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Deadline

Geoff Major (Goodreads Author)

4.66 · Rating details · 47 ratings · 39 reviews

Adam Ferranti was a talented American journalist, who moved to England to escape the issues surrounding his fall from glory at the Washington Post; only to be thrust back in it when a mysterious serial killer makes him his confidante.

DS Stephanie Walker is a member of the West Yorkshire Police. Whilst tough and results-driven at work, she hides the abuse she suffers at ho ...more

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Paperback, 446 pages

Published September 1st 2020

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· 47 ratings · 39 reviews

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Aug 31, 2020 "Avonna rated it it was amazing

Shelves: gifted-from-publisher

Check out all of my reviews at: https://www.avonnalovesgenres.com

DEADLINE by Geoff Major is an exceptionally chilling serial killer/spy thriller/British police procedural/mystery/suspense/thriller mash-up. Every time I thought I knew what was going on, Mr. Major would throw in another plot twist or red herring that completely sent me in another direction and the ending shocked me!

Adam Ferranti had the story of his career at the Washington Post pulled out from under him and quashed by the FBI. Af Check out all of my reviews at: https://www.avonnalovesgenres.com

DEADLINE by Geoff Major is an exceptionally chilling serial killer/spy thriller/British police procedural/mystery/suspense/thriller mash-up. Every time I thought I knew what was going on, Mr. Major would throw in another plot twist or red herring that completely sent me in another direction and the ending shocked me!

Adam Ferranti had the story of his career at the Washington Post pulled out from under him and quashed by the FBI. After that disappointment he becomes a war correspondent in Afghanistan and then takes a position with the Yorkshire Post in England. Down and out, he suddenly begins to receive mysterious calls from a serial killer.

Detective Sergeant Stephanie Walker is a talented star at work, but abused by her husband in their home. DS Walker is in charge of the murder investigation, when Ferranti comes to the police station with his story of being contacted by a serial killer who has set them on a deadline until the next killing. At first the two butt heads, but eventually Stephanie starts to like and have feelings for Ferranti.

Stephanie is pulled from the case officially when her husband is considered a suspect. She continues to be updated by the DS Hobbs who replaced her and works the case with Ferranti. But nothing is as it seems with MI5, a U.S. Senator and long buried secrets about to emerge as well as a serial killer who continues on his deadline.

Clear some time because once you start this book you are not going to want to put it down. It starts out as a common serial killer investigation, but the plot quickly morphs into so much more. The characters are all fully fleshed and many have secrets that are revealed cleverly throughout the plot. The ending completely shocked me and I love when a story can do that to me. I was completely and pleasantly surprised by this debut author.

I highly recommend this book! This is a book you are going to want to get your hands on as soon as possible and I know everyone will be talking about it, especially the ending.
...more

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Sep 11, 2020 T STROM rated it it was amazing

I loved it, it kept me gripped and although I would have liked to read it in 1 go, I had to make do with 4. Luckily I woke up at 4am today so I read a huge chunk this morning until I had to get up for work and then finished the last 20 or so pages (sooo frustrating not to have quite finished before work) while I ate my lunch! Pace was perfect, writing was easy to read but gripping, plot was complex but not overwhelming, I can’t wait for your next book (get on with it!!). Not saying more as I don ...more

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Dec 11, 2020 Rowena Andrews rated it really liked it

Shelves: crime-fiction, thriller

Deadline is an exceptionally complex thriller that wonderfully straddles several genres, and refuses to be narrowed down, and that reach is reflected in the plot. Major has created a far-reaching storyline that pulls in not only forces from different countries, but also multiple agencies and the media, and manages to balance all those different elements beautifully.
This was a book that I was eager to read from the moment I read the premise, and it more than surpassed my expectations, and I knew Deadline is an exceptionally complex thriller that wonderfully straddles several genres, and refuses to be narrowed down, and that reach is reflected in the plot. Major has created a far-reaching storyline that pulls in not only forces from different countries, but also multiple agencies and the media, and manages to balance all those different elements beautifully.
This was a book that I was eager to read from the moment I read the premise, and it more than surpassed my expectations, and I knew it was going to be good from the start. The sheer complexity of the plot had me hooked from the very beginning, and this isn’t one of those books where a clue or a lead will unravel everything for you. There were red herrings, conflicting information, just what you would expect from an investigation and circumstances as far-reaching as this, and every time I thought that maybe I had worked it out, there was another twist in the story, and I loved it. Deadline surprised me on so many levels, kept me guessing and on the edge of my seat to the end, and Major managed to bring all of that together into a surprising, and very satisfying conclusion.
There was an interesting cast of characters, all of whom brought something different to the table, and while there were quite a few characters to keep track of, DS Walker and Adam Ferranti are utterly captivating as main characters, and it's great to see their relationship develop throughout the investigation and the course of the book. I enjoyed the depth that Major gave his characters, and how they came to life on the page, filled with personality, flaws and secrets which only added to the narrative.
The pacing was excellent, with the perfect amount of tension, action, and development and this is very much a book that you don’t want to put down once you’ve started. There was a very real feeling of consequence and time running out throughout the book, characters that you couldn’t help but engage with, and a storyline that will leave you wanting more. Highly recommend for anyone who loves crime fiction and thrillers that break the mold.
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Dec 09, 2020 Amanda rated it it was amazing

If there’s one thing I like doing, it’s discovering new authors and Geoff Major is certainly a new author for me. However, having enjoyed reading ‘Deadline’ as much as I did, I will certainly be reading more of his work in the future. I loved ‘Deadline’ but more about that in a bit.
It didn’t take me long to get into this story. In fact the synopsis intrigued me and I felt compelled, in the nicest possible way, to dive straight into the story itself. For once I behaved myself and did as I was tol ...more

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Dec 12, 2020 Sharon rated it really liked it

Holy cow! That was a shocker. Mr. Major has written a complex and alarming psychological thriller that had me glued to the pages.

Adam Ferranti is a journalist with a penchant for drinking and missing deadlines. And now he is the target of a serial killer who has the Metropolitan Police all scrambling to find who is killing random people in the U.K.

Detective Sergeant Stephanie Walker is lead detective on a case of multiple gruesome murders supposedly done by the same man. With the assistance of ...more

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Sep 26, 2020 Lel Budge rated it really liked it

DS Stephanie Walker works for the West Yorkshire Police, she’s strong, determined and known for her toughness on the streets. But she’s also the victim of domestic violence, but hides this from her colleagues as she feels she can’t show any weakness in this male dominated world.

Adam Ferranti is a journalist, he’s in contact with someone who seems to have inside information relating to a serial killer and his victims…eventually he takes the information to the police when someone he knows dies.

Tha ...more

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Sep 03, 2020 Rachael Stray rated it really liked it

I really thoroughly enjoyed Deadline, I read it in two sittings.

There’s a lot going on, lots of players involved and some different timelines so I would read this when you don’t have other distractions.

But please don’t let that put you off because the story is really good and really draws you in.

This is so much more than just a serial killer at large being hunted by police, there’s political scandal, multi government agency corruption both in the UK and USA as well as the murders themselves.

Ever ...more

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Sep 24, 2020 Allan Cust rated it really liked it

Enthralling and entertaining book. Great pace to the story, page turning plot with plenty of twists and turns. Comparable with anything in the genre. Really enjoyed the atmosphere and environment that it created and the characters that inhabited the story. Definitely worth a read.

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Sep 07, 2020 Jenni Shields rated it it was amazing

Absolutely fantastic read. I am a huge fan of this genre so to read something this captivating as a first novel from Major was incredible. I was on the edge of my seat throughout. His style of writing transported me into the scenes as I was reading them and I really felt like I was living the story.

Can’t wait for more!

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Sep 21, 2020 Amanda Summers rated it it was amazing

What a fantastic debut from this very talented author. I was hooked from the first page. So much so I finished the book in one day! Bang went the other plans I had for the day!!
I love a good crime thriller and this was so well written, engaging, lots of twists and turns, layers of information and locked in right to the last word. So sorry it had to end! Hoping for another great story soon!!

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Sep 22, 2020 Samantha Lingard-Lane rated it it was amazing

I couldn't put it down. I needed to know what had happened, what was happening and what was going to happen. I must of said a few times out loud "didn't expect that"
Truly a brilliant read. Need the next one. ...more

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Oct 25, 2020 Jon rated it really liked it

An excellent debut novel that crime / thriller genre with a bit of political espionage thrown in. The story genesis is in the late 70s and has it's roots in the UK and the US but the action is set in the recent past and predominantly set in Yorkshire. The main characters of Walker and Ferranti are strong and develop well throughout the book and the supporting cast of characters also have sufficient depth to make you care about them. The plot moves along at a great pace and has a degree of comple ...more

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Sep 01, 2020 Jon rated it it was amazing

This is a very skilfully developed crime thriller which had me gripped to the end, and what a twist of an ending it has!

The book has a grittiness which is brought to bear on both the characters and the Yorkshire setting for the majority of the action. The author takes great care to develop a range of characters giving the story far more depth than your average "each read" crime thriller. No spoilers here, but I was genuinely disappointed when my favourite character died in a real twist part way ...more

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Aug 30, 2020 Patrice Gotting rated it it was amazing

My Thoughts: this book was incredible, it’s a long one for a crime thriller, but one that I really struggled to put down!

We follow Adam, a hot shot American journalist who has moved to England and is now working for the Yorkshire Post, he gets to work and gets a phone call telling him about a murder that has already happened telling him to go to the police and “heed the note”

What follows is truly gripping, complex but yet easy to follow, the characters were so deep and complex that I found mysel ...more

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Sep 16, 2020 Elaine Sheridan rated it it was amazing

Absolutely gripping, with twists, turns and big characters. Devoured this book in two sittings! Highly recommended.

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Sep 13, 2020 Louise rated it it was amazing

I read this book over four days and thoroughly enjoyed the twists and turns. There are characters you like and characters you don't and then others that you change your mind on. I was guessing "who done it" right the way through and there's certainly a twist at the end! ...more

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Sep 13, 2020 Jenn Richards rated it it was amazing

This is a real page turner, in fact I couldn’t put it down! Lots of interesting characters and twists and turns right to the end. A great read 👍🏻

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Dec 30, 2020 Ryan rated it it was amazing

I have to start this review with an apology to my partner. The twist at the end of this book was so surprising that I just blurted out what had happened.

From that apology you can tell you can tell that I enjoyed and was shocked by the end of this book. Geoff Major has created monsters in Deadline. Almost every character that you meet in this book has a reason for instant suspicion. The plot slowly takes shape with multiple threads coming together in a tight knot around both the doomed and the un I have to start this review with an apology to my partner. The twist at the end of this book was so surprising that I just blurted out what had happened.

From that apology you can tell you can tell that I enjoyed and was shocked by the end of this book. Geoff Major has created monsters in Deadline. Almost every character that you meet in this book has a reason for instant suspicion. The plot slowly takes shape with multiple threads coming together in a tight knot around both the doomed and the unsuspecting. I found this book impossible to put down, impossible to second guess and very twisty.

Adam Ferranti is exactly the character that you expect from the blurb. An American journalist who ends up in the UK working for the Yorkshire Post whilst reeking of alcohol. An employee so untrusted the paper send a taxi to collect (or wake!) him every morning. Through his friendship with the taxi driver, Khatri, we get to know Adam as well informed, intellectual and occasionally empathic individual but not one who is delighted to be social. As we get to hear more about his history we find out the “one that got away” the Pulitzer Prize that never was and Adam’s continual quest to get a big story. That is until the phone rings at his office desk and an anonymous voice tips him off about murder scenes which the police have attended and also have yet to attend. Major grips you as a reader and doesn’t let go as you follow this dramatic story with the clock ticking down to the deadline.

The police characters in this book are an interesting bunch. The lead investigator, the hard nosed DS Walker, takes centre stage to begin with but gradually we meet the team around her. The promotion focussed boss, Hobbs, the surprise new sidekick for Walker and the other investigators from around the country facing their linked murder scenes. Major does a brilliant job of showing the raw competition between these colleagues who are also desperate to stop the body count, but also get some personal kudos out of the investigation. I loved the hunt and the way in which seemingly unconnected characters seamlessly fitted together into a bigger picture.

At the same time as we follow the police investigation we start to see glimpses of activity in the USA, and then the tenuous links begin to appear…..

I’m not going to say anymore as I don’t want to give away the ending (again! ☹) but this is a book full of twists, turns, intrigue and murder that will satisfy even the most cynical reader. This is an easy five-star read and one that I heartily recommend. ...more

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Dec 04, 2020 Kate A rated it really liked it

Shelves: 2020-reads

Well, this is certainly going to be a hard book to write a review for, I feel like I won’t be able to say anything without giving away some of the plot which I definitely don’t want to do, so forgive me if I sound somewhat vague at times.

I was keen to read this book after seeing some very good reviews and being very intrigued by the description, I was expecting something good but I wasn’t expecting just how many times I would be shocked by the revelations in this story. The plot was so complex t Well, this is certainly going to be a hard book to write a review for, I feel like I won’t be able to say anything without giving away some of the plot which I definitely don’t want to do, so forgive me if I sound somewhat vague at times.

I was keen to read this book after seeing some very good reviews and being very intrigued by the description, I was expecting something good but I wasn’t expecting just how many times I would be shocked by the revelations in this story. The plot was so complex that I’m surprised that I managed to keep up, fair warning there are a lot of characters that you need to keep a track of, but it all gets resolved without any loose ends.

The pacing was brilliant, this is the kind of book that I felt like I didn’t want to put down and especially as the story starts to come to its conclusion I was transfixed. I think it’s possibly just a quirk of the copy I received but we end up seeing from the perspective of quite a few different characters, which was great to help reveal the story but the switch was sometimes within the same paragraph which could be a little confusing and break the flow of the story a little, but as I said it could just be a copy issue.

I really enjoyed how far-reaching this was, it involves the media, the police, politicians, criminals and intelligence from both the UK and the US, I quite liked that I never knew how the characters would all converge into the story and in which way their storylines would be significant. I will say that there was an occasion where I did wonder about the location of a character because they weren’t where I would imagine and there was a part of a character's storyline that I wasn’t 100% sold on but I can’t say anymore because everything in this story is so intrinsically linked and it didn’t affect my overall enjoyment.

I do wish I could say more but once you read it you’ll understand, what I will say is that if you enjoy complex and intense storylines with a lot of unexpected surprises then you are in for an absolute treat.

Originally posted on everywhere and nowhere ...more

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Dec 15, 2020 Sharon Rimmelzwaan rated it it was amazing

Deadline by Geoff Major is the type of book that I tend to love. A proper cross genre story that is part spy thriller,serial killer, police procedural full of mystery and suspense. One that is hard to pin down to one genre but boy, I found it easy to read, but hard to figure out! Geoff Major has skilfully woven a tale that leads you up every blind alley he could find. A story that definitely keeps you on your toes from the start.
Adam Ferranti was working at the Washington Post as a journalist wh ...more

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Dec 31, 2020 Kimberly rated it really liked it

Deadline is a thrilling crime drama that deals with love, loss, and revenge. I wasn’t sure how I would feel about this novel by reading the blurb, but I am happy to say that I enjoyed it a great deal. I tend to love crime procedurals, and this one does not disappoint.

I knew from very early on who the murderer was, but what I didn’t expect was how the story would play out. How would the murderer come to justice? The ending blew me away. I wasn’t expecting it at all. It was shocking and, to be hon ...more

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Oct 02, 2020 Lorraine Parkes rated it it was amazing

The story captures you immediately, slowly leading you in to its grip until you just cannot put it down until you have finished it! The author very cleverly weaves a tale most sinister, where characters and situations are not always what they seem to be! And for those of you who think you have it all worked out, believe me, expect the unexpected! With such a strong storyline I was happy to forgive the obvious small errors that always seem to come with first novels. I thoroughly enjoyed this firs ...more

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Oct 05, 2020 Louise Wainwright rated it it was amazing

I’m not usually a crime thriller fan but was pleasantly surprised by this book. I loved getting to know the characters, there was enough detail so you really got to know them well. The “crime” sections weren’t too graphic to give me nightmares but were enough that you knew what was happening. I was hooked from the 3rd chapter and desperately wanted to get to the end to know who did it (I never would have guessed) the plot had many twist and turns to keep me hooked and I thoroughly enjoyed readin ...more

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Oct 09, 2020 Jackie Nash rated it it was amazing

Well what can I say! I spent my weekend reading this thrilling book. Excellent read and a book I simply couldn’t put down, much to my husbands displeasure as he had to cook Sunday dinner as I was so near the end I wanted to finish reading it!! Gripped me till the very end. I do hope there will be a sequel! I can imagine it as a film. I can’t wait to read another book from Geoff Major as I really enjoyed this one. My husband is now reading it and guess what I had to cook his dinner last night!! T ...more

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Dec 10, 2020 Dawn rated it it was amazing

"Deadline" really kept me guessing all the way through. Just when I thought I had things figured out... BAM! Another plot twist! If you're like me, you won't be able to stop thinking about this book until you're done reading, and then thinking a bit more after. I found the plot really intense, and the larger-than-life characters were perfect for this book. I'm looking forward to more books from Geoff Major in the future.

This review was written voluntarily and is entirely my own, unbiased, opinio ...more

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Oct 04, 2020 Daniella Wainwright rated it it was amazing

Brilliant, pacy thriller / crime drama with many plot twists, and really engaging characters. I read this book in three sittings because I really struggled to put it down. The plot is fairly complex, but all loose ends are tied together by the end, and you wonder why you didn't spot the plot twists at the end coming sooner! The writing is really descriptive - was surprised this was a first novel - really felt like I could visualise the characters - this would make a brilliant TV series! ...more

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Oct 09, 2020 Sharon Lohse rated it it was amazing

My sister sent me this book and I loved it. I think that nearly everyone was the bad guy at one point in my brain and the ending was a surprise. I did not get a lot of sleep last night as I could not put the book down. A definite read if you like a plot that twists and turns with characters that intertwine.

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Oct 03, 2020 Lucia K-M rated it it was amazing

I’m not going to write a lot about the book because I am not good at writing a review without accidentally revealing something; and I would hate to spoil this amazing book by such silly mistake. So I’m just gonna say: Do yourself a favour, book two days off work (you will need it as you’ll have some sleepless nights), stick a sign outside your door ‘do not disturb unless you are hurt’, stock up on food and drink and get reading. It’s a rollercoaster you will be happy to be on, it’s a twisty dark ...more

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Jan 02, 2021 Rebecca rated it really liked it

Absolutely brilliant book! Kept me hooked from the start.

There are a lot of characters to keep up with but don’t let that put you off as it is well worth sticking with!

Cannot wait for any future books by Geoff Major.

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Oct 01, 2020 Jilly Graham rated it it was amazing

This is an absolutely page turner with lots of twists and turns. I genuinely couldn't put it down. A brilliant first book for Geoff and perfectly poised for many more. ...more

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