Dangerous Lady
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Product Description
Review
'Cole is brilliant at portraying the good among the bad, and vice versa, so until the very end we never quite know who to trust. This is the very stuff that makes her so compelling' -- Daily Mirror 'Right from the start [Cole] has enjoyed unqualified approval for her distinctive and powerfully written fiction' -- The Times 'Intensely readable' -- Guardian 'Martina Cole explores the shady criminal underworld, a setting she is fast making her own' -- Sunday Express 'Utterly compelling' -- Mirror 'The story will grip you from the first pages' -- Best 'Gritty novel from an author who knows intimately the world she writes about' -- Express
--This text refers to the
Paperback
edition.
Review
'Cole is brilliant at portraying the good among the bad, and vice versa, so until the very end we never quite know who to trust. This is the very stuff that makes her so compelling'
(Daily Mirror )'Right from the start [Cole] has enjoyed unqualified approval for her distinctive and powerfully written fiction'
(The Times )'Intensely readable' (Guardian )
'Martina Cole explores the shady criminal underworld, a setting she is fast making her own'
( Sunday Express )'Utterly compelling'
( Mirror )'The story will grip you from the first pages'
( Best )'Gritty novel from an author who knows intimately the world she writes about'
( Express ) --This text refers to the Paperback edition.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
19 of 19 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Martina Cole attracts quite a lot of press coverage and her books rocket up the best-seller lists. This is her first published novel, establishing something of a pattern. She will revisit this format in later novels, and will bring the heroine (or is that villain) back in a subsequent book ("Maura's Game").
The story, essentially, follows the changing fortunes of the Ryan family, in particular their only daughter, Maura. When we first meet them, it's 1950, and the Ryan's occupy a cockroach infested slum in London's Notting Hill. Mother is about to give birth to yet another child, all her boys waiting outside the bedroom, her good-for-only-one-thing husband out boozing again. This time it's a girl ... and young Maura will grow up to be loved and spoiled by all her brothers.
She'll also grow up to witness her eldest brother, Michael, become king of London's underworld ... and to eclipse him by becoming its empress! In the process, we follow her trials and tribulations, pains and abuses, romance and loss.
Not a crime novel - and certainly not a whodunit - this is really a family saga, covering half a century of the Ryan siblings' rise through the criminal leagues. In places there are some keen observations of working class life, at times there are some dreadful clichés, cardboard characters, and some very obvious plot lines.
At times it's very obviously a first novel - Martina Cole has learned her craft well in the last dozen years or so and has tightened up her writing. The first half of the book is conveyed in a series of episodic snap-shots of the most significant events in Maura's life: once she begins to enter adulthood and assume a role in the family business, it becomes more focussed on her. Some of the elements are clichés, some extracted from real life crime. But it's a well-paced, engaging book.
This is not, as I say, a crime novel, so don't buy it thinking you'll be trying to work out who the killer is, or whatever. This is a family saga, one which takes a walk on the darker side, and it's an enjoyable, undemanding read.
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This is the fourth Martina Cole novel I've read, and it's becoming a major chore. Having already read three of her books, the formulaic nature of them and the repetativeness is becoming more and more annoying. In fact, I doubt I shall bother to finish this one. As usual the book is packed with anachronisms and lazy research. The characters are the same in every book - the female lead who is stunning but doesn't know it; the male lead who is over six feet tall even at times in history when the average male height in tis country was about 5 foot 7; they have dazzling white, perfect teeth; as usual, there is the hard-working and wise Irish mother; yet again, we have the "hardest man in London" as the main male character... and so the list goes on. Okay, so this was Cole's's first novel, but why have all the others been exactly the same? Enough is enough - reading the same book over and over is a waste of my time, especially when there are far better on my shelves.
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
The development of the characters in this book is wonderful. You know that they all have evil sides to them, but you still can't help liking them (well most of them anyway!)
I've heard stories about the real 60s gangland environment and it was interesting to read a fictional account of what went on and how it changed over the decades. The author very cleverly bought in references to the Krays and Richardsons and the IRA to make the story seem as real as possible.
The grubby descriptions of day to day life were very vivid, particularly when the family were children and struggling to survive. It should be remembered that a lot of people lived like this without all of the criminality.
This was the first Martina Cole book I had read, it won't change my world and isn't a "great" book but it was a book which I keep reading at every small opportunity and I thoroughly enjoyed. I will read more of her books.
I've heard stories about the real 60s gangland environment and it was interesting to read a fictional account of what went on and how it changed over the decades. The author very cleverly bought in references to the Krays and Richardsons and the IRA to make the story seem as real as possible.
The grubby descriptions of day to day life were very vivid, particularly when the family were children and struggling to survive. It should be remembered that a lot of people lived like this without all of the criminality.
This was the first Martina Cole book I had read, it won't change my world and isn't a "great" book but it was a book which I keep reading at every small opportunity and I thoroughly enjoyed. I will read more of her books.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Pleasantly surprised
This is the first Martina Cole book I've read as I tend to go against the grain and what everyone else is reading. I enjoyed the story more than the writing. Read more
Published 7 days ago by olivia1987uk
Very good read
This was a very good read and had me page turning well into the night. Somtimes you can see whats coming in advance but this does not spoil the book at all . Well worth the time
Published 3 months ago by melc07
dangerous lady
i read this book before and it is the best one written by martina cole, before she lost her way.
Published 8 months ago by S. Jacques
Really enjoyed it
I loved this book, it was difficult to put down and moved at a good pace. The characters are interesting and exciting. Read more
Published 10 months ago by Miss Victoria J. Burley
Fantastic Book
Another Martina Cole classic. All her books become predictable but that still did not stop me turning the pages. Read more
Published 21 months ago by heavenly Angel
dangerous lady
Love it brilliant, saw the first half hour on tv then missed the rest it looked good, so I brought the book it is really good.
Published 22 months ago by Mrs. June Salmon
Disappointing
People have told me how good this author is and that I should read some of her stuff, so I got this one. I wish I hadn't bothered. The writing is pedestrian and unpoetic. Read more
Published on 14 May 2010 by Suze
Dangerous lady
Martina Cole is just the best author I have found, it is hard to put her books down. This was the first one she wrote and now has 16 books altogher. Read more
Published on 22 Dec 2009 by Patti
martina coles best
she is an amazing author and this my favourite book of hers, so griity and chilling! it is so true to how they used to live and all the charactersyou can relate to, love it.
Published on 26 Aug 2009 by Ms. R. Gray
Same old, same old
I have quite enjoyed some of Martina Cole's books, but had not read this, her first, until now. In this particular edition she writes a little about her own background, and... Read more
Published on 30 July 2009 by Beansmummy
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