Severed
by Simon Kernick

Release Date: 14th Jan 2008
Publisher: Random House
ISBN: 978 0 552 15313 3
RRP: £6.99

A man wakes up in bed with a thumping headache – nothing unusual about that, except he doesn’t remember being about town the night before. What is unusual is that his lover’s headless and bloody corpse is lying sprawled in the bed with him – he doesn’t remember beheading his girlfriend either. What a deliciously electrifying start to the new thriller by the acclaimed author of Relentless. But is it possible to keep up this bombardment of shocking events and imagery? Kernick tries... he really does.

Instead of panicking as any normal person would, Tyler absorbs his surroundings and the mutilated body of Leah (his now ex-girlfriend) and finds a DVD with his name on it – in every sense of the words. He watches himself apparently kill her – and then the phone rings...

A man wants a briefcase and he wants Tyler to get it for him. In return all the “evidence” against him will be at Tyler’s disposal – including the murder weapon with his prints on it. Sounds like a good deal to me. But there is more to this than the mysterious man lets on and Tyler finds himself caught up in human trafficking gangs, a hit man known as the “Vampire” and information that could bring about the downfall of some seriously important people.

Tyler, as it turns out, is ex-military (of course). With all the social skills of an aardvark it’s a good job he got training in firearms, how to stealthy enter guarded buildings and miraculously escape every conceivable trap and near-death situation possible in his war-path towards an unknown assailant who has clearly set him up. Severed is almost James Bond-esque in the tight squeezes and nonchalant attitude towards being shot, sliced and diced or tortured – when you’ve got your man in your sights just shoot him for god’s sake! None of the surreal escapes or random poor shots get in the way of this out of control train wreck of a ride though... it is nonstop action, with some amazing fighting scenes so well depicted that you imagine yourself in the room looking in awe around you at the carnage. And there is lots of carnage too.

Severed has some neat little twists and agonising suspense, which make this pure entertainment. This is the kind of book you take to the poolside and get sunburnt to.

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