Synopsis
It starts quietly enough. A tick-tick-ticking you can hear in your ear. Tinnitus, you think. It will pass. But it doesn't. It gets worse - and then you pass it on.
Before you know it, it spreads. Elsewhere across the globe, it emerges: small outbreaks at ?rst, but then suddenly it's a plague - and only days later it is already killing people.
In an increasingly affected north London school, teacher Kit Chaplin is struggling to understand what he is witnessing. Even Lilly Slater, his partner and an eminent vaccinologist, can't work out what's happening. As it spreads, little by little, they are inexorably drawn into the mystery behind the illness. And what they discover will change the world as they know it...
Exciting and urgently contemporary, this piercingly insightful novel tells the story of a global catastrophe through the eyes of the three people at the heart of the storm.
Publisher information
- Publisher: Transworld Publishers Ltd
- ISBN: 9780857526618
- Number of pages: 368
- Dimensions: 240 x 162 x 34 mm
- Weight: 592g
- Languages: English
Customer Reviews
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Brilliant!
The world is just emerging from Covid so a new pandemic is all the country needs. It starts out innocently enough- a ticking noise that others can hear fo... READ MORE
Topical thriller
This is the second book I have read by Simon Mayo and once again one I have enjoyed reading. The plot involving a very contagious new virus is very topical... READ MORE
Well written but chilling !
Quite a chilling read given what we have gone through in the last couple of years, but well written and you have to keep going to find out what happens. T... READ MORE
Excellent thriller
An excellent thriller, based on the impact of a virus spreading across the UK and the world. It was suspenseful, tense and moved at a cracking pace. I did ... READ MORE
Technical Thriller
Let's start by saying Mayo's 'Mad Blood Stirring' is an absolute amazing novel, a triumph in every way.
His thriller writing is less enjoyable for me and... READ MORE
gripping opening chapter
An interesting idea and gripping opening chapter, but maybe I was less ready than I thought to read a pandemic book and I struggled in places. I also found... READ MORE
Fast paced, tension laden and very topical
I really enjoyed this thriller. Fast paced, intriguing and thought provoking, there’s actually a hell of a lot about it that is entirely plausible, even if... READ MORE
A brilliant thriller about a different pandemic
Many thanks to the author, publisher and NetGalley for a free ARC of this ebook.
After reading this in little over a day, it's finished and so am I! Breat... READ MORE
Another contemporary masterpiece
Just when we thought we were recovering from a world pandemic, along comes another threat to mankind.
Ever topical, Simon Mayo does it again with a bri... READ MORE
Very clever story and a great read
This is another page turner from Simon Mayo. A clever book - with the fear of Covid still not over we are confronted with the threat of another pandemic th... READ MORE
Tense, Gripping Race Against Time
Tick Tock by Simon Mayo
Having read Mad Blood Rising and Knife Edge by Simon Mayo I could not wait to get started on Tick Tock and I definitely was not di... READ MORE
A brilliant edgy book
Having read Knife-Edge by the same author, I was looking forward to reading this, although harbouring a little trepidation, in case it wasn’t as good. I ne... READ MORE
A real page turner!
I was sent a copy of Tick Tock by Simon Mayo to read and review by NetGalley. Wow! What a page turner! I truly could not put this book down. I didn’t b... READ MORE
Tick Tock - time is running out!
I read this in virtually 24 hours. The pace is unrelenting. Once you start, it's impossible to put down.
The book begins with the discovery that people a... READ MORE
Another great book by Simon Mayo
This is the second book by Simon Mayo that I have read, and again it's a belter.
I read it over two evenings, both times staying up far later than normal a... READ MORE
Tick Tock
I took a punt on Knife Edge and was very pleasantly surprised being as I only know the author from his DJ side of things. So I was quite excited to get my ... READ MORE
Totally gripping!
This book gripped me from the start. First the strange development of the ticking in people's ears, then the rapidly spreading panic gripping the populati... READ MORE
Brilliant Story Line
A great book with a quite unique storyline. It's not unheard of to hear ringing in your ears but ticking that everyone around you can hear as well, is quit... READ MORE
Time is of the essence … you’ll be gripped
4*. Tick Tock will have you gripped and ironically you will lose all track of time!
Kit is a single father to Rose and an English teacher in Marleybone. ... READ MORE
A Cracker Of A Read!
*4.5 stars *
Tick Tock’ takes place post Covid, and I would probably have chosen not to read it whilst Covid was at its very worst, however, having read S... READ MORE
An Exciting Read
The concept of this book is both interesting and quite different .The characters are very well written ,the story is fast paced and very exciting.Very well... READ MORE
A thriller of a read
A Head of English notices a strange phenomenon that is affecting his pupils and then spreads. This is a dramatic tale of a pandemic and I really wasn't sur... READ MORE
Excellent Book - Thought Provoking
Well, this is a different book for me to read/review! I do not mean different to be an euphemism for 'not too good', it is a very good book.
When I starte... READ MORE
Great book, highly recommended
Tick Tock by Simon Mayo is a very well written thriller. It wasn't too predictable and I understood the characters. I highly recommend this book
A new pandemic; a race against time
Having read and thoroughly enjoyed Knife Edge I was excited to read Tick Tock. Simon Mayo is not a one-trick pony!
Following the Covid pandemic a new tinni... READ MORE
Tick Tock
This book is set mainly in London. Kit Chaplin is a school teacher, has one daughter, Rose and they are getting over the loss of his wife/mother. Kit ha... READ MORE
Fascinating and thought provoking
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 c... READ MORE
Recommended if you like your thrillers to have real tension and great characters!
As usual in my reviews I will not rehash the plot - you should read this for yourself though!
Having read Simon Mayo's previous novels, I was delighted to... READ MORE
Great read!
This was a very scary realistic story about manufacturing and weaponising viruses and bacteria. Some great characters and non stop action to track down a c... READ MORE
Great characters, intense and thought-provoking.
Tick Tock evokes the events, fear and helplessness of the last pandemic whilst creating a world where something as devastating but different occurs. You ar... READ MORE
We have not long recovered from Covid, surely another virus cannot take hold?
Rose is sitting with her friend when she hears a clicking sound coming from Harriet’s ear. What is going on? This is just the beginning of our adventure as... READ MORE
Dramatic and Exciting Thriller
Kit, Head of English at a London school, hears an odd clicking in his classroom. Rose, Kit’s daughter, laughs when she hears the clicking, because its com... READ MORE
Tick, Tock by Simon Mayo
Tick, Tock by Simon Mayo is a very clever and fascinating story about a manufactured virus which is unleashed and it’s effects on the world wide populatio... READ MORE
Decent
I have read one of Mr Mayo's previous outings, Knife Edge, before and although I thought the middle was a bit of a miss for me, the start and end were grea... READ MORE
Tick Tock
⭐️ 4 ⭐️
Tick Tock intrigued me with its synopsis and then pulled me onboard from beginning to end.
I really enjoyed Simon Mayo’s writing style, it’s easy... READ MORE
A thrilling read
Thank you to the publisher for the invite to read Tick Tock by Simon Mayo.
Wow, wow, wow - this is a cracker of a read which I thoroughly enjoyed from b... READ MORE
Brilliantly exciting contemporary thriller!
As Kit Chaplin is teaching his Year 12 class at Marylebone College School he hears a click coming from a student and it isn’t until his daughter Rose’s bes... READ MORE
Just wow!!
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... READ MORE
Mayo's best book yet!
Tick Tock marks Simon Mayo’s third foray into the world of adult fiction and, in my opinion, it’s his strongest offering yet.
This is a pandemic-set story... READ MORE
Another Pandemic Is On It's Way
It starts quickly enough. A tick tock ticking you can hear in your ear. Tinnitus, you think. It will pass. But it doesn't, It gets worse - and then you pas... READ MORE
Very tense!
I'm glad I waited to read this one, as a book about a future pandemic would have been hard to cope with during COVID. I certainly hope the story of this on... READ MORE
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