Product Description

One hot date. When writer Rob Fallon goes out one night and ends up with his best-friend's girlfriend, Jenny, he's feeling guilty before anything's even happened. One brutal abduction. But guilt quickly turns to shock when two men break into Jenny's apartment, abduct her, and try to kill Rob. But when Rob reports this to the police, no one believes him. And when he speaks to Jenny's father, he says she's on holiday abroad. One hell of a morning after. Rob knows Jenny's life's in danger and starts asking questions. Soon he finds that he's the target of killers who have something big to hide. But what is it? And what does it have to do with an ordinary girl like Jenny? Either Rob finds out or he's dead. It's that simple...

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1374 in Books
• Published on: 2009-11-05
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 496 pages

Amazon.co.uk Review
Simon Kernick has been giving the British thriller a thorough wash-and-rinse, making it clear that American writers don’t have a monopoly on uncompromising, stripped-to-the-bone crime narratives. And Target, Kernick’ latest contribution to the field, matches its predecessors in remorseless energy.

The Business of Dying, the first in his bestselling sequence of London-based novels, was crammed full of fresh and original touches in a tale dealing with a rogue policeman making short work of drug-dealing heavies. The six books by Kernick since then have maintained the momentum, and Target shows no sign of letting up.

Writer Rob Fallon, considerably the worse for wear, ill-advisedly visits the flat of Jenny, the girlfriend of his best friend. But before the guilt he’s feeling can really take hold, two men smash their way into the apartment, try to kill Rob and abduct the terrified Jenny. But when Rob attempts to report these events to the police, he finds himself in a markedly Hitchcockian situation; he is disbelieved on all sides. The doorman saw nothing, the apartment is undamaged, and Jenny’s father blithely claims she is vacationing in another country. Rob, however, won’t let things be, and begins investigations of his own; what is the nature of the cover-up? And will Rob find out the truth before the two men who tried to kill him finish the job?

This a different kind of thriller from those we now expect from Simon Kernick: more streamlined, slicker (in the best sense of that word) and with a machine-tooled narrative brio that will make it difficult for any reader to put down after the first chapter. Kernick’s upwards trajectory continues. --Barry Forshaw

About the Author
Simon Kernick is one of Britain's most exciting new thriller writers. He arrived on the crime writing scene with his highly acclaimed debut novel The Business of Dying, the story of a corrupt cop moonlighting as a hitman. However, Simon's big breakthrough came with his novel Relentless which was selected by Richard and Judy for their Recommended Summer Reads promotion, and then rapidly went on to become the bestselling thriller of 2007. He lives near London, and is currently working on his new novel.

Customer Reviews

Sustains a frenetic pace til the end
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.

Kernick just get's better and better!
What a roller-coaster ride of a book! As usual Kernick hits the spot when it comes to creating a real page turner that you simply just cannot put down once started, when compared to his earlier books such as The Murder Exchange for example you can really see how he has come on as a writer.

It's a taut tale and similar to most of his books post Relentless involves a main character that you can believe in and put yourself in their own shoes whilst events from way out of their world and comfort zone tumble down on top of them like an avalanche. What would "you" do in their shoes? I think that's been the secret to Mr Kernick's major success since Relentless in writing such a style of book. There are twists and turns in this book that leave the mind spinning and some things that you will never see coming. His best book? For me pretty much yes, on a par with the excellent Severed I'd say which I also could not put down. The trouble is now another long wait until his next new novel, at least that will be in January 2010 and not June.

Quite possibly the worst book I have ever read !
Single-dimensional characters, unbelievable plot, loose ends. This book made me so annoyed that I had bought it. It seemed to me that the author had chnaged his mind about the plot half way through and changed the hero from one character to another. Why?. Why also did he bring in the fact that Tina, the DC, had a drink problem? It was in no way related to the story and did not add anything.