Tick Tock: A Times Thriller of the Year

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Books last, they endure,” he says. “I love going into a bookshop, or the supermarket while doing the weekly shop, and seeing copies of my novel. There’s something very gratifying about that. It feels solid, like an accomplishment. And I do like that.” Itch is currently being turned into an opera, commissioned by Opera Holland Park and written by composer Jonathan Dove and librettist Alasdair Middleton. It will premiere this year. It's not a typical route for a children’s novel, but the drama, adventure and subject matter has a great appeal and Itch has also been made into a TV series. So does Simon picture his books for the screen, or stage, as he writes? Wright, 68, admitted the station wanted to “do something different in the afternoons”, adding, amiably: “Let’s give somebody else a go.”

I read ‘Knife Edge’ by Simon Mayo last year and thoroughly enjoyed it so I was very much looking forward to reading his latest novel. The radio presenter come author writes well and along with intruging storylines and interesting characters the novels make entertaining reading. I think you only had to listen to the endings of the various programmes I was doing to know it’s a very personal affair and when things are changed and ended in the style that happened to me, that certainly has an effect on you. An excellent conspiracy theory thriller, it's exciting, full of danger... it's riveting and hard to put down' There has been plenty to celebrate in the interim. He adores being on Drivetime at Greatest Hits, is drawing a young fanbase with Kermode on their Sony podcast, and was awarded a MBE last year. Ah yes, but I didn’t want to write about a book about the pandemic we’ve all just lived through because I didn’t think people would want to read that,” he says. “I just wanted to write something effective.”Before you know it, it spreads. Elsewhere across the globe, it emerges: small outbreaks at first, but then suddenly it's a plague - and only days later it is already killing people. The station’s controllers decided he needed a co-host for his show, and paired him with Jo Whiley. Things did not gel, and they failed to connect with listeners. The fallout was as swift as it was brutal: after six months, Whiley stayed and Mayo walked. A copy of this book was kindly provided to me by Netgalley and Doubleday in exchange for an honest review. Thank you! **

Big organisations often get this kind of thing wrong, my guess is what happened in 2018 was handled badly and hopefully we have all moved on and worked out how to adjust, and just hope it doesn’t happen to anyone else. Also in 2012, Simon Mayo was the announcer for the concert celebrating Queen Elizabeth II's Diamond Jubilee. Which books has Simon Mayo written? This second, solitary career suits him very well. He liked the quiet time in the pandemic, although also loved having his three grown-up children at home with himself and his wife Hilary Bird, a former Radio 2 producer.

Simon Mayo talks to Shania Twain about her new music

Then we rewind to four days earlier where a girl is described as an ‘irate fourteen year old girl” and two paragraphs later it’s her father who’s an ‘irate thirty nine year old man’. Give me a break! Moving onto the dialogue, which was awful and stilted, making it impossible for me to give a hoot about characters who talk nonsense. The character development wasn't as strong and could have done with more dept, but then again this story is mostly focused on the plot and action with the strange new disease. I personally didn't mind too much, because the characters had enough going for them to be able to connect to them anyway. Is everything they do completely credible? Maybe not. But it sure made for a very exhilarating ride, and it's definitely made me want to try more of this author. Well, BBC Radio presenter Simon Mayo sure can write a darned good thriller! I really enjoyed his last book Knife Edge and eagerly anticipate this one and I’m most definitely not disappointed!