What do you think?
Severed
A terrifying read-in-one-gulp thriller with a killer what do you do when the woman in bed beside you is a headless corpse . . .
Straight off I knew it was going to be a bad day. The room was stifling hot; and when I did finally manage to drag open my eyes, all I could see was blood. I thought I’d stepped into the middle of a nightmare.
But I was wrong. The nightmare was only just beginning.
Ex-soldier Sean Tyler wakes up in an unfamiliar room next to the headless corpse of a girl he’s met only once. With his memory of the previous twenty-four hours wiped clean, he’s hardly out of bed before the phone rings. A voice tells him to press play on the room’s DVD machine. The film shows him stabbing someone to death.
Tyler is confident that the footage is fake, but will a jury see things the same way? The man on the phone tells him to go to an address in east London, and await instructions. Tyler knows he must do as he is told. He also knows that the phone caller has no intention of keeping him alive.
To survive he must recover the missing twenty-four hours of his life and find out who’s setting him up before his time runs out for good. The clock is ticking...
From the Hardcover edition.
Straight off I knew it was going to be a bad day. The room was stifling hot; and when I did finally manage to drag open my eyes, all I could see was blood. I thought I’d stepped into the middle of a nightmare.
But I was wrong. The nightmare was only just beginning.
Ex-soldier Sean Tyler wakes up in an unfamiliar room next to the headless corpse of a girl he’s met only once. With his memory of the previous twenty-four hours wiped clean, he’s hardly out of bed before the phone rings. A voice tells him to press play on the room’s DVD machine. The film shows him stabbing someone to death.
Tyler is confident that the footage is fake, but will a jury see things the same way? The man on the phone tells him to go to an address in east London, and await instructions. Tyler knows he must do as he is told. He also knows that the phone caller has no intention of keeping him alive.
To survive he must recover the missing twenty-four hours of his life and find out who’s setting him up before his time runs out for good. The clock is ticking...
From the Hardcover edition.
496 pages, Paperback
First published June 18, 2007
About the author
Simon Kernick
85 books1,195 followersSimon Kernick (born 1966 in Slough, Berkshire) is a British thriller/crime writer now living in Oxfordshire with his wife and two daughters. He attended Gillotts School, a comprehensive in Henley-on-Thames, Oxfordshire. Whilst he was a student his jobs included fruitpicker and Christmas-tree uprooter. He graduated from Brighton Polytechnic in 1991 with a degree in humanities. Kernick had a passion for crime fiction writing from a young age and produced many short stories during his time at polytechnic. After graduating Kernick joined MMT Computing in London in early 1992, where a relative was the Chairman and Managing Director. Kernick was a key member of the sales team and was very highly regarded. However, he left the company after 4 years in the hope of trying to secure a publishing deal. Despite interest from a number of publishers Kernick was unable to secure a deal, so he joined the sales force of the specialist IT and Business Consultancy Metaskil plc in Aldermaston, Berkshire in 1998 where he remained until he secured his first book deal (The Business of Dying) in September 2001. His novel Relentless was recommended on Richard & Judy's Summer book club 2007. It was the 8th best-selling paperback, and the best-selling thriller in the UK in the same year
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 169 reviews
January 20, 2014
If you're looking for a book involving tons of fight scenes with a dash of mystery, this is a book for you. If you're looking for something that's more of a psychological thriller, then this probably isn't a book for you. "Severed" by Simon Kernick is a mystery novel involving a fast-paced plot and new pieces of information being thrown constantly at you.
Imagine waking up in a bed, seemingly alone. Everything is quiet when your eyes are drawn to drops of red strewn all over the bedsheets. Slowly, you turn to your side, only to find a body lying next to yours. A decapitated body you know that once belonged to a girl you met just a few weeks ago. You sit up in shock, paralysed by the sight of the corpse. You have no idea what happened last night. A note on the TV tells you to turn on the DVD player, and you do so. You stand petrified at the movie playing on the screen. It's one of you stabbing the girl in the bed to death. You're sure that the person in the film isn't you, but who knows what the court would think? Now you're told to head to East London if you want all traces of the DVD to be erased. Knowing that you're required to do what the man on the phone says, and also knowing that you'll probably be dead at the end of all this, what do you do?
As much as it sounds interesting, I didn't really think it was. I borrowed the book from the library after finding the summary on the back intriguing, but I was surprised when my interest in the plot started dying once I got about a quarter of the way in. The main character, Tyler, was difficult to relate to and I couldn't pinpoint any distinct qualities that made him stand out in my head. I think that there was a lack of voice throughout the whole story, and it just became very tiring for me to read.
This is a book you really need to get into to enjoy, and is better to read in one shot. There are multiple characters with little information given about them that are introduced and it might be confusing to keep track of all of them, especially since most of them only stay for about a couple of chapters. Some of the dialogue kept my attention and made me want to keep reading, but I couldn’t find majority of the scenarios interesting. I felt that the ending was rushed and for some reason, a little disappointing as well. This wasn't exactly a continuous page-turner for me, but the beginning started off with a bang and was quite good.
Imagine waking up in a bed, seemingly alone. Everything is quiet when your eyes are drawn to drops of red strewn all over the bedsheets. Slowly, you turn to your side, only to find a body lying next to yours. A decapitated body you know that once belonged to a girl you met just a few weeks ago. You sit up in shock, paralysed by the sight of the corpse. You have no idea what happened last night. A note on the TV tells you to turn on the DVD player, and you do so. You stand petrified at the movie playing on the screen. It's one of you stabbing the girl in the bed to death. You're sure that the person in the film isn't you, but who knows what the court would think? Now you're told to head to East London if you want all traces of the DVD to be erased. Knowing that you're required to do what the man on the phone says, and also knowing that you'll probably be dead at the end of all this, what do you do?
As much as it sounds interesting, I didn't really think it was. I borrowed the book from the library after finding the summary on the back intriguing, but I was surprised when my interest in the plot started dying once I got about a quarter of the way in. The main character, Tyler, was difficult to relate to and I couldn't pinpoint any distinct qualities that made him stand out in my head. I think that there was a lack of voice throughout the whole story, and it just became very tiring for me to read.
This is a book you really need to get into to enjoy, and is better to read in one shot. There are multiple characters with little information given about them that are introduced and it might be confusing to keep track of all of them, especially since most of them only stay for about a couple of chapters. Some of the dialogue kept my attention and made me want to keep reading, but I couldn’t find majority of the scenarios interesting. I felt that the ending was rushed and for some reason, a little disappointing as well. This wasn't exactly a continuous page-turner for me, but the beginning started off with a bang and was quite good.
March 12, 2025
The action is non-stop, it is thrilling and exciting but left me dissatisfied due to the lack of character development. It was like running blindfolded.
This is a thriller that aims at you turning pages fast, lots of fun escaping hair raising situations but after a while, Snowy, Lucas, Ian and even Tyler are one character with different names and hair colors. Thrilling, a little unbelievable but for me unfortunately it is not memorable. Characters again were stereotypes of army “guys” ..unfortunately boring.
This is a thriller that aims at you turning pages fast, lots of fun escaping hair raising situations but after a while, Snowy, Lucas, Ian and even Tyler are one character with different names and hair colors. Thrilling, a little unbelievable but for me unfortunately it is not memorable. Characters again were stereotypes of army “guys” ..unfortunately boring.
July 21, 2018
This was a slightly frustrating read, there was a lot of superfluous build-up in the first half and I skimmed quite a bit of it without losing any of the plot. After passing the half-way point, the author seems to dial back on dragging out action scenes and that's where the story begins to get a little interesting.
I read this book as part of my book club and one of girls raised an excellent point. The character development is quite lazy, it’s difficult to connect with any of them as there is no real background. This is particularly true with the protagonist, the author resorts to constantly falling back on incidents experienced during his time in the military for pretty much everything.
There were a few twists that I hadn't expected and I enjoyed the second half more than the first, the ending was certainly a surprise but a good one.
I read this book as part of my book club and one of girls raised an excellent point. The character development is quite lazy, it’s difficult to connect with any of them as there is no real background. This is particularly true with the protagonist, the author resorts to constantly falling back on incidents experienced during his time in the military for pretty much everything.
There were a few twists that I hadn't expected and I enjoyed the second half more than the first, the ending was certainly a surprise but a good one.
March 10, 2020
Heavily marketed with posters, adverts and book displays all over London, this bestseller gets off to a gripping start when Tyler wakes up beside the headless torso of a woman in his bed! An engaging military / organised crime conspiracy thriller which I admittedly couldn't put down. A genuine thriller!
December 1, 2012
Another excellent novel by Simon Kernick.
What is there not to like about his books, very good characters and skilfully plotted.
What is there not to like about his books, very good characters and skilfully plotted.
May 12, 2012
At the start of this book, Tyler, the central character, wakes up in a house he doesn't recognise. He's clearly been drugged, and when he rolls over to get his bearings, he finds the badly mutilated remains of his girlfriend next to him.
Soon after, he gets a phone call that tells him that if he doesn't do certain things, the police will be called and evidence will be presented to them that suggests that he was involved in the mutilation.
He follows the instructions, but because he clearly can't trust who put him in this position, he goes after those who he believes were really involved in the death for the remainder of the book.
You might think that all this might sound rather enjoyable, if a little disgusting (and the way I've described it, it might sound a bit like a "boys own adventure" for adults). Trust me when I say that it's too predictable to be enjoyable.
After I'd read Chapter 1, I guessed pretty what was going to happen. This pre-cognition I had wasn't helped by the fact that Kernick seems to have borrowed plot themes from his own books to help bloster his own story. Almost as soon as I read certain things, I just knew how they might be related to what he wrote in Relentless, the other Kernick book I'd read.
Now you might think I have a knack for guessing the endings of books. I don't. Anyone with half a brain would guess what was going to happen in this book. Anyone who has read anything that's remotely similar to this book would guess what's going on in this book too. Everything he writes in this book is that well telegraphed. Trust me on that.
In short, don't read this book. Have a good look for a book with a similar plot and read that book instead. It's almost bound to be better written.
Soon after, he gets a phone call that tells him that if he doesn't do certain things, the police will be called and evidence will be presented to them that suggests that he was involved in the mutilation.
He follows the instructions, but because he clearly can't trust who put him in this position, he goes after those who he believes were really involved in the death for the remainder of the book.
You might think that all this might sound rather enjoyable, if a little disgusting (and the way I've described it, it might sound a bit like a "boys own adventure" for adults). Trust me when I say that it's too predictable to be enjoyable.
After I'd read Chapter 1, I guessed pretty what was going to happen. This pre-cognition I had wasn't helped by the fact that Kernick seems to have borrowed plot themes from his own books to help bloster his own story. Almost as soon as I read certain things, I just knew how they might be related to what he wrote in Relentless, the other Kernick book I'd read.
Now you might think I have a knack for guessing the endings of books. I don't. Anyone with half a brain would guess what was going to happen in this book. Anyone who has read anything that's remotely similar to this book would guess what's going on in this book too. Everything he writes in this book is that well telegraphed. Trust me on that.
In short, don't read this book. Have a good look for a book with a similar plot and read that book instead. It's almost bound to be better written.
August 9, 2013
I don´t know what to say. It was mysterious, it was unexpected, it was really bad day... But I was impressed. Throughout the whole book the author took you in the knowledge that you cannot find out who is behind all the events. And I have to say. There were only few moments I thought I know who is behind everything and as I found out in the end I was really mistaken... Only thing I knew was that if I were that man I would rather die than to fight like he had to, that I wouldn´t survive - better surrender to police and be in the prison lifelong... And in the end I was really proud of him.. I really felt like he did everything he could, everything I wouldn´t...
So I have to say : I LOVED this book!!!! :)
So I have to say : I LOVED this book!!!! :)
November 30, 2022
Fast paced and engaging. Good plot but it really ended about 80 pages before I flipped the last page. Would recommend if you are after a page turner.
October 12, 2016
Das Buch begann mit einer äußerst spannenden und erschreckenden Situation, die mich zunächst gefesselt hat.
Ich dachte: "Endlich mal ein Buch, das mit der Tür ins Haus fällt".
Doch dann stellten sich meiner Meinung nach zu überzogen dargestellte actionreiche Abläufe ein und die "Flachheit" der Charaktere wurde immer deutlicher, was die Spannung senkte.
Die Idee, die hinter dem Ganzen steckt, halte ich dennoch für gut. Sie hätte wohl einfach besser umgesetzt werden können.
Ich dachte: "Endlich mal ein Buch, das mit der Tür ins Haus fällt".
Doch dann stellten sich meiner Meinung nach zu überzogen dargestellte actionreiche Abläufe ein und die "Flachheit" der Charaktere wurde immer deutlicher, was die Spannung senkte.
Die Idee, die hinter dem Ganzen steckt, halte ich dennoch für gut. Sie hätte wohl einfach besser umgesetzt werden können.
January 6, 2026
A masterclass in suspense! Simon Kernick really knows how to keep a reader on the edge of their seat. I was gripped by the plot and finished it in record time! I loved that it kept me guessing, every time I thought I knew where the ending was headed, I was proven wrong. A few aspects clicked into place, but the final turns were a total shock. A must-read for thriller fans!
September 3, 2024
Very good book really like it
December 1, 2025
I enjoyed this book. Heal of action and suspense throughout it.
January 6, 2019
DNF @ 56%
I am strained my brain enough. I wish i could have loved this one. Not happening.
I am strained my brain enough. I wish i could have loved this one. Not happening.
September 4, 2026
I could give this book a 4 stars because it was well written and I fully followed Tyler’s action movements. But I gave it 3 as it was sold as a thriller to me and I feel cheated. Not much of a thriller but more action packed fighting. Not saying it’s bad but really the writing is so good on the fighting you feel like you are watching a movie so well done. Quite enjoyable
August 1, 2026
The book over all was easy to read and fast paced, that Simon Kernick knows how to do. But did I like any of these characters other than the best friend whose name I have forgotten? No.
February 19, 2026
A fairly good thriller that has you wanting to know what happens next from a plot point of view. The writing style is pretty basic and the logic of the plot doesn't really stand up when you think about it but it is an entertaining read.
January 24, 2011
You know that a Simon Kernick novel is going to grab your attention from the very first sentence and this doesn't disappoint. Your thrust straight into the action as the main character Dan Tyler wakes up to find the decapitated body of his new girlfriend lying next to him in a pool of blood in a place he doesn't recognise and with no memory of the events leading up to it. He then finds himself doing a job for a mysterious man who tells him that if he doesn't complete the job the murder weapon and video of him committing the crime will go straight to the police. There then follows a series of events that ultimately become a little too predictable and increasingly outrageous. The characters are wooden and clichéd and the narration suffers from to much hyperbole and altogether useless information that adds nothing to plot and leaves you with the feeling that he is desperately trying to slow the story down for added suspense. It doesn't work.
November 24, 2019
For some strange reason, I had it in my head I had read quite a few of Simon Kernick's books - turns out this is only the second one. Maybe its because I have 4 or 5 in my bookshelf.
'Severed' is a non-stop, all action read, that doesn't let up from the first to the last page. There is a lot going on and bodies piling up all over the place, a main character who manages to survive through a hell of a lot of fighting and shooting (okay a bit of eye rolling for that) but its a good book to get lost in for a couple of days.
4 stars more for the enjoyment of the read than the plot, so maybe its really a 3.5 (why are so many books 3.5's???)
'Severed' is a non-stop, all action read, that doesn't let up from the first to the last page. There is a lot going on and bodies piling up all over the place, a main character who manages to survive through a hell of a lot of fighting and shooting (okay a bit of eye rolling for that) but its a good book to get lost in for a couple of days.
4 stars more for the enjoyment of the read than the plot, so maybe its really a 3.5 (why are so many books 3.5's???)
August 13, 2010
I really enjoyed reading this book. the action starts on the first page and keeps you interested through the whole book. It was easy to read and read pretty fast. In the book we can find round characters, they are fully formed and complex. We can find many plots combined into one , and it doesn't feel forced. There is a lot of twists which made you want to read it. Some moments made me a little bored (the "flashbacks"), they take you back and tell you stories from the past. They are necessary to fully understand the story but sometimes I felt like they were a little bit too long.
December 19, 2013
I read this when I was a young teenager and I still remember most of it.
It really depends what you're into, the imagery is quite horrific and the plot is quite disturbing but then you have to admire the author's imagination as it keeps you asking 'What The F*** is happening here'.
It was recommended to me and so I read it and couldn't put it down. Simon has a style of writing which suits his genre. I went on to read several other similar books that same year but this one remains embedded in my memory as a unique read.
It really depends what you're into, the imagery is quite horrific and the plot is quite disturbing but then you have to admire the author's imagination as it keeps you asking 'What The F*** is happening here'.
It was recommended to me and so I read it and couldn't put it down. Simon has a style of writing which suits his genre. I went on to read several other similar books that same year but this one remains embedded in my memory as a unique read.
December 10, 2016
Finally, came out from the book hangover. It had an immense impact. From the beginning, it was very hard to put the book down even for a second. Unable to control myself, I became my self-spoiler and found that Tyler will be alive. The course of the book was unpredictable from the beginning. It did let the readers believe that Alannah could be the one. What a magnificent woman Alannah was! Adine was another powerful and charismatic woman. At some point, I felt bad for Lucas who was a well-prepared detective. But the thrill of the book was gripping.
July 10, 2008
Fast-paced. A good read, except for the parts where we went 'back in time' to what happened in the army. I just found those parts of the book kinda boring. Written in the first-person, which I enjoy.
It took me longer to read this book than it should have, due to my addiction to other things in life (mainly the pc game Team Fortress 2). I don't know if I'd recommend this book to anyone, but I'll certainly pick up the author's previous book, and any future books. :)
It took me longer to read this book than it should have, due to my addiction to other things in life (mainly the pc game Team Fortress 2). I don't know if I'd recommend this book to anyone, but I'll certainly pick up the author's previous book, and any future books. :)
April 19, 2011
The tag line for this book annoyed me. 'One Night Stand, One Dead Body, One Bad Day' There is no one night stand! He's been seeing this girl for a few weeks, he's falling in love with her. So that is lies. But other than that, I liked the book. Not as exciting as the other book I read by Kernick but it's good enough to keep crime fans entertained.
January 29, 2012
Another fast paced novel from Simon Kernick. I loved Relentless and this book didn't disappoint. The plot is, as usual, slightly unbelievable, but I was turning pages so fast, I couldn't quite catch my breath! Brilliant.
October 26, 2014
I waded my way through 3/4's of this book and then I did something silly and deleted the book off my Kobo - I couldn't be bothered downloading it again to finish it. I have read several of Simon Kernicks books before and thoroughly enjoyed them. This one didn't do it for me
February 8, 2016
Gripping thriller. How one man must fight to prove his innocence in the killing of his girlfriend. The plot leaves you guessing a lot of the time. One to reread in ten years when you have forgotten the ending!!
June 8, 2013
Another fantastic book from one of my favourite authors.
You can`t lose with any book written by Simon Kernick.
You can`t lose with any book written by Simon Kernick.
January 29, 2015
Another standard Simon Kernick thriller, edge of seat action all the way.
September 19, 2023
This is a very strange book so the rating is a difficult one.
On one hand, I finished it in hours because I wanted to know what happened, which is the only reason I can give it 2 stars really. On the other, the main character is extremely unlikable and very difficult to relate to in any way. I found myself rolling my eyes so many times reading his voice. He’s boring, selfish, combat obsessed, luckiest guy going, but honestly quite predictable. I wonder if he has been deliberately written that way.
Everything happens very quickly, everything is very ‘macho man look at me I’m so good at fighting oh look a female I must make love’. At some points it’s hard to follow, there’s so many similes it’s quite lazy. Too much pointless description in some places, it’s a lot of filler. I don’t care what you’re eating, drinking, or wearing. It doesn’t add to anything. There’s a lot of inconsistencies I found, how it reads, he sounds young, he’s definitely got a young gaze, but then timelines suggest he’s getting on a bit. Which is it? He’s been in the forces and by all accounts (his own) he’s sooo great at combat and being a soldier, then he just isn’t? He can’t make simple decisions, second guesses himself all the time, makes bad decisions, which was mentioned by another reviewer and I have to agree.
The blurb makes it sound like a psychological thriller but it’s just an action novel with very disposable characters and a main character you just can’t get behind. The front page tag lines also say ‘one night stand’ and there isn’t a one night stand in it, he had a three week relationship. In my personal opinion it’s just not believable at all, so that detracted from the story quite a bit.
I’d give it 2.5 stars, but 3 would be a massive stretch. Is it worth reading? Yeah if your type of thing, it’s not mine as I have discovered so I’ll stay away from this type of genre next time I deviate from my TBR pile.
On one hand, I finished it in hours because I wanted to know what happened, which is the only reason I can give it 2 stars really. On the other, the main character is extremely unlikable and very difficult to relate to in any way. I found myself rolling my eyes so many times reading his voice. He’s boring, selfish, combat obsessed, luckiest guy going, but honestly quite predictable. I wonder if he has been deliberately written that way.
Everything happens very quickly, everything is very ‘macho man look at me I’m so good at fighting oh look a female I must make love’. At some points it’s hard to follow, there’s so many similes it’s quite lazy. Too much pointless description in some places, it’s a lot of filler. I don’t care what you’re eating, drinking, or wearing. It doesn’t add to anything. There’s a lot of inconsistencies I found, how it reads, he sounds young, he’s definitely got a young gaze, but then timelines suggest he’s getting on a bit. Which is it? He’s been in the forces and by all accounts (his own) he’s sooo great at combat and being a soldier, then he just isn’t? He can’t make simple decisions, second guesses himself all the time, makes bad decisions, which was mentioned by another reviewer and I have to agree.
The blurb makes it sound like a psychological thriller but it’s just an action novel with very disposable characters and a main character you just can’t get behind. The front page tag lines also say ‘one night stand’ and there isn’t a one night stand in it, he had a three week relationship. In my personal opinion it’s just not believable at all, so that detracted from the story quite a bit.
I’d give it 2.5 stars, but 3 would be a massive stretch. Is it worth reading? Yeah if your type of thing, it’s not mine as I have discovered so I’ll stay away from this type of genre next time I deviate from my TBR pile.
August 4, 2024
Tyler awakes to a gruesome sight.. he’s no memory of what happened but things quickly escalate when a dvd shows Tyler committing murder.. he’s murdered his girlfriend no less.
He’s left with no choice but to do as commanded if he wants the video and the body to disappear..
Tyler needs time to figure out what is going on... he couldn’t have done what the video suggested... but he saw it with his own eyes!!
Someone videoed the murder and they hold all the cards..with no recourse coming to mind he sets out to do as commanded.. pick up a briefcase.
Things quick get out of hand as the first piece in the puzzle is brought into play... and it’s a blast from the past..
More bodies son hit the floor and Tyler knows there’s only one man he can trust.. an old friend.. but does he really want to put him in danger...and does he really have a choice?
What plays out is a complex mind game as Tyler battles to say alive whilst also calculating all the different calculations going on in his head.. somethings not right here.. does he know who’s behind this? Why him after all?
The plot involves a lot of action and intrigue..the twists and turns... like Tyler the reader is left in a haze trying to figure out just why he’s ended up where he is.. but one things for sure.. Tyler won’t go down without a fight.
A solid 4*, easy to read and get engrossed it.. like Tyler I couldn’t stop until I knew who was behind things.. and why.
He’s left with no choice but to do as commanded if he wants the video and the body to disappear..
Tyler needs time to figure out what is going on... he couldn’t have done what the video suggested... but he saw it with his own eyes!!
Someone videoed the murder and they hold all the cards..with no recourse coming to mind he sets out to do as commanded.. pick up a briefcase.
Things quick get out of hand as the first piece in the puzzle is brought into play... and it’s a blast from the past..
More bodies son hit the floor and Tyler knows there’s only one man he can trust.. an old friend.. but does he really want to put him in danger...and does he really have a choice?
What plays out is a complex mind game as Tyler battles to say alive whilst also calculating all the different calculations going on in his head.. somethings not right here.. does he know who’s behind this? Why him after all?
The plot involves a lot of action and intrigue..the twists and turns... like Tyler the reader is left in a haze trying to figure out just why he’s ended up where he is.. but one things for sure.. Tyler won’t go down without a fight.
A solid 4*, easy to read and get engrossed it.. like Tyler I couldn’t stop until I knew who was behind things.. and why.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 169 reviews