Join Amazon Prime and get unlimited Free One-Day Delivery. Already a member? Sign in.

 

or
Sign in to turn on 1-Click ordering.
 
   
More Buying Choices
197 used & new from £0.01
Have one to sell? Sell yours here
 
   
Close
 
 
Share your own customer images
Search inside this book

Close (Paperback)

by Martina Cole (Author)
2.3 out of 5 stars See all reviews (51 customer reviews)
RRP: £7.99
Price: £5.99 & this item Delivered FREE in the UK with Super Saver Delivery. See details and conditions
You Save: £2.00 (25%)
o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o
In stock.
Dispatched from and sold by Amazon.co.uk. Gift-wrap available.

Want guaranteed delivery by Tuesday, July 14? Choose Express delivery at checkout. See Details
37 new from £0.91 156 used from £0.01 4 collectible from £2.00
Other Editions: RRP: Our Price: Other Offers:
Hardcover £18.99 £18.99 173 used & new from £0.01
Paperback (Export/Airside/Ireland ed) 25 used & new from £0.01
Mass Market Paperback 10 used & new from £4.57
Hardcover (Large Print) Order it used
Audio CD (Audiobook) £15.65 £13.31 8 used & new from £7.60
Audio Cassette (Audiobook) £52.95 £52.95 Order it used

Frequently Bought Together

Close + Faces + The Take
Price For All Three: £14.89

Show availability and shipping details

  • This item: Close by Martina Cole

    In stock.
    Dispatched from and sold by Amazon.co.uk.
    This item Delivered FREE in the UK with Super Saver Delivery. See details and conditions

  • Faces by Martina Cole

    In stock.
    Dispatched from and sold by Amazon.co.uk.
    This item Delivered FREE in the UK with Super Saver Delivery. See details and conditions

  • The Take by Martina Cole

    In stock.
    Dispatched from and sold by Amazon.co.uk.
    Eligible for FREE UK delivery on orders over £5 with Super Saver Delivery. See details and conditions

Customers Who Bought This Item Also Bought

The Take

The Take

by Martina Cole
3.1 out of 5 stars (38)  £3.86
Faces

Faces

by Martina Cole
1.4 out of 5 stars (118)  £5.04
The Know

The Know

by Martina Cole
4.2 out of 5 stars (34)  £5.49
The Runaway

The Runaway

by Martina Cole
4.3 out of 5 stars (26)  £5.49
Broken

Broken

by Martina Cole
3.9 out of 5 stars (42)  £5.24
› Explore similar items

Product details

  • Paperback: 672 pages
  • Publisher: Headline (3 May 2007)
  • Language English
  • ISBN-10: 0755328612
  • ISBN-13: 978-0755328611
  • Product Dimensions: 17.4 x 11.2 x 4.8 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 2.3 out of 5 stars See all reviews (51 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 5,759 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

    Popular in this category:

    #13 in  Books > Fiction > Authors, A-Z > C > Cole, Martina

    •  Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?

Product Description

Review

'A hard-hitting and gritty read'

(Sun )

Product Description
Patrick Brodie knows exactly how far he's prepared to go to get what he wants. And he wants it all.  Now.  Before long, Patrick has become a legend in his own lifetime.  Violently. 

Lily Diamond is different from the kind of woman Patrick is normally attracted to.  But together they are determined that their children will have everything they didn't.  Until the unthinkable happens and Lily is left on her own to look after their family in a dangerous world.  The Brodies must stay close to survive.  But as everyone knows, your sins will find you out.

See all Product Description
Inside This Book (Learn More)
Browse Sample Pages
Front Cover | Copyright | Excerpt | Back Cover
Search inside this book:

Tags Customers Associate with This Product

 (What's this?)
Click on a tag to find related items, discussions, and people.
Check the boxes next to the tags you consider relevant or enter your own tags in the field below
(3)
(2)
(2)
(2)
(2)
(1)
(1)
See all 8 tags...

Your tags: Add your first tag
 
See most popular tags

What Do Customers Ultimately Buy After Viewing This Item?

Close
57% buy the item featured on this page:
Close 2.3 out of 5 stars (51)
£5.99
The Take
13% buy
The Take 3.1 out of 5 stars (38)
£3.86
The Runaway
10% buy
The Runaway 4.3 out of 5 stars (26)
£5.49
The Ladykiller
10% buy
The Ladykiller 4.5 out of 5 stars (41)
£4.99
Explore similar items
 

Customer Reviews

51 Reviews
5 star:
 (5)
4 star:
 (10)
3 star:
 (4)
2 star:
 (10)
1 star:
 (22)
 
 
 
 
 
Average Customer Review
2.3 out of 5 stars (51 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
Share your thoughts with other customers:
Most Helpful Customer Reviews

 
13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars Atrocious, 12 Mar 2007
This review is from: Close (Hardcover)
I was a huge fan of Martina Cole, but am totally disappointed by this book. If I hadn't know better I would have thought it was written by someone else. There is so much unneccessary text and repetition that the book could have easily been told in half as many pages. Cole should work on the basis that if you haven't got anything good to write about - don't write anything. Then fans won't be disappointed.
Comment Comment | Permalink | Was this review helpful to you? Yes No (Report this)



 
11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars Not her best work, 9 Jul 2007
By O. Doyle "celticshedevil" (Ireland) - See all my reviews
(TOP 100 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   
I was lucky enough to start my Martina Cole reading with such great books as The Know, Ladykiller, The Take & Broken. Whereas those were page-turning, all-action books Ms Coles last two installments (The Graft & Close) were quite disappointing and both were disappointing for the same reason. While both had the usual formula of hard men, tragedy and retribution I feel that Cole spent way too much time focusing on the thoughts and feelings of every character and not enough time on developing the story and moving it along. Quite a big chunk of the pages could have been omitted and nobody would have noticed. The story was there, the characters were there.....I just feel the final product was lacking. Having said that I did enjoy seeing how the lives of the characters changed over the years. But there just wasn't any depth to the story really. The Lance issue was as plain as the nose on your face so couldn't even been classed as a twist yet it went on and on and on. There was definitely some serious repetition and that in itself was driving me insane. But it was worth a read.....I just wouldn't recommend it as a must read.
Comment Comment | Permalink | Was this review helpful to you? Yes No (Report this)



 
10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars Close, 6 Aug 2007
By Sunnie Gill "Sunniefromoz" (Tasmania, Australia) - See all my reviews
Meet Lily. Lily is the wife of London gangster Patrick Brodie, and the mother of a tribe of children fathered by several men.
CLOSE follows the story of two generations of the family living in the violent gangland world of London from the 1960s through to the nineties.

CLOSE follows the fortunes of the family by chronicling Lil's life. Born into a poor household with indifferent and sometimes neglectful parents, Lil meets Patrick at the age of fifteen and is married to him by sixteen. Lil's status rises with Patrick's success in the underworld and falls again upon his murder at the hands of rivals.

This is a case where the author would have been well served by using the "less is more" philosophy. For example, three pages are devoted to Patrick's infidelities, when he's unfaithful, his attitude towards the women, how his wife feels about him cheating. It's just too much. One paragraph would have been sufficient. Another instance is the murder of Patrick on his son's birthday. Men rush into the house and repeatedly stab and beat him to death in front of his wife and children. The author relates this event, and then proceeds to retell it from the point of view of several people present. The problem with this is that she is merely restating the same thing with slightly different wording. The reader is offered no new insights into the event. Handled differently, it could have been a brutally stunning passage. However any impact the violence might have had is dulled by this heavy handed overkill.

Author Martina Cole seems to know about the sub-culture of which she writes, and the story could give the reader a real glimpse into this culture of crime. However, plot is a bit thin on the ground and predictable and the characters are one-dimensional shadows of what they could have been. In fact, I didn't care for most of them at all. There was little to like about them and nothing to admire. The book also suffers from being about two hundred pages too long. Martina Cole has many fans. I hope CLOSE doesn't disappoint them as it did me.

One last thing. By page 100, my copy of the book had started to come adrift from the spine and pages were falling out. I'm reasonably careful with the books I read, I don't turn down the pages and I don't bend back the spine. I was lucky: the publishers very kindly gave me a copy of CLOSE to review. Had I paid the retail, I would have been most unhappy to find the book falling apart just one quarter of the way through reading it.
Comment Comment | Permalink | Was this review helpful to you? Yes No (Report this)


Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review
 
 
 
Most Recent Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars Close
This is the first book i have read by Martina Cole and i couldn't put it down . I will definitely be reading more of Martina's in the future
Published 1 month ago by Mrs. L. Harrop

2.0 out of 5 stars Good, just not classic Martina
The second time I read this book I enjoyed it more then the first time. While it wasn't as good as earlier books it was very enjoyable and it was not an effort to get to the end... Read more
Published 4 months ago by D. Marcus

4.0 out of 5 stars Ganster no 1
I enjoyed this, some harsh reviews here, it certainly wasn't as bad as some people suggest. Im not a Martina Cole fan, my wife is and she passed it on to me, I really enjoyed it... Read more
Published 5 months ago by Mark J. Carr

1.0 out of 5 stars dissapointed!
i got about half way through this book and gave up, im a 21 year old who reads books everyday on the train to and from work and i have read many of her books (which i have not... Read more
Published 6 months ago by bluebell

1.0 out of 5 stars Dreadful
I vaguely recall enjoying one or two of Martinas' books way back when but I can't see me reading anymore..ever! Read more
Published 7 months ago by CC

1.0 out of 5 stars Disappointing
Close
What a disappointment. I have only recently been introduced to Martina Cole. The first one I read was The Jump which I just couldn't put down, the same for Dangerous... Read more
Published 8 months ago by Missbez

5.0 out of 5 stars martina cole addict
I am a martina cole addict. They are thick books and I am getting through them too fast as I want to know what happens to everyone. Read more
Published 9 months ago by Mrs. Sandra M. Smith

4.0 out of 5 stars Pacey, Violent & Gripping........
I'm baffled by the harshness of so many of the reviews - I read this, much by chance, having no prior experience of the author and I really enjoyed it! Read more
Published 10 months ago by Adam Jackson

2.0 out of 5 stars boring, a regurgitation of her other books
This is the fifth Martina Cole novel I have read, and where I enjoyed the first few, by the time i got to this one, I could predict the lines that were going to come out the... Read more
Published 12 months ago by A. Lawson

1.0 out of 5 stars Possibly the worst book I have ever read

I have read several novels written by Martina Cole - DANGEROUS LADY, THE TAKE, THE KNOW and TWO WOMEN and I must admit that I thought each one was good, if not better than... Read more
Published 13 months ago by OEJ

Only search this product's reviews


Customer Discussions

 Beta (What's this?)
This product's forum (0 discussions)
  Discussion Replies Latest Post
  No discussions yet

Ask questions, Share opinions, Gain insight
Start a new discussion
Topic:
First post:
Prompts for sign-in
  [Cancel]


Active discussions in related forums
   
Related forums

Look for similar items by category

Feedback

The Body Shop

The Body Shop - Vitamin C Skin Boost
Protect and boost your glow with The Body Shop Vitamin C Skin Boost.

›Shop The Body Shop

  

Let Olay Amaze You

Olay Total Effects Day Moisturiser SPF15 50ml
Amazon.co.uk sells all your favourite ranges from Olay, including Regenerist and Total Effects.

›Discover Olay at Amazon.co.uk

  

Up to 53% off Braun Series Shavers

Braun Series 3 390cc Clean & Renew System Rechargeable Foil Electric Shaver
Get in touch with your smooth side with Braun Series shavers, now with Gillette blade technology.

›Discover Braun Series at Amazon.co.uk

  

Treat Someone

Amazon.co.uk Gift Certificates--available in any amount from £5 to £500 With an Amazon.co.uk Gift Certificate, you can get them what they want (even if you don't know what that is).

›Learn more about Gift Certificates

  
Ad

Where's My Stuff?

Delivery and Returns

Need Help?

Your Recent History

  (What's this?)
You have no recently viewed items or searches.

After viewing product detail pages or search results, look here to find an easy way to navigate back to pages you are interested in.

Look to the right column to find helpful suggestions for your shopping session.
Continue Shopping: Top Sellers
The Girl Who Played with Fire
The Girl Who Played with Fire by Stieg Larsson
4.5 out of 5 stars (74)£3.86
 Breaking Dawn (Twilight Saga)
Breaking Dawn (Twilight Saga) by Stephenie Meyer
4.1 out of 5 stars (462)£6.49
 The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson
4.1 out of 5 stars (164)£3.99
 The Host
The Host by Stephenie Meyer
4.2 out of 5 stars (80)£3.86

amazon.co.uk Amazon Home
International Sites:  United States  |  Germany  |  France  |  Japan  |  Canada  |  China
Business Programs: Sell on Amazon  |  Fulfilment by Amazon  |  Join Associates  |  Join Advantage
Customer Service  |  Help  |  View Basket  |  Your Account
About Amazon.co.uk  |  Careers at Amazon
Conditions of Use & Sale |  Privacy Notice  © 1996-2009, Amazon.com, Inc. and its affiliates