Hi everyone,

Today I have a book review for you. This was an ARC read from NetGalley and publishes on the 11th of June.

About the Book:

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…

My Review:

Thanks to NetGalley and Random House for this Advanced Review Copy.

I’d never heard of Simon Mayo except as a British DJ before, so I had no preconceptions about this book. The cover and the description both intrigued me, so I requested a copy.

The storyline started out strong but soon fizzled, and by the middle it sagged a lot. I pushed through and kept going, and the last 20% picked up to a rip-roaring pace, which I enjoyed greatly. However, the ending was left quite open and dangling with many questions unresolved. I found the writing passive in the extreme and the book needs a solid edit. The narrative is full of telling rather than showing and every character has to know or feel or see or hear, instead of simply experiencing. This puts a block between the reader and the immediate action and spoils the pacing.

I found that I didn’t really connect with any of the characters, and not enough to care about them one way or the other.

Not a bad read, and on the whole set at a good pace. Though this one doesn’t make it onto my ‘re-read’ shelf, I would probably consider other books by this writer in the future.

I give this book 2.5 stars, as it sits somewhere between ‘It was good!’ and ‘I may have liked a few things’ (see my note on ratings below). I round this up to 3 stars for rating purposes.

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NOTE ON RATINGS: I consider a 3-star rating a positive review. Picky about which books I give 5 stars to, I reserve this highest rating for the stories I find stunning and which moved me.

5 STARS: IT WAS AMAZING! I COULD NOT PUT IT DOWN! — Highly Recommended.

4 STARS: I WOULD PULL AN ALL-NIGHTER — Go read this book.

3 STARS: IT WAS GOOD! — An okay read. Didn’t love it. Didn’t hate it.

2 STARS: I MAY HAVE LIKED A FEW THINGS —Lacking in some areas: writing, characterisation, and/or problematic plot lines.

1 STAR: NOT MY CUP OF TEA —Lots of issues with this book.

© Harmony Kent 2020