This one had me hooked from the first line. Seven ordinary citizens going about their morning commute are murdered in almost simultaneous knife attacks. It kept me engaged from start to end. Recommended.

Oh this is a great and thrilling read. Seven people are murdered within 27 minutes in London. How are they linked? Who did this and why? Who else is in danger from further attacks?
A gripping fast paced novel that keeps you wanting to turn the next page.

As fast paced thriller focusing on two terror attacks in the UK. Difficult to review without spoilers but I really enjoyed the twists and turns of this. The lead characters are well written and I especially enjoyed Hari's side of the story.

I really enjoyed this book. It hooks you in right from the start & never really stops. I thought the characters were interesting and well-written.

would like to thank netgalley and the publisher for letting me read this book

this review is going to be really really really hard to write because i dont really like books that are about fascists, terror groups and jihads but i really really really loved this book

its action from the first page with murders occuring all over london and once the victims are identified, then you have to wonder what they were working on...but its all cloak and dagger stuff...

its fast paced and topical with characters that grow on you and all i can really say without giving to much more about this book is that simon mayo knows how to write a book that has you on the edge of your seat

going to be keeping an eye out for more of his books

A very enjoyable book with a strong story-line. I thought the opening section, morbid as I am, was excellent,
I didn't think, for me, it warranted a five star rating as I had difficulty getting to know and feeling involved with Famie, the primary character, and also the secondary characters. Also I was puzzled by how the investigation of a terrorist crime in central London appeared to be handled by 2 or 3 Detective Constables and not by a hoard of Terrorist Squad police..
The story unfolds as a single timeline which I have to admit is a refreshing change from many books which chop and change dates on a chapter by chapter basis.

London. Rush Hour. 

Seven people started their day thinking it was going to be what they knew. 

What they did not know was that they would never get to work. 

Seven seemingly random people stabbed. 

What connected them all? 

Famie Madden, journalist watches the terror unfold. But there is a familiarity to some of those killed and it seems that what links them all can also be linked to Famie. 

Is the danger over or is Famie potentially the next victim.

If ever a book was relevant, was of its time, it is this book.

You are immediately throw into the action and you are carried along on a wave of adrenaline which inevitably peters out. But that is probably a good thing as you start to slow down and look around to what is really going on just as Famie and other investigative journalists start to pick up the pieces put them together and can see the inevitably of the next point of danger. 

The pace picks up and does not stop until the conclusion, it is almost a race to get there, but draws everything to a conclusion. 

I found I needed to concentrate on all the references to terror groups from the past which were throughout the book, some passages for me needed some rereading just so I could get to understand the purpose. 

Terrorism can take many guises and it was a interesting concept to pick something so unsophisticated as using a plan that was "off grid", coded advertisements in newspapers, messages in invisible ink, no phones, nothing of the modern day technology we all know. This made it particularly appealing when in reality this books is probably a reflection on modern day life. 

An interesting thriller that starts well, sort of wobbles a bit in the middle but reaches a rather interesting climax which will set the heart racing right until the end.

I thought the premise sounded enthralling, but unfortunately I found it hard to connect with the main character. However, this was a well-craft, heart-stopping, page-turner of a thriller!

Well this book certainly packs a punch. I've got to be honest and say that I chose to read this book out of curiosity. I heard the author speak at Capital Crime last year and whilst it was largely about his previous book, when he mentioned the premise of this one it piqued my interest. And, yes, Simon Mayo was a large part of my musical youth, so there was that element of 'what happens when a media personality turns to writing' too. What I found when I started reading Knife Edge was a book that started hard and kept me intrigued right to the final, tense and fast paced showdown.

The story opens in dramatic style - the co-ordinated murder of a team of investigative journalists in separate attacks across the city. And act of terrorism or something else? And who will be next. That is the question left in the minds of not only the Met Police but the colleagues that are left behind, fearful for their lives and yet filled with the curiosity of why their team would be targeted in such a way. And they are killings so clean and yet so brutal that it is hard to fathom but clear that there is something behind this story. Something very, very dark. From here on in we follow one of the journalists, Famie, before she too becomes another statistic, working alongside her colleagues to get to the heart of the story.

Considering the subject matter, and given that it is such a fast and shocking opening scene, the pace is not at all what I was expecting. There is plenty of intrigue and the story kept me wanting to turn the page and read on to the next chapter, but it takes a while to get into the real crux of the story, the reason behind what happens, and the early part of the book gives over to the emotional impact of the attacks on those who remain. This is where we learn more about the team, and about the victims, and the tangled web of their lives which are far from straightforward, with some pretty surprising revelations about a few of them. In a way this was good as it allowed me time to become invested in the main character, Famie, who otherwise wasn't necessarily the easiest of people to come to like. She was not the kind of character you automatically fell into step with, although it was easy to understand her ambition and that journalistic instinct that drove her to try and solve the puzzle, no matter the danger it out her in. Strong and yet still vulnerable, the more i read about her, the more I did grow to like her, and her gutsy side.

There is also another key narrator in this book, someone who is heavily caught up in the story behind the killings and someone I don't want to say too much about. It was hard to understand their motives at first, the author playing it in quite a canny way so that you could see them trying to draw Famie in, but not fully understand why. What was motivating them. Taunting the enemy perhaps? Maybe something much deeper than that. If you want to know, you'll have to read for yourself.

The story does pick up quite a bit in the second half, and as we slowly start to see the full picture, so the pace and the ever present sense of threat begins to shift up a gear too. There is that constant undercurrent of something, not quite unease maybe, but certainly of Famie being watched, targeted, as are the whole team. There is certainly a sense of madness within the antagonists something that clearly manifests itself in their actions. You do need to suspend disbelief a touch, I guess, especially towards the end as the final showdown begins as no matter what the circumstances, the actions of some of the characters take them a little way beyond procedure and certainly against any sane advice. It's quite a heady set up, full of tension and edge, and it is definitely a deadly encounter. To be fair thought, if the police played it all by the book it wouldn't have made for half as dramatic a finish.

I found the narrative flowed well and I was happy to be in the company of the characters, even if the police, at times, appeared frustratingly inept. I'm not sure if this is a good or bad advert for Coventry, but it was nice to see a thriller that isn't 100% London centric. This was a book that drew me in and kept me intrigued right to the end, and I'm looking forward to reading more by the author in the future.

Thanks to NetGalley for the chance to read this book. I am sorry to say it is not my taste and I wanted it to be. I gave up reading it when not even half way through. It started off well but the main character Famie lost my interest early on. Sorry.

A contemporary thriller by Simon Mayo.

This was fast paced from the very start with multiple murders in the first few pages.
An interesting read but I struggled to connect with Famie the main character and I’m not sure why.
The story was believable and easy to read.

This was a good read. However, somehow it felt that there were some elements of plot and character that did not ring quite true. There was a point where I almost stopped reading but the denouement was a surprise.

This book got of to an incredibly good start, multiple Murders with half an hour, it was intense and exciting. However, as the story unfolded and the characters ‘grew’ I became less interested. I didn’t manage to make a connection with any of them and I found it to be a little tedious. The ending certainly ramped up a little but I didn’t feel it did the beginning justice and I felt underwhelmed.

Knife Edge is a contemporary thriller that seems to resonate on various levels with current global issues, including multiple terrorist groups and an attack on the press. In this book, I actually mean an attack on the press. A muggy May morning and within twenty-nine minutes, seven investigative journalists are murdered.

“Mary Lawson was the first to die. Leaving Euston station shortly before 6.45, she made straight for her favourite breakfast stall. …
He was barely a metre away when she glanced at him, assuming he would be asking for change. He smiled. She only saw the knife as it pierced her chest.”

Famie Madden who also works for the International Press Service (IPS) had personal friendships with those killed, and an intimate relationship with man one in particular. The events of the day strike fear into all the other journalists not knowing if they are now targeted by the terror group that carried out these attacks. The police lock down the building and start the investigation into who was behind these meticulously planned murders. Simon Mayo creates a tense atmosphere where suspicion is created around many individuals.

Fannie receives messages that cause her and some of her colleagues to pursue their own investigation. The plot is intriguing and explores the forces around the world that facilitate terrorist activity. Fannie’s daughter, Charlie, is also drawn into the story which enables a wider scope to include family and other personal concerns.

There were a number of issues with the flow of the story with its momentum drifting up and down and almost stalling at times, mainly when the pursuit of detail seemed more important. What saved this book was the incredible opening and it really brought the shock factor which was gripping in the early part of the book. The closing chapters scaled the tension and pace back up again to deliver an accomplished thriller.

I would recommend this book and I would like to thank Doubleday, Randon House UK and NetGalley for providing me with a free ARC in return for an honest review.

Simon Mayo is best known as an award winning DJ or radio presenter but with Knife Edge he is definitely on the way to becoming well known as an author.

This book is very topical and moves at a good pace which keeps the pages turning. There are also reveals throughout the book which will keep the reader interested.

My only, very slight, reservation was with the central character who was difficult to warm to although the other main characters featured enough for this to not be too big an issue.

Overall a very enjoyable read which is recommended

This is a fast paced very topical thriller starting with the horrific murders of seven people in different parts of London and it soon becomes clear that these are not just some random knife attacks but that they are all connected.
Famie Madden works at the same news agency where all these victims worked and she quickly becomes involved in trying to find out why her colleagues were killed, with the help of her daughter Charlie and fellow workmates Sam, Tommi and Sophie we are then on a roller coaster ride of trying to work out who the perpetrator’s are and what story the victims may have been working on and if was the reason they may have been killed.
I really liked Famie she was such a strong female character and I really enjoyed the book, the plot was good and I felt it to be very real and believable, violent in parts and at times a bit over complicated but on the whole overall an excellent read and I look forward to reading more from Simon Mayo in the future.
My thanks to NetGalley and Random House UK, Transworld Publishers, Doubleday.

4 Stars from me

I don't know why but if feels slightly surreal to be reviewing a thriller novel by Simon Mayo - him off the radio - and yet not only am a reviewing a book written by the dry humoured radio DJ, but by god it was good!

It's still weird, I can hear his radio jingle on a loop every time I think of his name, anyway, where was I...

Knife Edge had me hooked from the very first line, it has an incredibly strong start and I was utterly invested within the first few pages. Having read the blurb I was a little concerned at how well the story could reflect this type of attack but I needed have worried, Mayo made the story alive and every single word felt urgent and true.

My only downer is that I didn't find Famie all that easy to connect with as a character, I wish I could have found her more engaging - then I think this book would have sung. Having said that, I would make for a breathtaking film.

All in all, I highly recommend this fast paced, tense, uber exciting and all too relatable thriller. Nice work Mr Mayo!

I was sent a copy of Knife Edge by Simon Mayo to read and review by NetGalley.
I have to say I can’t praise this novel highly enough! From the very first page I was completely hooked! It’s fast paced, exciting and engrossing - exactly everything that a good thriller should be! It has well fleshed out characters and a cracking plot and I will certainly be reading his previous and any future novels. What a find!!!

I'm really not sure if I loved this or not. To explain, it's a compelling story but a frighteningly too plausible or realistic one as well. When I first started reading this, and the terrifying opening description of seven knife attacks in 27 minutes, I slept badly my mind imagining the scene over and over again. I read for escapism and this was just like a real-life news story (in more ways than one).

And, I tend to avoid the news for that reason - the truly upsetting crimes and atrocities that happen day in day out around the world. As such I'm not particularly up on political affairs so I did find this slightly confusing at times. Even by the end I don't think I got it entirely. As well as political references, there was also a lot of characters (some just known as Tattoo Man or Sweating Man), and a lot going on to keep track of. As main character, Famie, said a couple of times: "This is messy."

But, that was undoubtedly what made it so compelling though as well. The whole thing was expertly done - well-researched and well-written with the changing voices adding extra depth and pace. Overall, it's a gripping, chilling, intelligent and deeply shocking read based around a really current and frighteningly believable storyline.

With all the action that takes place from the very outset I feared this might run out of steam. However, it didn’t at all. It continued to boil with a level of suspense that was maintained to the very end. The plot is intense, especially as the reader is led to suspect first one person of betrayal but then another. Even as you believe the tragedy is ended Mayo includes another element of surprise.
Mayo’s characters and his descriptive writing ensure this is believable. If you’re a fan of well-written modern-day terrorist thrillers then I would certainly recommend this.
Thank you to NetGalley and Transworld Publishers (Penguin) for this copy in exchange for an honest review.