Target [Import] [Mass Market Paperback]

Simon Kernick (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 7, 2009

In his new bestseller, superb plotting and great characters keep pace in a race-against-time thriller by Transworld’s brightest crime writing star.

Did someone try to kill me or am I going mad?

When writer Rob Fallon gets drunk one night and ends up joining his 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 reports the abduction to the police no one believes him. Jenny’s father claims she’s on holiday abroad, her apartment appears untouched, and the doorman didn’t see or hear anything.

But Rob knows what he saw and he can’t let things lie — not with Jenny’s life in danger. When he starts asking questions, he finds himself the target of faceless killers who’ll stop at nothing to get him out of the way.

What are they so desperate to hide? And what does it have to do with an ordinary girl like Jenny? Either he finds out or he’s dead — it’s that simple. And time’s already running out.


From the Hardcover edition.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"The pace is breakneck, the plot twists like a hooked eel... The sort of book that forces you to read so fast you stumble over the words." Evening Standard "Simon Kernick writes with his foot pressed hard on the pedal. Hang on tight!" Harlan Coben "Great plots, great characters, great action." Lee Child" --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

About the Author

Simon Kernick’s novel Relentless went to No. 3 on the Sunday Times bestsellers list and was the bestselling paperback thriller of 2007.


From the Hardcover edition.

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 464 pages
• Publisher: Corgi (December 7, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0552161012
• ISBN-13: 978-0552161015
• Product Dimensions: 4.2 x 1.2 x 7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.5 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,605,112 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Maintains a frenetic pace until the end, December 28, 2009

By 

Julia Flyte - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Target (Hardcover)

This is my third Simon Kernick thriller. If you want non-stop adrenalin-filled action, he's your man. His books take off at 500 miles an hour and don't let up. Target is no exception.

Rob Fallon goes home from a nightclub with a friend's ex-girlfriend (Jenny). They are interrupted by two armed men who break in and abduct Jenny. Rob manages to escape but when he goes to the police, he finds that there is no evidence that a crime was committed: her apartment appears untouched and her father claims she's away on holiday. Rob is in danger and desperate to get the police to believe him.

The essential structure of this book is very similar to his last Deadline but it's a better book. Kernick's books usually fall away at the end, but this one stays strong throughout, incorporating a stunning twist towards the end that is most unusual for this genre.

The book is what it is: if you want a fast-paced, undemanding escapist read, it's perfect.

However I felt that the action was unnecessarily fast and improbable: to the point that on at least two occasions I wondered if I was reading a dream sequence. The story is also let down by silly inconsistencies and improbabilities, from the minor (Rob loses his mobile phone but the next morning receives a phone call when he's out for a walk) to the more significant: Why would the ruthless villain not have killed Rob when he got the chance, rather than threatening him and letting him go? Jenny told Rob that she had been on a work trip the week before, but later it seemed that she was unemployed. Did she lie and if so, why?

While the book features the police officers who have made appearances in previous Kernick novels (Mike Bolt, his offsider Mo and Tina Boyd), their character development from book to book has been negligible.

I read this book on holiday and I enjoyed it very much, but its flaws anchor it in the 3 star territory for me.

1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Book That Changes Styles as the Story Goes Along!, September 5, 2009

By 

James N Simpson (Gold Coast, QLD Australia) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Target (Hardcover)

Simon Kernick is one of the few authors that can write in a number of different styles and still maintain a very high standard or storytelling no matter which style is being used. The novel starts off in Harlan Coben style (average everyday guy suddenly has life in danger by a sudden event, must flee and work out what is going on to survive type read) such as Kernick wrote with Relentless. In Target it's author Rob Fallon who runs into Jenny Brakspear, his former best friend's ex girlfriend in a bar, he goes back to her apartment to sleep with her but while using the toilet hears her being violently kidnapped.

Then we've got the David Morrell type style novel coming into the story(fast paced albeit a little unrealistic action thriller involving a well trained ex army guy), in Target this character isn't actually the hero, he's one of the villains, his name is Hook, he's ex IRA army, he enjoys killing and although Fallon escaped him during the abduction of the girl who was supposed to be alone, he plans on meeting up and killing him very soon.

Then we've got the ignore the rest of the department and stay on the case bend the rules to get the result police officer type character in Tina Boyd who thinks Fallon may well be telling the truth. Throw in from Kernick's Deadline, Mike Bolt an ex Flying Squad officer in charge of a unit of the Serious and Organised Crime Agency (SOCA) who Tina turns to off the record to help her find Jenny and we've got five great eyes to view the story unfolding and styles to jump back and forth and read. Throw in the fact the author is Simon Kernick, who isn't afraid to kill of main characters and we have seriously no idea what will happen next as we turn each page.

A great thriller, Kernick hits the target again!

0 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent stuff, September 7, 2009

By 

D Blewer (Essex) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Target (Hardcover)

I have read all of Kernick's books so far and they are just getting better and better