Stay Alive

Stay Alive starts off when Amanda Rowan arrives home earlier than expected to discover her husband and his mistress have been murdered in her bed. She hears noise and realizes the killer is still there which sets off a thrilling chase out the window and through the woods. She barely escapes from a man the police think is a serial killer known as The Disciple. The Disciple chooses isolated homes like Amanda’s, where he tortures his victims before using their blood to smear Satanic symbols on the walls. Amanda is the only person to ever have seen him so the police decide to move her to an isolated safe house in Scotland while DCS Mike Bolt does his best to catch the elusive killer.

It turns out the safe house isn’t safe at all and show more Amanda finds herself on the run again, pursued by gunmen who seem to want to take her alive, while ruthlessly killing anyone who gets in their way. When Amanda crashes into the middle of a family canoe trip, Jess Grainger and her family do their best to help, but they’re no match for the killers who are after Amanda.

Stay Alive is a heart thumping page turner that I just couldn't put down. Every time I thought we were slowing down, Simon Kernick would ramp up the action again with a set of brilliant twists and turns. This was my second Simon Kernick thriller and I'm picking up more of his books. If you haven't given him a try I highly recommend Stay Alive. show less

The Thirty Nine Steps meets Deliverance [but without the male rape or battling banjos] in a flat-out race through the Scottish Highlands as a group of cold-hearted killers chase their victims, with the police in hot pursuit.

When Amanda Rowan returned home to find her husband and his mistress tortured to death, she disturbed the killer who gave chase with the intent of murdering her too. She escaped but, fearing another attempt, goes into hiding in the remote Highlands.

Alas for Amanda – she is discovered and this time a lethal posse is after her, killing everyone who gets in their way. Along with two sisters she found canoeing through the forest, and with recurring characters DCI Mike Bolt, DS Mo Khan, and Glenn Scopeland on the side show more of the angels, Amanda needs all her energy survive.

Kernick was once an excellent and exciting writer but Stay Alive, like most of the books he’s written recently, is a clichéd potboiler, graphically violent, populated by unlikely coincidences and cardboard characters - yet, despite everything, compellingly readable show less

From Fantastic Fiction:

t's a sunny afternoon, and you're deep in the country on a river trip with your family. You're nearing journey's end when a shot rings out - and your whole life changes in an instant. A woman is coming towards you, chased by three gunmen.

It's clear she's in terrible danger. And now you are too. Because although you don't know it, she harbors a deadly secret. Night falls. You're running, terrified, desperate to find safety. All you know is that the men hunting you have killed before.

My Thoughts:

I read this in day and a half. The pages just spun by as you get caught in the pace of it all. If you liked this, might I suggest you have a look at the film, A Lonely Place to Die which had a similar theme and the same show more sort of pace.

The characters work and there enough twists and turns that you are left guessing until the very end. The only bit for me that stretched credibility too far was maybe "the old man in the cottage", but I was enjoying myself too much to really care! 5 stars and I will diffidently read more of this author. show less

Fast paced action thriller with action split between southern England and Scotland. DCS Mike Bolt is working a challenging brutal serial killer case, when for the first time a potential victim escapes, Amanda Rowan. Lots of violence follows when she is targetted by ruthless gangsters at her hideaway in Scotland and a frantic cat and mouse chase develops. Keeps you turning the pages and not questioning the reality too closely, such is the fast pace.

This is an excellent book which gets your attention from the beginning and you just want to read on and on and on. There are plenty of twists and surprises throughout the book. If you like thrillers this is just the book for you. I have now read three books by Simon Kernick in recent months and really enjoyed them all. If you like Harlan Coben's standalone books I think you will enjoy Simon Kernick's books.

An absolutely fantastic book which kept me spellbound and on the edge of my seat from the first page to the last. A great twist in the plot occurs in the very last chapter. It centred around a serial killer nicknamed the disciple and a copycat murder that actually had been carried out by the wife and her lover of the murdered husband and his lover. Lots of excitement follows a chase between the father of the woman who was murdered and paid killers which also included a family of four innocent bystanders. Fast pace action from start to finish.