Relentless

Review Summary: Relentless - it certainly is

Review:

I simply could not put this book down. I'm sure my heart rate has increased dramatically. Also read The Business of Dying but this is better. Still like the descriptive writing of Peter Robinson better though.Will most probably buy all Simon Kernick books now as well.

Review Summary: Lots of fun - one of the most enjoyable reads for ages.

Review:

I've read a lot of thrillers recently and was coming to the conclusion that I was too critical and demanding (I felt I had to give "Bad Men" and "The Mozart Conspiracy" poor reviews very recently, which I did reluctantly). This book, however, has restored my faith in the genre.
It is slightly tongue in cheek, but the pace is relentless, as the title suggests, and was a book I really did not want to put down. It is an easy read, with lots of fast paced action, but never too far fetched or unbelievable. As a vote of confidence I will be buying other books by Kernick. I would certainly recommend it to anyone.

Review Summary: lacks substance

Review:

In the hands of another author (Ian Rankin sprang to mind) this decent idea could, with a bit more development, been made into a good book. In the hands of Kernick however it's an opportunity wasted.

The problems are many, firstly the characters - the main protagonist (Tom) lost all sympathy by his illogical, unbelievable and rather strange actions throughout the book (why not call the police after the first phone call? why run from the police station? why lie to anyone who tries to help?) personally I couldnt help but feel he deserved what happened to him, he certainly could have done more to help himself.

It's virtually impossible to have sympathy with his wife (young kids, recently married yet lies to her husband, has affairs with her husbands best man and her own lesbian colleague, gets people killed with her irresponsible behaviour) - and Tom wants her back?!?

The main villain (Lench....wasn't he one of the Bash Street Kids?) is a real missed opportunity - hired killer, Bosnian war veteran wanted for war crimes - he has the potential to be a genuinely terrifying bad guy - but is left sadly under developed (any why is his background only revealed at the end of the book, when he's dead? it would have been better to develop Lench with this info throughout the book - it would have added some (much needed) extra tension.

There is also a hugely underdeveloped back plot (they super rich business man who has hired Lench) which could have added a lot to the book but this is only mentioned a few times and there is no effort to develop it or bring it into the main story.

As for the end of the book, it left me strangely flat and uninterested, it's almost like the author has lost interest. The final fight scene is amateurish and almost completely without tension or surprise and the 'surprise' ending just left me feeling 'so what?'

The story could have been good but I couldn't help feeling that Kernick approached it from the wrong angle and left it underdeveloped - maybe he wasnt confident enough to beef out the story?

I think it would have been far better if the Bosnian angle and the super rich business man story lines had been more to the fore and the 'one man wronged' angle had been pushed slightly back.

Kernicks writing style doesnt endear either, it's rather basic and uninvolving - having said that this is an easy read and It did pass the time on a couple of days bus journeys to work, hence the 2 stars.

I will not be digging out any more books by the author however.

Review Summary: Good book, apart from the poor ending

Review:

This book has its faults but is a gripping read throughout. The title "relentless" sums up the pace of the book - there are no lulls or pages of waffle to get the page-count up that spoil so many books these days. The pace means that the holes in the plot go largely unnoticed; it's only on reading some of the negative reviews on here that I have spotted them, so your enjoyment probably depends largely on whether you get caught up in the story early on.

The let-down for me was the ending. The whole premise of this book, and its big mystery, as described on the back cover, is that the central character receives a phone call from an old friend who is apparently being tortured, which sets of the whole string of events that make up the story. We never find out why that call was made and why his friend implicated the central character in his problems. Quite frustrating when a book doesn't solve its biggest mystery at the end.

I also notice that one of Simon Kernick's earlier books - The Crime Trade - centres on two characters who feature in Relentless. It just makes me wonder if Relentless is the sequel to that book, and if it is better to read Crime Trade first. This is not obvious from the publisher's notes on these books.

Review Summary: Lacks substance

Review:

In the hands of another author (Ian Rankin sprang to mind) this decent idea could, with a bit more development, been made into a good book. In the hands of Kernick however it's an opportunity wasted.

The problems are many, firstly the characters - the main protagonist (Tom) lost all sympathy by his illogical, unbelievable and rather strange actions throughout the book (why not call the police after the first phone call? why run from the police station? why lie to anyone who tries to help?) personally I couldnt help but feel he deserved what happened to him, he certainly could have done more to help himself.

It's virtually impossible to have sympathy with his wife (young kids, recently married yet lies to her husband, has affairs with her husbands best man and her own lesbian colleague, gets people killed with her irresponsible behaviour) - and Tom wants her back?!?

The main villain (Lench....wasn't he one of the Bash Street Kids?) is a real missed opportunity - hired killer, Bosnian war veteran wanted for war crimes - he has the potential to be a genuinely terrifying bad guy - but is left sadly under developed (any why is his background only revealed at the end of the book, when he's dead? it would have been better to develop Lench with this info throughout the book - it would have added some (much needed) extra tension.

There is also a hugely underdeveloped back plot (they super rich business man who has hired Lench) which could have added a lot to the book but this is only mentioned a few times and there is no effort to develop it or bring it into the main story.

As for the end of the book, it left me strangely flat and uninterested, it's almost like the author has lost interest. The final fight scene is amateurish and almost completely without tension or surprise and the 'surprise' ending just left me feeling 'so what?'

The story could have been good but I couldn't help feeling that Kernick approached it from the wrong angle and left it underdeveloped - maybe he wasnt confident enough to beef out the story?

I think it would have been far better if the Bosnian angle and the super rich business man story lines had been more to the fore and the 'one man wronged' angle had been pushed slightly back.

Kernicks writing style doesnt endear either, it's rather basic and uninvolving - having said that this is an easy read and It did pass the time on a couple of days bus journeys to work, hence the 2 stars.

I will not be digging out any more books by the author however.