Maura's Game

click here for more details, find new or used items

Martina Cole

Used from £1.80

Pages: 480 (Hardcover)

ISBN: 0747269653

Pub: Headline Book Publishing

Pub date: 2002-10-21

Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 367022

Editorial Review:

The return of Cole's queen of the criminal underworld, Maura Ryan, in Maura's Game is welcome indeed. Since her first novel Dangerous Lady (which introduced Maura), Cole has broadened her appeal with such novels as Two Women, a grim picture of domestic abuse that coincided with a government initiative on the subject. The new book has no sociological concerns: it's just an extremely powerful journey through a dark underworld where life is cheap.
Maura Ryan has left her life of crime behind her after a big score, and fondly imagines that she can settle down with the man she loves. But the life she has left behind is full of enemies who have plans to make things very tough for her, unless she can make things tough for them first. The proceeds from her last gold-bullion robbery can't help her: she needs all her wit and sinew to survive.

The queasy feeling that comes from being forced to identify with such a ruthless character is a carefully calculated part of Martina Cole's tactics, and works to unsettling effect in this hard-edged thriller. We are never comfortable reading Maura's Game, and that's exactly what the author had in mind. If your taste is for cosy, middle-class thrillers, this is most definitely not for you. But fans of Martina Cole will know exactly what to expect--and boy, does she deliver. --Barry Forshaw

Reader Reviews:

Brutal detail but made me want to keep reading (0/0 people found this helpful)

I know this is fiction but it is a scary thought that anything like this is happening in the real world. At one point in the book a gangleader is described as living in the same street as some Liverpool players - gems like that being dropped into the narrative make you feel that the stories are more real life than you first think.
I love Martina Cole's underworld, although it feels like a guilty pleasure as there are so many inhumane things going on. Although it is always interesting to see that there runs through her criminal classes a law of what is acceptable and what it not - its only when the rules are broken that there is real trouble.
This book is an unpleasant read and all the more fascinating for that with an amazing hard family who have cracks in their armour just like anyone else (just a bit more difficult to find than most!).

nasty and boring (0/2 people found this helpful)

This is the first Martina Cole book I have read and I'm afraid it will be the last. I am only glad that I did not buy it, but borrowed it from a friend.

I could not follow the characters and where they fitted into the family and frankly I couldn't care.

The language was foul and many of the descriptions of violence revolting.

Not So Pleased! (2/3 people found this helpful)

This is the only Cole novel I really could not get into. I have read every single one of her other books at least 3 times each, but I have never even completed this one. My friend (another avid Cole fan), says the same. I have attempted to start this one a few times, but I just couldn't care about the characters at all. I found the storyline completely repetitive of her other novels and far too 'Gang-Landish' for the likes of me. I have loved all of her other books, but would say to anyone, please don't let this be the first Martina Cole novel you read. You might not read another afterwards, and you really would be missing out!

FANTASTIC READ (4/4 people found this helpful)

EVERYTHING YOU WANT TO ESCAPE

I HAVE READ ALL MARTINA COLES NOVELS, MY FAVORITES IN THIS ORDER WERE DANGEROUS LADY, MAURAS GAME & GOODNIGHT LADY. APPARANTLY MARTINA RECEIVED THE BIGGEST EVER ADVANCE FEES FOR A 1ST NOVEL PRIOR TO THE PUBLICATION OF DANGEROUS LADY AFTER THE PUBLISHER HAD READ JUST THE FIRST FEW CHAPTERS, READ THESE 3 BOOKS AND YOU WILL UNDERSTAND WHY

Good stuff (6/8 people found this helpful)

This is the first Martina Cole book I've read, and I must say that I was reasonably impressed with it. In Maura's Game we follow Maura Ryan who is the semi-retired head of Britain's biggest and most notorious criminal organisation. In this story she is called back into the criminal underworld one final time.

The author clearly tries very hard to make her female lead a convincing gangster leader, and to a large extent succeeds. However at times, it seems a little unrealistic, and the Godfather role seems more suited to a male. But the biggest success is the way Cole brings out the family element to the criminal mayhem and disorder...she shows how Maura has both a soft side as well as her hardened one. The Ryan family is an organisation by both blood and business, and it is this that creates intrigue in this novel, which is done quite well.

Similar Products