The Family [Paperback]

I always buy Martinas books on the day they come out- and I must say the last 3 have been disappointing to say the least and I have sworn in my reviews I wont purchase another but I still do - and boy am I glad I did!

Theres the old Martina back in this book! I related to the characters in a way I havent been able to do for ages. Basically its the story of a man called Phil - hes unable to feel any real emotions but he pretends and his whole life is a show, apart from the love for his wife Christine who he worships! Christine feels the same about Phil, not knowing the other side of his gangster life, until one night she walks in and hes beating up his own sister! To say Christine is shocked is an understatement but that nights events creates the whole book. Christine has to resort to drinking and drugs in order to cope with her nerves and the man she is living with. Philip is unable to see that he is the reason she is downspiralling and the reason she is so addicted to the drink and drugs.

Christine and Philip have two sons Philly and Timmy, both brought up with the best lifestyle money can buy but with a control freak dad and a mom who is obliterated all the time really shows as they get older!

Thats all I am going to say about this as I dont want to give anything away, but bascially something major happens and Christine finds herself catapulted into Philips world and a lot of hearts will be broken!

I really would recommend this book, I really really enjoyed it and I am a die hard Martina fan who has been trying every other author who writes in the same style but Martina has redeeme herself and really think any other die hard fans will enjoy this - give it a go you may be surprised!!!!!!!!!!!

This is a return to the old style stories Martina Cole used to write when she first started out. A few changes such as the tiny chapters, (some only half a page long and none more than a few pages long), the lack of pages and pages of prose with no dialogue and she has finally got rid of all her repetitive cliches. There are a few of these but not of the 'Olympian standard' she used to write! The plot is very well described in the above review so no need to go into it. There is the usual mix of put upon Irish women standing by their men, lots of violence and an abundance of bad language from the start. It reads a bit like a violent episode of Eastenders at times (Peggy Mitchell being Veronica) but is extremely fast paced, easy to read and compared to her last few offerings, a massive improvement.

Very much like her last 3 books. Could not wait to finish it and skipped most of the story as I knew it would be repeating itself. I am afraid as a Martina Cole fan for many years I was again very dissapointed in this new book and really think she is just churning out these books now for money....