Broken

Set in familiar Cole territory of East End London, Broken is every bit as gritty and compelling as The Ladykiller. The story as it unfolds is gruesome, uncomfortable and peppered with violence but it is also carefully and thoroughly researched. Martina Cole knows what life in Grantley is and does not shy away from using the strong language of the street in addition to enough cockney rhyming slang to put any would-be pearly king to the test. A well-paced, gripping page-turner with strong, credible female characters, Broken definitely fits the unputdownable category. --Sarah Crawford

Reader Reviews:

Terrible (0/0 people found this helpful)

I have read a few of Martina coles books (Good night Lady, Two Women, Dangerous lady, Maura's Game, the runaway)so you could say i'm a fan, but this has to be the worst book she has wrote so far, I was extremley disappointed with this book it was boring and depressing all at the time, I really struggled to finish book not impressed in the slightest

Disappointing (0/0 people found this helpful)

Having enjoyed Cole's The Runaway and The Ladykiller, I had high hopes for Broken. While Cole is no literary genius, the other two books had been enjoyable page-turners with interesting characters, but having said that, they were still full of anachromisms and sloppy mistakes (a Gerry and the Pacemakers song is memorably credited to Freddie and the Dreamers in The Runaway, for example). Broken, however, is a mess. What begins as an interesting mystery of children disappearing, apparently being dumped by mothers who appear to be innocent of the crime, degenerates into a farce. The side story of Patric Kelly and Boris is tediius, and the ease with which Willy disposes of the Russian and his henchman is laughable. There are also incomplete sentences and poorly punctuated sections which opens up the question of what good Cole's proof reader/editor is. Also, the leading character Kate Burrows has degenerated from the feasible, likeable character of The Ladykiller into a two-dimentional, hard-nosed and yet overtly sentimental foul-mouthed thug. We are forever being reminded of how beautiul Kelly and Kate are, and how big a heart Willy has - pass the sick bag. Kate's mother is a boring cariceture of down-to-earth Irish "good sense", and Kate's daughter, who may have added some much needed complexity (as she did in The Ladykiller) has been all but written out and despatched to Australia. Also, there is way too much unbelievable and over-long dialogue, which demonstrates a lack of confidence in describing plot nuances by the author.

I have given the book two stars rather than one as the fist 200-or-so pages are compelling. And talking of the pages, while there are over 600 of them, there are not many words per page, perhaps an average of six or seven per sparse line. So, rather than 600-plus pages, this book could easily have been half that, or even less.

In conclusion, Broken isn't a terrible book - it IS readable, but well before the end I realised that in this case at least, Martina Cole has given the novel an appropriate title. She might also want to consider branching out and away from the London Irish community, as she has done it to death.

Another Martina Cole winner (2/2 people found this helpful)

This is my fourth Martina Cole book after reading `The Know', `The Ladykiller' and `The Take' and as with the other 3 `Broken' didn't disappoint. Broken has the same feel as the previous three as all the books are set in the same area and all involve the criminal underworld and the evil that pulses through it. In `Broken' the story starts with the discovery of a childs body on a dump. The child can't be identified as nobody has come forward to report him missing, which begs the question `who wouldn't report their child missing'.

DI Kate Burrows is struggling to make sense of what's going on with the children and mothers of Grantley when her relationship with local hardman Patrick Kelly throws up another problem for her to deal with. What follows is a novel that twists and turns from beginning to end and a whole lot of surprises along the way. `Broken' is an excellent book and as with previous Martina Cole books it kept me gripped from beginning to end. There are several stories going on at the same time but it's not until the very end that they're all tied together......I love that aspect of these books. Broken was thoroughly enjoyable and I highly recommended it.

Not as good as The Know (3/3 people found this helpful)

Martina Cole is fast becoming one of my favourite authors and needless to say this novel is fast paced and powerful. It concentrates on the ongoing relationship of two of the previous novel's (the Know)main characters, Kate and Patrick. But needless to say this can be read as a standalone novel.
Here we have quite a disturbing case of peadophillia, again set agaist the backdrop of Grantley South London. The plot concentrates on the emotions of the main characters, against the cold hard facts of the circumstances of the case and of Patricks growing difficulties in the Underworld of London.
Certainly packs a punch as in any Martina Cole novel-not for the faint hearted but thoroughly enjoyable with an added twist just at the very end!

Great read (0/3 people found this helpful)

Martina Cole

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