Martina Cole is one of the renowned authors of England who has written many standalone novels in the mystery and thriller genres. I am a huge fan of Martina Cole’s gritty gangland crime thrillers, but if I’m being honest, her last few books have been an enormous disappointment. Perhaps because I felt by speed-reading it that I was being efficient, with the main aim to finish the book before the club meeting. The dangerous ways the characters relate to one another, how they love and betray, are thrown bare for us to see. As always Martina never fails to intrigue me with her foul language and intimate details and I did enjoy the book; however, it irritates me how repetitive and tedious her writing is.

Loyalty Jacqui Rose, Martina Cole 2023/2024 Release - Check Reads Loyalty Jacqui Rose, Martina Cole 2023/2024 Release - Check Reads

The main aim of the documentary was to focus on the role of the girls in the gangs, who were responsible for car theft, drug dealing, murder and robbery. I also love how most of her books are generational and you get to see multi generations of the same family and watch them grow as the decades pass. Almost every woman in this book is treated awfully, and our “heroes” consist of a psychopathic cradle-snatcher, a domestic abuser, and a womaniser who treats attachment as a fatal flaw.

I was praying that it would not seem like the same old recycled gangster stories that often happens with authors who have written countless books. The writing was completely awful, there was no character development, and the only suspense and mystery in the whole book was completely predictable by the end of the first 10 chapters (which is not kind of bad, considering it's 156 chapters long and it's marketed as a suspense/thriller novel). We meet a young, naive fifteen year old girl and journey with her as she falls in love with a dangerous man who will ultimately become the king of his own criminal empire.

Betrayal by Martina Cole | Goodreads Betrayal by Martina Cole | Goodreads

I was hoping for strong, no nonsense characters, a bit of violence, plenty of swearing and drama and I received that ten fold! The only thing this exercise in personal lobotomisation achieved was to make me wonder how bad a Martina Cole book has to be to get rejected. I don't remember MC's repetition of characters in her earlier books (which I could not put down) and suspect "More No 1 Original Fiction Bestsellers than any other author" stickers on MC's books does not apply to every book written by her.Instead of just leaving you with a few descriptions here and there of him, adding details to his character every now and then, she describes him in pretty much the same language every other chapter. Phillip is an evil nutjob who is obsessed with public image and everyone is in danger if they do not obey him. the over all plot is a little dramatic but the bottom line is what made me love the book, sometimes those whom we love the most are the ones who destroy us the most. However as Aiden's reputation grows his arrogance and unpredictability grows with it turning Aiden from protector to a possible danger to his family and business. I took ages getting to this book as it has taken a fair amount of slating on many book clubs, for a while fans have commented on Cole's book just not being a shadow of her former works.

The Family by Martina Cole | Goodreads The Family by Martina Cole | Goodreads

The characters are pretty much 2 dimensional throughout except the wife of the lead character who sadly just petered out. So angry because of how expensive it was, a waste of a whole weeks reading, it took me so long because I never got into it, such flat writing and un imaginative characters. Having grown up as the child of a prostitute, Cathy’s life becomes miserable, which leads to a disturbing ordeal as she does not have any other choice or anywhere else to go.Hey, don't get me wrong, the woman's used this strategy to her advantage and I respect that, she's discovered her target audience and she's again playing them to her advantage. The story is powerfully told, and with each chapter being no longer than 4 pages, it's an easy book to pick up and put down, meaning that you can easily read it whilst moving round the house: cooking; making a cup of tea; sitting on the toilet etc. This is only the second book I have read by this author and already I am a huge fan and want to read more.