Simon Kernick

If you’re a fan of crime fiction, you’re probably already aware of the rising star that is Simon Kernick, whose 2002 novel The Business of Dying was a bestseller on both sides of the Atlantic. He is currently working on his ninth book and joins Mariella to tell her all about his recent work.

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Born in 1966 in Slough, Kernick went to school in Henley-on-Thames, and, in his own words, left school in the mid 1980s “with not much in the way of qualifications, [he] worked in a variety of jobs including labourer in a roadbuilding gang, which was probably the most enjoyable one I ever had pre-writing; barman; stockroom assistant for an IT company; and fruitpicker.” A spell travelling in Australia and America was followed by a degree in humanities from Brighton Polytechnic, and upon graduating, he again found himself in a number of odd jobs, the most memorable of which was as a “Christmas tree uprooter (probably my second favourite job of all time after the writing)”, after which he found work in London as a computer software salesman, where he remained for the rest of the 1990s.

 He had however, always had a passion for crime writing, and had written two novels in his spare time. His efforts at publication went unrewarded: he recalls “I think every agent in the country rejected number two: a huge gangster tome entitled Fine Night for a Killing”. Undeterred, he persevered with his writing, and in 2001 he completed The Business of Dying, the tale of Dennis Milne, a detective who moonlights as a hitman, which, to his surprise, won him an agent and a deal with his publishers, Transworld. The novel was critically acclaimed in the UK, was shortlisted in the US for the Barry Award for best British novel, and has since been translated into fifteen languages, including Japanese, Greek and Russian. Kernick followed this success shortly afterwards in 2003 with The Murder Exchange, which was also nominated for a number of awards.

Since then, Kernick has become something of a fixture on the crime scene, as it were, producing a further six novels, including the sequel to The Business of Dying, A Good Day to Die, and Relentless, which was one of eight titles picked for Richard and Judy's Recommended Summer Reads 2007 and went on to become the UK’s best-selling thriller that year. His novel, Target, was released in June 2009, and his most recent novel, The Last 10 Seconds, was published earlier this year. Simon Kendrick currently lives in Oxfordshire with his wife and two daughters, and is working on book nine.


The Last 10 Seconds
The Undercover Cop - Having worked undercover the last ten years, Sean Egan is used to life on the edge. He's recently infiltrated one of London's most dangerous criminal gangs, and they've just informed him that they want him for a very special job: the daring abduction from police custody of a serial killer known as The Night Creeper.
The Killer - Brutally violent yet highly intelligent, The Night Creeper has earned his reputation by torturing five young women to death. Arrested the previous night, he claims that he has a cast-iron alibi for one of the murders, and some highly important information that can prove his innocence - and implicates someone else.
The Policewoman Di - Tina Boyd has an instinct for trouble, and a past that continues to haunt her. She was the policewoman who charged The Night Creeper. Now he's been kidnapped, and it's Tina's task to find him. And find him fast, because it's clear that some very dangerous people want to silence him permanently.
A man, a woman and a sadistic killer. As they race towards a terrifying confrontation only one thing is certain: they're all going to have to fight very hard just to stay alive.

Read more about The Last 10 Seconds, including a free downloadable extract, at Lovereading.co.uk