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The Knife That Killed Me

3.6 of 5 stars 3.60 · rating details · 218 ratings · 67 reviews

Paul Vanderman could be at any normal high school where bullies, girls, and annoying teachers are just part of life. But “normal” doesn’t apply when it comes to the school’s biggest bully, Roth—a twisted and threatening thug with an evil agenda.

When Paul ends up delivering a message from Roth to the leader of a gang at a nearby school, it fuels a rivalry with immediate con...more

Hardcover, 224 pages

Published April 13th 2010 by Delacorte Books for Young Readers (first published April 13th 2008)

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Best Realilistic Fiction

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Best Teen Horror/Suspense/Thriller

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Jun 04, 2012 Shashank Aggarwal rated it 5 of 5 stars

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

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Jan 02, 2012 Watermelon Daisy rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

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

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Dec 21, 2010 Kerstin rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

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

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Oct 03, 2011 T.martin rated it 5 of 5 stars

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?

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Sep 05, 2010 Mara S rated it 3 of 5 stars

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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Jan 13, 2011 Jan rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: teenbooks, contemporary

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

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Oct 14, 2010 Kari rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: arc-or-review-from-publisher-author, books-i-own, read-teen

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 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 kid at school- shows interest in him, he reacts like most teens would do and begins to go along with what he's asked. Proving himself in unlikely ways , Paul soon finds himself immersed in a difficult situation and McGowan handled his motivations and responses very realistically, strongly showing the traits of this character. In the short time span this book courses, Paul shows a striking amount of growth and understanding, mixed with a more typical teenage type of response to certain situations all coming together to create a stunning character.

It is not only Roth whom Paul begins to show an interest in but the school "freaks" as well- the ones that stick with their supposed leader Shane and while they are picked on, they don't feel the same wave of terror associated with Roth. Paul doesn't fit in but he finds a way to, craving their companionship in a heartbreaking yet empathetic manner. This group holds its own hierarchy and its own set of unique characters, helping to drive this story towards the ending.

The plot, while seemingly simple, has a few shocking twists and even when the outcome seems clear, McGowan throws in something else before coming to the ending, tying everything together in a very memorable, resonating method. This ending will take your breath away and at least for the few moments after you've read the last words will leave you lost in thought. McGowan's writing is strong but very much keeps in time with a UK teenager, reminding the reader the setting of the book and even holding some times where Paul simply can't explain his thoughts because, despite what is happening around him, he is a teenager. From the disturbing contents of the mysterious package and message Paul delivered for Roth to the innocent crush Paul develops, The Knife That Killed Me is a swift read with a strong point driven home by the final page.

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Jul 11, 2010 Jennifer rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: teen-thriller-adventure, teen-horror

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

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Nov 16, 2010 jenni... rated it 1 of 5 stars

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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Jun 26, 2011 Ringo The Cat rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: young-adult, ya, children-s-fiction

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 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, The Knife that Killed Me, nevertheless feels as poignant.
The central storyline is that of Paul Varderman, who could be your average teenager, trying to stay under the radar at school so as not to be picked upon, bullied… or worse, by the school baddie, Roth. He fails miserably. Paul both hates and admires Roth and gets sucked in by his scare tactics: “Roth was someone I hated, should have hated, more than any other person. Hated because he was a bad kid, cruel and vindictive. The kind of kid who would beat another to a pulp and then piss n his face. The kind of kid who would get his thicko mates to throw chewing gum in my hair to help pass the time in a boring geography lesson. But all he had to do was say those simple words [that Paul was thinking and using his brain] to me, and I was happy.” (p.43) When Paul is given a knife by Roth, the already menacing story takes on an even more urgent tone, urgent in an almost fatalistic way. There are only a few outcomes to this story, but none of them can ever be happy.
What is probably even more remarkable than the portrayal of Paul, Roth or any of the other school kids (what could have been plain stereotypical characterization is actually quite balanced) is the bleak atmosphere that McGowan sketches, a bleakness that not only characterizes certain inner city schools, like the one Paul attends, but also Paul’s entire living circumstances (his home life is not ideal, for instance), and with Paul the living circumstances of an entire generation. This is where The Knife that Killed Me differs completely from Henry Tumour. Henry Tumour had humor – even though it was often of the sarcastic kind – as a redeeming factor in Hector Brundy’s nerdy life, but almost none of that is present in The Knife that Killed Me. Instead you get an almost naturalistic portrayal of the evil that kids can do, what they will do, led by circumstance and opportunity. In this way The Knife that Killed Me is strongly reminiscent of Robert Cormier’s The Chocolate War. The tension is raised high by Paul’s story, and the cat doesn’t feel the knife-interludes throughout the novel were necessary to show the menace of the knife. The power of fear was made abundantly clear already, and in fact, the cat felt detracted by those interludes.
With The Knife that Killed Me Anthony McGowan has managed to show what peer pressure, less than ideal circumstances and adolescence can lead to in its most extreme form. Like the knife itself, he does this with razor-sharp prose, and never sugarcoats. Though the outcome of this story is inevitable as well as tragic and could (should) be read as a warning about knife crime, McGowan does so in a way that never sounds moralizing or patronizing. Spot on.
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May 02, 2011 Ricki rated it 2 of 5 stars

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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May 19, 2011 Marcus rated it 4 of 5 stars

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

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Oct 10, 2010 Lilly Anne rated it 2 of 5 stars

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.

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Sep 19, 2012 Yangyang Cheung rated it 4 of 5 stars

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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Nov 18, 2011 Dani rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: realistic

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

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Dec 06, 2011 Åd®¥ån P. rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: 8th-grade-books, read-books-in-my-life

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

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Jun 03, 2010 Alex Bennett rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: arc, own

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

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Sep 05, 2011 Mike Steven rated it 3 of 5 stars

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

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Oct 25, 2011 Boone.tanner rated it 3 of 5 stars

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

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Feb 14, 2011 M added it

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

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Aug 29, 2010 Erin Sterling rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: psc, read-in-2010, story, teen-fiction, teen-realistic

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

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Jun 07, 2010 Victory rated it 3 of 5 stars

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

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Oct 08, 2008 Kathryn rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

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

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Oct 01, 2012 Fiona Chan rated it 4 of 5 stars

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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Apr 13, 2010 Eleni ( La Femme Readers ) rated it 4 of 5 stars

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

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Apr 20, 2012 Jo added it

Shelves: hometown-glories-uk, 2012, library, ya, hometown-ya

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

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Apr 02, 2011 Kiara rated it 4 of 5 stars

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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Apr 02, 2011 Nakita rated it 5 of 5 stars

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 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 that they need to chat sometime. When this time comes around, Paul has began to make a few new friends, the "freaks" of the school. Paul stands up for one of them, Maddy, in French class when the teacher is being mean to her. The leader of the "freaks", Shane, invites Paul to his house to hang out and meet everyone else. When Paul is leaving school that day, Roth finds him. Roth talks to him, and Paul finds out what Roth wants him to do. Roth wants Paul to deliver a package to Goddo, one of the Temple Moor kids that Paul's school has been rivals with for a long time. Paul does this, afraid of what Roth might to do to him if he doesn't. Once Goddo opens the package, he realizes how twisted and cruel Roth is. In the package is the head of Goddo's pitbull puppy, Suzie. To get back at Roth, the Temple Moor kids spray paint rude things about Roth on a wall at the school that everyone looks at. This action means war. Everyone starts talking about the big fight that's going to go down between the two rivals. Roth wants Paul to get involved in it, but Paul is still undecided. While all of this drama is going on, Paul starts to realize that he likes Maddy, one of the freaks. He asks her to go see a movie with him, but when she doesn't show up, Paul feels embarrassed and betrayed, so he decides to ditch the "freaks" and fight with Roth. During the fight, something goes horribly wrong and it will change Paul and his friends' lives forever. At the end of the book, Paul feels worthless and he deeply regrets the decision he made. This book shows the consequences that can come out of bad decisions. It's a great book that shows the emotions one has while trying to find friends in a new place.

Level Three Question:
Is it ever acceptable to put our happiness before the safety of a group? (less)

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Mar 08, 2011 Brad Culp rated it 3 of 5 stars

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

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Dec 10, 2011 Alma Ramos-McDermott rated it 4 of 5 stars

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

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Quotes from The Knife That Killed Me

“Because, you see, the cruel gods are stronger than the kind gods, and they will always beat them in the end. You doubt it? Look at the world, my brother, my sister. And so the spirit of Roth is here with me also, and battles for my soul. And I don't know who will win.” — 5 people liked it

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