This ingenious novel was written by Anthony Mcgowen. As I have never heard of this author I was a little unsure whether this novel would be worth the while. I referred back to the synopsis to check what other books he has written and what readers thought about them. And sure enough, there were some amazing comments.

It was the cover that intrigued me to open this novel. This story takes part in a small neighborhood and an average teen that goes to school, until he is face to face with death hims More...

FIRST IMPRESSION:
Isn't the title amazing? I love the title! And also, the knife on the cover looked pretty gruesome. So naturally, I pick it off.

WRITING STYLE:
One of the best writing styles I've ever found in literature. The sentences are never too long, and vary to keep my interest. It's astounding the amount of description the writers puts in without me realising he has.

PLOT:
The last few lines of this book... those are lines I'll never forget. They're haunting and completely paradoxic. The pl More...

Kurzbeschreibung:
An Pauls Schule regiert der Terror. Und der Terror hat einen Namen: Roth. Er und seine Gang brutaler Schläger demütigen, erpressen, prügeln - ihr Hass ist schier grenzenlos. Angst kennen sie nicht, aber sie können sie wittern wie Raubtiere. Auch Paul hat Angst, große Angst, und er kann nur hoffen, dass Roths Killerinstinkt dieses eine Mal versagt.

Zum Autor:
Anthony McGowan wurde 1965 in Manchester geboren, wuchs in Leeds auf und lebt heute in London. Bevor er sich ausschließlich More...

The name of the book i finished is 'The Knife That Killed Me' by Anthony McGowan.
I absolutely love this book it is not for the faint of heart, or non violent students. i enjoyed it because there isn't one moment there is not action. But the setting is in England and some words i had to go to google to understand. Overall this book is AWESOME.
Question. If you had a choice to get involved in the biggest gang fight ever and be remembered or stay away from it what would you do?

Paul Varderman, a secondary student in an English Catholic School, is a loner until, just as he is becoming friends with "the freaks," the school bully encourages Paul to join his gang and gives him a knife to carry as an incentive. Paul is torn between his new friends and the demands of the implacable bully, Shane.

Setting: Bleak and vicious schoolyard where pupils ally themselves with bullies or outcasts.

Characters: Teachers and adults are either vicious, weak, or liars. They provide no help t More...

Any book that opens talking about the specifics of a knife that killed them has potential. There is little doubt in the reader's mind the narrator has been killed by said knife, instantly sparking numerous questions about the events that led to it and even who was holding the lethal knife. McGowan opens the book with mystery and weaves the tale smoothly up until the stunning ending.

Paul is a likeable character who tries to fly under the radar at his school but when the bully- or most influential More...

I am not really sure what genre this book is but it is a kind of British urban fiction/thriller. It is not the flashy violence, money, and sex of an American urban fiction but has the slower build up and more emotional cruelty of British writing. I am not sure how wide the audience.

Bleak, dark, and unrelenting, not a cheerful book and no happy ending. Outcast teen gets caught up with the bully and involved in a war with another school. The teens are pretty tough, gang teens but more like knives More...

According to KnifeCrimes.Org, a charity, supported by a.o. the UK Home Office, “A knife incident happens every 25 minutes - 4 in 5 offenders aged between 12 years - 20 years and a third of victims aged between 10 years - 17 years.” With more and more children and teenagers carrying a knife when going to school, Anthony McGowan’s third novel seems to be a sign of the times, a warning as well as a message. Almost completely devoid of all of the humor and wit that was characteristic of Henry Tumour More...

The Knife That Killed Me, by Anthony Mcgowan is a pretty good book. It deals with high school drama and situations that could possibly happen in real life, from bullying to peer preassure and even love. It is an easy read, that any high school student can comprehend. Now Paul (the main character) is just another face that you see in a hallway that you don't remember. The school (how I think of it) seemed like a pretty bad school, besides the cliques/groups, the teachers were weird and mean and t More...

The book was different, I have to say. I loved how the setting was somewhere in England, but they never said it. I could just tell by all the British slang words like "pound, shagging, poof, mum, and mate", amongst other words. The book was also very dark, with a far from happy ending (rather depressing, in fact), and I don't read books like that often.

I've wanted to read this book since I saw it in Year Eight--except it was in the school library, and it was a Year 10 and 11 only book. So I practically leapt at the chance to read it now I'm old enough. It could've been better, but I was expecting a different type of book and it was still really good. I ended up feeling really sorry for Paul (I actually stopped reading once because I got that feeling where I don't want to read because I know there's going to be some public humiliation... the la More...

This book is about a High School student, called Paul Varderman, and how his life got mixed up to those of a gang. At first, Part described hating the school's gang leader, Roth, with the most infinite hate. Afterwards, when Paul stands up for himself to Roth, you see Roth suddenly being interested in Paul. Throughout the rest of the book, you listen to Paul's thoughts and you find out that he is between feeling respected and feeling disgusted since he was Roth's "mate". At the end of the book, More...

Before reading, I had heard both good and bad things about The Knife That Killed Me. And I had absolutely no idea what it was about when I started. But, wow am I glad I got the chance to read it because it was really… indescribable.

With a story unlike any other I have ever read, The Knife That Killed Me introduced me to a whole new world that I have been sheltered from my whole life. Living in a small, country town in the-middle-of-freaking-nowhere, USA, I had no idea things like this actually h More...

I've been meaning to read this for a while because we teach use it in my school and I like to have read everything that is used in the department.

I really enjoyed it. It's not overly challenging but it deals with teenage life without being patronising to the reader and the plot is interesting enough that I read it in a couple of days. The subject matter - knife crime - is definitely relevant to teenage readers, but it also deals with other mainstays of teenage fiction: relationships with friends More...

In the novel, "The Knife That Killed Me" a boy named Paul feels nothing more of an outcast at his high school. Three bullies by the name of Roth, Miller & Bates make Paul's life miserable. Until one day Roth and his friends confront Paul. From reading only 36 pages of this story i can already relate to how Paul feels, Alone. This story really captures the struggles of the students and how they have to fear coming to school. Now, Personally i don't fear coming to school and wonder how I'll ma More...

The Knife that killed me is a book i really wasnt into but i finshed reading. The voice in the book is clear and you can tell the charaters from each other. IN this book its pertty much about power and gnags. One kid gets picked on and the next day is involed in something he cant even hadle anymore. Firts he deilievers the head of a riavals dog to him and then hes the pawn in a war. And he has no choice but to play. Before a fight the boy has a reality check and things start to come together mor More...

I don't think I liked this book particularly, because it was dark, cruel, and depressing, but it's certainly well-written and compelling. The setting is a tough British school where Paul drifts between groups. He gets recruited by Roth, the cruel and conniving bully, to fight a war with their rivals at the other school. But meanwhile, he is getting to know "the freaks," who happen to be a pretty harmless and cool group of kids. Told from Shane's point of view, the book alternates between before- More...

This book bothered me. It was dark, gritty, sad and depressing yet I had to finish it. I'm from a a small white bread community and this didn't fit my "norm". The author's note mentioned that this type of fighting/bullying was becoming consistantly making the papers in England during 2006-2008. Although many of the terms/words/slang used denoted a British writer, in my head these words and theme could be Americanized and this could have taken place in Boston, Harlem, Chicago etc.

I read this as a More...

Believable story of peer pressure and bullying with a tragic outcome. Characters escaped stereotyping and the moral wasn't rammed home.

The Knife That Killed Me was a gripping, unmistakably tragic story of a teenager spiraling down the wrong path. Paul, the protagonist, was a typical high school student that dealt with normal everyday issues until he started hanging out with the wrong crowd. His school was divided between two type of "gangs." One gang was run by the school's biggest threat and bully, Roth. His violent demeanor was intimidating and sick. Roth found physical pain to be pleasant and encouraged fighting to his follo More...

Rating TBA. Or not... still haven't decided on this one yet.


This review is going to be short and punch you in the stomach and make you think deeply about your life and morals and….things. What a coinkydink because that's exactly what this book does!
Actually, ummm OK, no, this review is probably just going to be short.
It’s kind of because of spoilers but mostly it’s because I’m not 100% sure whether I absolutely loved this book or absolutely hated it.
This book is brutal and I love brutal books. S More...

The Knife That Killed Me by Anthony McGowan is a book about the life of a high school student Paul Varderman. It illustrates the struggles he goes through while he's trying to find a place to fit in at school. Paul doesn't like being noticed by people, he would much rather just be invisible. One day while in geography class, Paul gets gum thrown in his hair by the school bullies. After school that day, the baddest bully in the school, Roth, approaches Paul. He's not rude to Paul, he just says t More...

In the book the knife that kills me, Paul vanderman is having a hard time choosing what high school group he wants to be in. Their is the
Freaks who are interested in stuff such as art and music, and are also the ones who get bullied by the Jocks. There is also the Jocks, who are lead by a ripped out body builder named Roth. Roth likes to pick on Paul by putting bubble gum in his hair, knocking him over, and getting him in trouble. Pauls schools jocks and their rivals schools jocks are in a tuss More...

Interesting dilemma of good guy Paul versus bully Roth. Throw in a so-called freak named Shane who tries to keep the peace for all. No one in Paul's school is strong enough to resist Roth, except for Shane. Paul falls deeper and deeper into Roth's clutches, despite Shane doing what he can to help. Unfortunately, things don't turn out the way Paul had hoped. This is a classic tale of teacher and student bullying which, unfortunately, does nothing to dispel the fact that bullies get away with ever More...