Loyalty: The brand new novel from the bestselling author

Product Information

Betrayal is purely and simply the everyday story of criminal folk, from 1981 until 2016. They are a large East End family, headed by Reeva, a fiery Irishwoman, who has five sons and one daughter, all by different fathers, and all of mixed blood. Keep your friends close, your enemies closer and your family close of all, because betrayal comes in all shape and sizes...

Revenge by Martina Cole | Goodreads Revenge by Martina Cole | Goodreads

I had an idea of what I was letting myself in for reading BETRAYAL. Martina Cole has this magic of being able to create characters and families, all with their own different traits, but blend together really well. I have read many gangland books inc all of the authors previous but got to say this for me was probably the grittiest, hard hitting and genuinely brutal one yetCharacter development. Rather than showing how and why her characters change, she just suddenly has them as different people. Now, I realize that she jumps forward in time four times in the book. That does not excuse her from not explaining why Breda suddenly loves her brother more than she loves her own son, especially when she said an irritating number of times previously that her son was the most important person to her and that he "meant the world" to her. She also had this infuriating habit of spending a chapter or two on a character and making that character seem important and then completely dropping said character from the plot never to return with nary an explanation to placate the reader. She lost her most interesting characters this way.

Loyalty by Martina Cole | Headline Publishing Group, home of Loyalty by Martina Cole | Headline Publishing Group, home of

The actual story and characters are mediocre in my opinion. I didn't connect with any of them. I had no sympathy for them and seeing Michael escape at the end, starting a new life with his new girlfriend and baby didn't gall me in a way that I think might have been intended.Of course because the chapters are so short, you're not to expect much in terms of content, and the impact of key events in the novel is often lost. Nevertheless, the characters and the story are what hook the reader, and see them through to what is a very interesting and effective ending, the author achieving the desired crescendo in an otherwise slow paced story. stars. This is the first Martina Cole book I’ve read through a recommendation so not my usual style. Although I can appreciate the true nature of the plot and darker side of gang life I didn’t like the writing style. I found Coles writing extremely repetitive and predictable. The characterisation was as good as ever with the feisty, mouthy ex good time girl Reeva mother of the O'Hara family who likes a drink but has a heart of gold and would do anything for her children. Although Cole has never been one to provoke thought, or make my mind surpass its small limits, sometimes a crime novel is something I savour for its simplicity.

Martina Cole - Book Series In Order Martina Cole - Book Series In Order

At Holly Brookes Children’s Home, the two girls unite in the face of horrific abuse and form an unbreakable bond of loyalty. I opened this book expecting to be pleasantly surprised by this "family" - like perhaps all my preconceptions of what the book would be about would be debunked. But all my predictions were correct, and even then I was disappointed by the writing. If you like Martina Cole and have been waiting for this book you will love it but take a breath every once in a while as it is hard going in places with the realism I had to take a break from reading it because I had heard the line ‘he doesn’t suffer fools gladly’ one too many times and it still came up multiple times when I resumed the read.I went off reading MC, But again found myself buying it after telling myself for the first few weeks I wasn't going to bother. This might also be because I think that Declan, one of the characters that seems to be Michael's right hand man, is behind the revenge. And I think Michael's comeuppance is still waiting for him. But I think I might be reading far too much into it. No other reader has made a similar suggestion from what I can see. And yes, I am aware it’s a gangster novel, so the characters don’t have to be nice. But the characters I’m expected to root for just have no reason for me to care for them besides the fact that I’m reading this story from their perspective. Even if you like easy-reading novels. Even if you enjoy "summer reads." Even if you are a die-hard Cole fan. Do not read this book. Or forever bathe in your own wasted time of badly written words and a weak storyline. Short, snappy chapters keep the pace of the story moving so not to get bored. This wasn’t an issue for me - I prefer shorter chapters. I find that I retain more of the story that way and don’t get bogged down with unnecessary content.