Synopsis: A British Crime Thriller.
After Billy Reeves had survived a poverty ridden and violent childhood on a council estate in Newcastle he thought he had it all; a loving family, money and respect but a face from the past with a point to prove and muscles to flex is out to bring his world crashing down on him.
He turns down an offer of a job with Tyneside’s most paranoid and psychotic gang lord and is faced with bent police, a corrupt judge, an army of bouncers and the knowledge that if he makes one wrong move in this game of cat and mouse his family will end up imprisoned, abused or worse.
Billy is going to have to work very hard just to keep everyone he cares about alive and that means the gloves are coming off…
My Rating: 4/5
My Review:
I received a copy of this book from the author in exchange for an honest review. My first impression of this book when I saw the title and cover was…in all honesty..”meh”. I am definitely the type of person who gets drawn in by a title/cover. However, I am glad that it did not put me off as this book was great!!
It has a “Trainspotting” feel throughout the book and by that I mean it is written from all the characters different perspectives and it is cleverly done. You do not get confused or lost in the story at all. And had it been written straightforward, without each characters version, I am not sure it would have the same feel to it.
And I must say…you can tell this is based in Newcastle for sure…by the end of the book I think I even had a bit of a Geordie accent…ok, not really, but I liked it. Made the characters more real and alive.
I truly enjoyed the characters in this book. Vince Merry, Carlos, Billy, Clarty (sort of lol) Spanish…to name a few…and of course Judge Maxwell…well there is a twist in itself!! The storyline had me hooked and there were twists throughout the book which kept me interested.
I will say though, as a Senior Probation Officer I got slightly miffed at the comments about Terry’s Probation Officer…I eventually settled down somewhat and realised the author obviously did a good job as my emotions were certainly fuelled…and by the way…you should hear what we say amongst ourselves vs what we have to write in our notes Mr Rivers (joke..ahem)…ha ha ha
This is a fabulous book…gritty, on-the-edge, full of suspense and a definite must read. I am certainly keeping my eye out for this author in the future