Right from the off, I was drawn into the story of fifteen year old Nick Hayes, the prodigy of a famed mathematician, and his D&D playing friends. It's January 1986, and Nick has just been diagnosed with Leukaemia. So not exactly the best of starts for the main protagonist of the book! But despite the devastating news, he still tries to live a typical teenage life; going to school, trying to avoid the school bully as well as a wannabe gangster psychopath, being awkward around girls, and meeting up with his friends over a game of Dungeons & Dragons. But not long after Mia joins the group's weekly D&D gaming night, a mysterious stranger seems to be stalking Nick.
The narrative is told in the first person through Nick, and he comes across as a very fleshed out and likeable character, as do the rest of his D&D friends, a great group of characters with a decent amount of development despite the book being not that long. I loved the banter between them too, you really got the impression that this group of friends, despite their diverse backgrounds, were really close.
Being set in the past you'd expect a lot of nostalgic references to the era the story is set in, hence a lot of the Ready Player One / Stranger Things comparisons which did kind of hit you over the head a bit with them. Whilst there were quite a few references to 1980's London peppered throughout, and you certainly get the idea of it definitely being set in the 80's (the world building is also very well done), I didn't think it was too much for the story to get bogged down and get lost in them, and allowed the story to flow really well.
Some of the use of the scientific and mathematical language came across very convincingly but was still easy enough to follow with getting too lost or confused. The explanations for some of the goings on made perfect sense and played against the usual tropes, which is always good to see.
'One Word Kill' is a thrilling read about a group of friends who get drawn into a time travel adventure from an author whose work I've not been disappointed by yet. Recommended.
