Simon Kernick
AUTHOR

Simon Kernick

Crime & Thrillers | Action & Adventure

Well where do I start? I wanted to be a writer ever since I was old enough to pick up a pen. I started with one page stories that I illustrated myself (badly) and, as I grew older, the stories got longer. For a long time I just wrote for myself, enjoying the process of disappearing off to new, imaginative worlds, but eventually, while working as a salesman in London I experienced this desperate desire to get published. I've always been a huge crime fiction and thriller fan so I wrote a crime novel that, unfortunately, pretty much every literary agent and publisher in the land rejected. So I wrote another one with exactly the same result. I have enough rejection letters to decorate a whole house- three hundred in all-but finally I struck gold with my first novel, The Business of Dying, about a cop who moonlights as a hit man named Dennis Milne. It was released in 2002 (seven years after I first tried to get published!) and was described as 'the crime debut of the year' by The Independent, which was a very nice compliment. Since then I've written a book a year (fifteen in all now) as well as a total of three novellas. I specialise in very fast-paced thrillers set over a short space of time which I like to think grab the reader from the very first page and don't let go. My fifth novel, Relentless, was a Richard and Judy summer read, and the ninth and tenth, The Last Ten Seconds and The Payback, both reached number 1 in the UK book charts, so they're good, I promise! I don't have a series as such and most of the books can be read as standalones, but I do have recurring characters. Dennis Milne, my vigilante cop, returns in A Good Day to Die and The Payback, and my female detective, Tina Boyd- a woman who finds herself in dangerous situations seemingly at every turn- appears in the vast majority of the recent books. Anyway, I hope you get a chance to take a look at one or more of them and please feel free to let me know your thoughts. Happy reading.

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Best Sellers

  • Target cover art

    • Target

    • By: Simon Kernick
    • Narrated by: Paul Thornley
    • Length: 9 hrs and 50 mins
    • Unabridged
    • Overall
      4.5 out of 5 stars 146
    • Performance
      4.5 out of 5 stars 57
    • Story
      4.5 out of 5 stars 57

    When writer Rob Fallon gets drunk one night and ends up joining his friend's girlfriend, Jenny, back at her apartment, he's feeling guilty before anything's even happened....

    • 5 out of 5 stars

    • Target by Simon Kernick

    • By Robin B on 22-04-10

    Regular price: £19.99

    Free with 30-day trial
  • Deadline cover art

    • Deadline

    • By: Simon Kernick
    • Narrated by: Paul Thornley
    • Length: 10 hrs and 19 mins
    • Unabridged
    • Overall
      4 out of 5 stars 153
    • Performance
      4 out of 5 stars 66
    • Story
      4 out of 5 stars 64

    It's evening, you're back late from work - and the house is in darkness. You step inside, and the phone rings. You answer it - and your world turns upside down....

    • 5 out of 5 stars

    • A good yarn

    • By "aly39" on 17-10-09

    Regular price: £19.99

    Free with 30-day trial
  • The Bone Field cover art

    • The Bone Field

    • The heart-stopping new thriller
    • By: Simon Kernick
    • Narrated by: Paul Thornley
    • Length: 10 hrs and 19 mins
    • Unabridged
    • Overall
      4.5 out of 5 stars 795
    • Performance
      4.5 out of 5 stars 725
    • Story
      4 out of 5 stars 727

    A new twist to a decades old mystery. 1990. A young woman goes missing while backpacking in Thailand. She is never seen again....

    • 2 out of 5 stars

    • Disappointing

    • By P M Sedgwick on 08-10-17

    Regular price: £21.99

    Free with 30-day trial
  • Relentless cover art

    • Relentless

    • By: Simon Kernick
    • Narrated by: Paul Thornley
    • Length: 10 hrs and 7 mins
    • Unabridged
    • Overall
      4 out of 5 stars 843
    • Performance
      4.5 out of 5 stars 523
    • Story
      4 out of 5 stars 525

    Shortlisted for Theaksons Old Peculiar Crime Novel of the Year, 2008.
    John Meron, a happily married father of two who's never been in trouble, receives a phone call that will change his life forever....

    • 5 out of 5 stars

    • An Absolute Winner!

    • By Elizabeth on 20-08-08

    Regular price: £17.69

    Free with 30-day trial
  • We Can See You cover art

    • We Can See You

    • By: Simon Kernick
    • Narrated by: Richard Goulding
    • Length: 8 hrs and 47 mins
    • Unabridged
    • Overall
      4 out of 5 stars 103
    • Performance
      4 out of 5 stars 90
    • Story
      4 out of 5 stars 91

    You have it all. Success, a beautiful home, a happy family. Until, in a heartbeat, it's gone. We've kidnapped your daughter, and we know everything about you. Including the dark secrets from your past you thought were forgotten. We tell you not to contact the police....

    • 4 out of 5 stars

    • Kernick Delivers a Solid Thriller

    • By Simon on 30-11-18

    Regular price: £19.99

    Free with 30-day trial
  • The Hanged Man cover art

    • The Hanged Man

    • By: Simon Kernick
    • Narrated by: Paul Thornley
    • Length: 10 hrs and 21 mins
    • Unabridged
    • Overall
      4.5 out of 5 stars 398
    • Performance
      4.5 out of 5 stars 367
    • Story
      4.5 out of 5 stars 362

    A house deep in the countryside where the remains of seven unidentified women have just been discovered. A cop ready to risk everything in the hunt for their killers....

    • 5 out of 5 stars

    • Simply Fantastic....!

    • By Salter on 27-11-17

    Regular price: £21.99

    Free with 30-day trial
  • Dead Man's Gift and Other Stories cover art

    • Dead Man's Gift and Other Stories

    • By: Simon Kernick
    • Narrated by: Paul Thornley, Bea Holland
    • Length: 10 hrs and 42 mins
    • Unabridged
    • Overall
      4.5 out of 5 stars 34
    • Performance
      4.5 out of 5 stars 32
    • Story
      4.5 out of 5 stars 32

    Random House presents the audiobook edition of Dead Man's Gift and Other Stories by Simon Kernick, read by Paul Thornley and Bea Holland.... 

    • 5 out of 5 stars

    • Great story telling

    • By Pusateri on 25-09-18

    Regular price: £21.99

    Free with 30-day trial
  • Stay Alive cover art

    • Stay Alive

    • By: Simon Kernick
    • Narrated by: Paul Thornley
    • Length: 9 hrs and 57 mins
    • Unabridged
    • Overall
      4.5 out of 5 stars 285
    • Performance
      4.5 out of 5 stars 266
    • Story
      4.5 out of 5 stars 265

    The gripping new race-against-time thriller by the best-selling author of Relentless, The Last 10 Seconds, Siege, and Ultimatum....

    • 4 out of 5 stars

    • Simon Kerning Fan

    • By Justin Coyne on 07-07-14

    Regular price: £19.99

    Free with 30-day trial
  • Ultimatum cover art

    • Ultimatum

    • By: Simon Kernick
    • Narrated by: Paul Thornley
    • Length: 9 hrs and 25 mins
    • Unabridged
    • Overall
      4.5 out of 5 stars 231
    • Performance
      4.5 out of 5 stars 197
    • Story
      4.5 out of 5 stars 197

    A threat has been made. An ultimatum delivered. Innocent people are in mortal danger....

    • 4 out of 5 stars

    • Fast-moving thriller

    • By Kirstine on 27-06-14

    Regular price: £19.99

    Free with 30-day trial
  • The Witness cover art

    • The Witness

    • By: Simon Kernick
    • Narrated by: Diana Kent, Jonathan Keeble, Paul Thornley
    • Length: 10 hrs
    • Unabridged
    • Overall
      4.5 out of 5 stars 393
    • Performance
      4.5 out of 5 stars 373
    • Story
      4.5 out of 5 stars 372

    When Jane Kinnear sees her lover being murdered, she suddenly finds herself in danger....

    • 3 out of 5 stars

    • Not the best from this author

    • By R. on 19-02-16

    Regular price: £21.99

    Free with 30-day trial

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