Maura's Game |
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Martina Cole
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Pages: 480 (Paperback)
ISBN: 0747269661
Pub: Headline Book Publishing
Pub date: 2002-10-21
Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 232638
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:
hard to get into (0/0 people found this helpful)
After 160 pages I have finally given up. I just cannot get into this book.
There is so many people involved it's quite hard to keep track of who is who.
I bought this as part of a triple pack and after reading everybody's comments I will still give the others a try though.
Make sure you read "Dangerous Lady" first (0/0 people found this helpful)
This is the sequel to Dangerous Lady, and you have to make sure you read them in the correct order. Also, don't leave too long between books as this one assumes you are still fully familiar with the characters and events in the first book - it doesn't have any of the re-caps that most follow-up books have.
i really enjoyed Dangerous Lady and actually felt it was a complete story and should have been left as it was. Writing a sequel, largely featuring the next generation of the family, seemed to me to be milking the success of the first book.
Having said that, this is an excellent book, though not quite as good as the first one. Without giving the plot away, this book picks the story up 8 years after the previous one ended. Maura has become less involved in the family business, but dramatic events ensure she has to get back in the thick of it to resolve escalating problems.
I enjoyed Dangerous Lady because it followed the family from the 1950s to the 1990s, watching many of the characters grow up and start the family firm. It was much, much more than a gangster story, but Maura's Game is little more than a story of London gangland. It is however, a very good book and if you enjoyed Dangerous lady, I'd recommend you read this. It just lacks that extra dimension that Dangerous Lady had.
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!
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Categories
Amazon.co.uk places this book into the following categories:
Books -> Subjects -> Crime, Thrillers & Mystery -> Thrillers
Books -> Subjects -> Fiction -> Authors, A-Z -> C -> Cole, Martina
Books -> Subjects -> Fiction -> General
Books -> Subjects -> Fiction -> Contemporary Fiction: 1970 Onwards -> Women’s Popular Fiction
Books -> Refinements -> Language (feature_browse-bin) -> English
Books -> Refinements -> Age (feature_two_browse-bin)
Books -> Refinements -> Format (binding_browse-bin) -> Paperback
Books -> Refinements -> Condition (condition-type)