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Severed | 
| Author: Simon Kernick
Publisher: Corgi Books
Category: Book
List Price: £6.99
Buy New: £3.87
You Save: £3.12 (45%)
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Avg. Customer Rating:  46 reviews
Sales Rank: 2871
Media: Mass Market Paperback
Pages: 352
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.7
Dimensions (in): 7 x 4.2 x 1.6
ISBN: 0552153133
EAN: 9780552153133
ASIN: 0552153133
Publication Date: January 14, 2008
Shipping: Eligible for Super Saver Shipping
Availability: Usually dispatched within 24 hours
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| Customer Reviews: Read 41 more reviews...
I enjoyed it...........although I'm not sure I should of November 6, 2008
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
Well so much for saying I wasnt going to read any more of Kernicks books!
After reading Relentless (by the same author) and not really thinking it was up to much I was short of something to read, my wife had read this and I thought I would give it a go. And you know what? Despite myself, I enjoyed it.......
It's a big, dumb, stupid, nonsensical, poorly written 'schlock' thriller and all the better for it, it doesnt have any delusions of literature and doesnt pretend to be anything its not - as long as you read it with your brain firmly in neutral and dont expect to much of it you'll have an enjoyable enough couple of days.
There are problems however, firstly the story is ridiculous (as in Relentless), the characters are not easy to sympathise with (as in Relentless), the choices made by the main character are nonsensical (yep....as they were in Relentless), the story is predictable (Relentless...yawn) and the ending is rushed and unsatisfactory (as is the end of............you know the rest) - I see a theme developing with Mr Kernicks books.............but you know what? I enjoyed it.
As I said earlier, if you want a really easy read that wont tax your brain and is enjoyable in a stupid, guilty way - this should fit the bill nicely.
Will I be reading any more by Kernick?
Well, probably not, but wheras before I said I definitely wouldnt - now I probably wont - but if the wife has one lying around? you never know
Severed - Contains a possible spoiler! September 17, 2008
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
Great if you're in the mood for an easy-to-read, fast-paced novel for a flight or train journey. But don't expect a flawless plot and in-depth characters.
SPOILER - Is it me, or was the protagonist only a BMW dealer so he could have easy access to a car at the end of the novel? I swear there was no other reason.
 Spectacularly Predictable July 13, 2008
3 out of 9 found this review helpful
At the start of this book, Tyler, the central character, wakes up in a house he doesn't recognise. He's clearly been drugged, and when he rolls over to get his bearings, he finds the badly mutilated remains of his girlfriend next to him.
Soon after, he gets a phone call that tells him that if he doesn't do certain things, the police will be called and evidence will be presented to them that suggests that he was involved in the mutilation.
He follows the instructions, but because he clearly can't trust who put him in this position, he goes after those who he believes were really involved in the death for the remainder of the book.
You might think that all this might sound rather enjoyable, if a little disgusting (and the way I've described it, it might sound a bit like a "boys own adventure" for adults). Trust me when I say that it's too predictable to be enjoyable.
After I'd read Chapter 1, I pretty much guessed what was going to happen. The pre-cognition I had wasn't helped by the fact that Kernick seems to have borrowed plot themes from his own books to help bloster his own story. Almost as soon as I read certain things, I just knew how they might be related to what he wrote in Relentless, the other Kernick book I'd read.
Now you might think I have a knack for guessing the endings of books. I don't. Anyone with half a brain will guess what's going to happen in this book. Anyone who has read anything that's remotely similar to this book would guess what's going on in this book too. Everything he writes in this book is that well telegraphed. Trust me on that.
In short, don't read this book. Have a good look for a book with a similar plot and read that book instead. It's almost bound to be better written.
Great, if you like that sort of thing! July 6, 2008
0 out of 4 found this review helpful
This story is fast paced & action packed from the start. Unfortunately for me, I need a story to be believable, and regularly this story is neither believable or feasible. I am an avid reader of crime fiction of the type offered by John Harvey, Peter James & Peter Robinson, for me this book was not in their league, but then it belongs more in the genre' of Frederick Forsythe. I was intrigued & lured in by the synopsis on the back of the book, and at times found it an engrossing page turner, but the spell was often broken by an element of the story being ridiculous. Kernick also fails to give his characters any depth and as a result I didn't find myself particularly rooting for our hero or hating the baddies!
Pot Noodles July 1, 2008
1 out of 5 found this review helpful
I almost didn't read this because there were so many negative reviews. However, if you accept the book as fast action, violent, definitely gripping, and the book equivalent of 'junk food' then I don't see the problem. Quickly consumed and enjoyed (with guilt?!), then quickly forgotten. This isn't meant to be literary; it's a pot noodle of a thriller and doesn't try and be anything else. I enjoyed the quick 'junk food' fix (though if you don't like violence then give it a miss - but it's unlikely you'd read a book called 'Severed' if you were squeamish!).
I also enjoyed another of Simon Kernick's pot noodle books: 'Relentless'.
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