequel to The Business of Dying and a prequal to A Good Day to Die
