Knife Edge

DI Harland #2

by Fergus McNeill

The perfect book for fans of serial killer thrillers and crime writers such as Peter James, Mark Billingham and Peter Robinson


He didn't intend to let her get so close

But Robert Naysmith 's girlfriend Kim has become important to him. So he decides to tell her his deadly secret. He wants her to recognise the power he holds.

He hopes he won't have to kill her

Detective Inspector Harland hasn't forgotten the serial killer who got away from him. But with nothing to go on, he fears he will never bring him to justice.

Until he is seconded to investigate the brutal murder of a woman in her Bristol home. A random attack, a murderer who has carefully covered his tracks . . . alarm bells start ringing.

Then Harland meets Kim. One last game of life and death is about to begin.


Praise for Fergus McNeil

'A chilling game of cat and mouse that should keep you awake long after bedtime. DI Harland is a welcome addition to the growing ranks of British detectives' Peter Robinson, bestselling author of the DCI Banks series

'Let's welcome Fergus McNeill to the ranks of British Crime fiction innovators; he has found a darker shade of noir' Quintin Jardine, bestselling author of the Constable Bob Skinner series

'Creepy, compelling and completely convincing' Erin Kelly, bestselling author of He Said/ She Said

'A gripping first novel' Irish Independent

Genres: Thriller, Crime, Mystery

352 pages, Paperback

Published May 6, 2014

About the author

Fergus McNeill has been creating computer games since the early eighties, when he started writing interactive fiction titles. Over the following years he became well-known in the industry, both for his own content, and his adaptations of other authors’ material, including working with Terry Pratchett to create the first Discworld game.
Moving from interactive fiction to interactive movie adaptations, Fergus set up and managed the development studio for SCi (now Eidos) where he co-wrote and directed voiceover scripts for a number of games including the award-winning Kingdom O’ Magic.
Now CEO at an iPhone game development studio, Fergus lives in Hampshire. He is 43, married, with a teenage son. Eye Contact is his debut novel, and the first of a three-book series.

Reviews

[Vicky · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fergus McNeill has been on my ‘top 10 favourite crime writers’ list ever since I read his debut, Eye Contact , last year. Needless to say the sequel, Knife Edge, was one of my most anticipated books of the year and I’m glad to say that McNeill didn’t disappoint. While Knife Edge seemed a bit slower paced than its predecessor, all in all I really enjoyed it.

The book pretty much starts where the previous one ended so it won’t make much (if any) sense if you haven’t read Eye Contact yet. Serial killer Robert Naysmith is on a holiday on a remote island and, seeking recognition, he is just about to tell his girlfriend his deadly secret. How do you go about confessing such a thing? How will Kim react? Will she try to get away or will she stay with him? These are the questions Knife Edge focuses on while it follows Kim’s journey after Naysmith’s revelation.

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[Penny Little · Rating 4 out of 5]

Second in a series - even better than the first one. Loved the storyline and psychology and the way it's written.

[Houlahan houlahan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really, very very good. I like the deep psychology of the serial killer angle. Also the detailed descriptions of tiny British towns and small cities. Interesting lead detective. I hope we hear more of him.

[CriminalRepurcussions · Rating 3 out of 5]

Spoiler Alert. I mention plot and style so please do not read if you don't want to know.
This is the sequel to book 1: "Eye Contact", which was terrific. This however, dragged to the point of skimming. What was the Editor doing?!
If the first two books were written as one debut book, it could have been a cracking thriller. Perhaps the author was ill-advised to separate into two volumes. There are sections of overly long description and introspection laying out every thought, second thought, counter-thought, second-guess, little side-thoughts in italics, endless descriptions of every scene - Readers can pick up the mood, setting, and characteristics without being spoon-fed every minute detail.
It's meant to be a thriller, not an anaesthetic, it's not literary fiction which by nature is usually mainly descriptive, but the pace isn't here.
"Knife Edge", from the outset, focuses on continual neediness of the characters to the point of boredom :.. the villain's neediness for his girlfriend's submission in order to control her; her pathetic neediness for him to validate her very existence, also of the detective and her sister and everyone; constant delving back often into the detective's personal loss - his error of going along with the woman's need of him, and her manipulations, until he lost credibility whereby he should have been drummed out of the service.
The final confrontation scene was a bit Hollywood, un-original, predictible. The ending could have left a reader considering whether the detective survived his career after participating to "rescue" her (again), when his friend knew of the friendship with the woman, therefore, did the friend, too, become complicit in the knowledge of hiding a crime when a stabbed body may wash up, suicide being assumed? There were enough clues to place the detective at the scene. It was left to our imaginations whether he had a crises of conscience and owned up to being there.
And the woman, if charged, could have invoked the Battered Wives defence. Moving on ....

Book 3, "Cut Out" is terrific ! What a refreshing change: a terrific read with twists and turns, concisely written. The series hero obviously survives this drama, incredibly, when he should have been sacked, but, no more stories...His lapses of judgment and personal involvement make him a bigger idiot than the idiot everyone claims "Pope" to be.

To his absolute credit, this author has improved with experience. Looking forward to another tight story.
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[Rebecca Bradley · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’ve been in a bit of a reading blip for about the past two months to be honest and where I was reading 2-3 books a week, I have been lucky to read 2 books in a month recently and reading this slowly affects how I interpret a book. I like to get into it and really feel it, but when you’re bitting and bobbing with it and never really getting a feel for it before you put it down again, it’s difficult to assess how you feel about it. That’s why there have been so few reviews from me of late.

I started Knife Edge in a similar vein, a steady slow read, but I was lucky in that I had read the previous book to this, Eye Contact, so I knew the characters involved and already had a feel for them. You can find my glowing review of Eye Contact Here. The writing was still the wonderfully written style I had come to expect of McNeill from his debut novel and I was mesmerised by what was playing out between Naysmith and his partner. How a killer tells his girlfriend what he is and how her reaction is made somehow believable.

Then something changed. I got my reading mojo back with this book. I found I couldn’t put the last third down. On the cover of the book it says

"Three people know the secret. Only two will survive."

so I knew that out of Naysmith, Kim and the DI Harland, one of them wasn’t going to make it by the end of the novel and what I can tell you is McNeill is really clever because it’s not clear-cut at all as to who is going to die out of the three. I was racing through the pages and my mind was constantly going through scenarios and then changing them. All possibilities were open as to who could die. It is brilliantly written and fantastically executed. It’s smooth and explorative of human relationships as well as being exciting and murderous. It is so well-balanced. I’m really glad I found McNeill’s books. I’m looking forward to reading more by him.

With thanks to Fergus McNeill and the publisher for my copy.

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

This continues from where eye contact finishes, so make sure you read them in the right order. I was fortunate enough to be able to read them back to back. The storyline isn't quite so fast paced as eye contact but this didn't detract from the story at all. It focussed a lot more on the relationship between different characters and the inner turmoil faced by Kim. An excellent accompaniment to eye contact and I would definitely recommend them both.

[Thebooktrail]

Visit the locations in the novel here :

Knife Edge

[Mary · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good read. Villain very scary, some really good twists in the plot.