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Editorial reviews

Review
'A hard-hitting and gritty read' -- Sun 20061201

Irish crime family rules the rackets in 1970s London.British crime writer Cole's first novel to be published in the United States is a gritty exploration of the rise and fall of a peculiarly Celtic mob dynasty. The depth of characterization that distinguished The Sopranos and The Godfather is sorely lacking here. Patrick Brodie is the undisputed kingpin of drug, gambling and prostitution operations in London's vast underworld, thanks to his carefully forged alliances with muscle - thug enforcers like the Williams brothers - and ethnic power bases, such as the Caribbean African element, led by Spider and his Rastafarian crew. Pat marries Lil, shy illegitimate daughter of Annie, who's always resented Lil, especially when the latter becomes her meal ticket. Lil and Patrick are a true love match, although as Lil gives birth to four children, she grows increasingly impatient with Patrick's irregular hours - "skulduggery" is not a nine-to-five job. Patrick, ever vigilant for incipient plots to topple him, takes spectacular revenge on a few errant snitches, former allies and crooked cops, but new mobsters are amassing influence. The traitorous Williams brothers aim to unseat Brodie and Spider once and for all. At home, Lil, pregnant with her fifth, brutally punishes her second son, kiddie sociopath Lance, for pushing a six-year-old girl off the school bus. Shortly before eldest son Patrick Jr.'s long-planned lavish tenth birthday party, the Williamses ambush and assassinate Patrick in the family foyer. In the aftermath of Patrick's removal, his archrival Lenny takes over, eliminating the brawny but brainless Williamses. Lil is forced to prostitute herself to Lenny to support her family. But Patrick Jr. is getting older and stronger every day and bears an uncanny resemblance, in looks and temperament, to his father. Under the radar, Lance, abetted by adoring granny Annie, is committing his most egregious crimes in the Brodie home. Cole's repetitious analyses of family dynamics and gang politics renders the book at least a third too long.A dismal sojourn in some very unpleasant company. (Kirkus Reviews)

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Review

'A hard-hitting and gritty read'

(Sun )

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Product Description
Highly acclaimed for her hard-hitting, uncompromising and compelling writing, as well as her phenomenal No. 1 success, Martina Cole is the only author who dares to tell it like it is.

CLOSE has been a runaway success in hardback and is the story of the women who are left behind.  Set in London's dark and violent gangland, it tells the tale of a gutsy mother and her two sons, and their lives in and out of jail.  With her characteristically haunting writing and visceral subject matter, Martina Cole, has written yet another compulsive bestseller - her best yet.

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Synopsis
Highly acclaimed for her hard-hitting, uncompromising and compelling writing, as well as her phenomenal No. 1 success, Martina Cole is the only author who dares to tell it like it is.CLOSE has been a runaway success in hardback and is the story of the women who are left behind. Set in London's dark and violent gangland, it tells the tale of a gutsy mother and her two sons, and their lives in and out of jail. With her characteristically haunting writing and visceral subject matter, Martina Cole, has written yet another compulsive bestseller - her best yet.

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About the Author
Martina Cole was born and brought up in Essex. She is the bestselling author of thirteen novels set in London's gangland, and her most recent two paperbacks, as well as her latest hardback, have gone straight to No. 1 in the Sunday Times on first publication.

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Customer reviews

review by: abby0077 date: 2008-07-14 rating:
boring, a regurgitation of her other books
This is the fifth Martina Cole novel I have read, and where I enjoyed the first few, by the time i got to this one, I could predict the lines that were going to come out the characters. More than half of it feels like it has been written just to bulk out the book and meet the required number of pages. The theme is getting boring, although I realise that this is the Martina Cole style, but how many ways can you tell a story of London gangster families who love their mums/kids/women, swear too much, smoke endless fags etc etc? i think if this is the extent of Martina Cole's writing skills, her publishers should have left it at a 4 book deal.

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review by: date: 2008-05-26 rating:
Possibly the worst book I have ever read

I have read several novels written by Martina Cole - DANGEROUS LADY, THE TAKE, THE KNOW and TWO WOMEN and I must admit that I thought each one was good, if not better than good. This one however is in a different league. I rarely order books months in advance of the publication date but CLOSE was one of the few I chose in 2006 for this costly indulgence. I have been annoyed ever since! If I had written my review back when it arrived (I read the book immediately) I am afraid that censorship controls would have prevented my words being published here. I was angry because I spent hard-earned money on a book which, now that I have had more than 18 months to collect my thoughts, is complete and utter rubbish and when I think of the number of trees that were sacrificed in the making of the tens of thousands of copies, well it brings a tear to my eye and I'm no tree-hugger I assure you. As so many others have commented, Martina Cole seems to have nothing at all in the way of new ideas for a storyline or character creation; while delving into her own portrayal of the criminal underworld she (once again) offers no balance by stereotyping the police as useless airheads, clearly demonstrating her lack of knowledge of police procedure and instead depending heavily on the characters she manufactures. And early on in the tale the reader wonders if some or all of these characters are nothing more than re-workings of very similar characters in previous Martina Cole stories. The men tend to be seedy, repellent and abusive and whatever sex takes place is devoid of love or erotica, indeed incest seems to be a running theme through several Cole novels of late. It was horribly fascinating the first time, but when it's recycled as it has been in this novel, it holds absolutely no appeal whatsoever and gives me the impression that this once admired writer has lost all sense of direction and creativity. I would strongly urge you not to buy it new or second-hand, nor even borrow it from your local library. Your time spent reading it, no matter how short, would be totally wasted.

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review by: date: 2008-04-21 rating:
Terrible audio book
This has got to be one of the worst audio books I have ever listened to. Although the storyline is good, whoever abriged it for an audio book should have listened to how it comes accross. It's as though someone said ok, abridge this book for me, but you can only have one line from each page, or if vital, a paragraph. So Lily works in a factory, bad life at home, meets Patrick, gets married, has baby, and that's in the first chapter. When you listen to a Martina Cole audio book, it's nice to know what makes the characters tick, how they've come to be who and what they are. The Take abridged works ok, but not this book. I tried to sell it on eBay and nobody wanted it, even at a bargain price! That says it all!

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review by: J xx date: 2008-03-20 rating:
not so bad
This is the first book I have read of Martina Cole and I really enjoyed it... looking at the other reviews I am keen to read others now if this is her worst.... I agree sometimes the language was over the top but a fun read all the same.


review by: date: 2008-02-14 rating:
Not worth a Read !
Agree whole-heartedly with the above/below comments. Was a big fan previously but I found this book very hard work and unenjoyable. The repeatition was endless and it got very boring reading the same thing over and over, page after page just to pad out the storyline, which didn't even really go anywhere. And the characters were even inconsistent! I don't think I will be buying any more of Ms Cole's books after this, which is a shame because she has written some very good stories. Hugely disappointing.

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