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The Graft (Paperback)

by Martina Cole (Author)
3.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (43 customer reviews)
RRP: £7.99
Price: £4.98 & this item Delivered FREE in the UK with Super Saver Delivery. See details and conditions
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Product details

  • Paperback: 688 pages
  • Publisher: Headline; New Ed edition (20 Jun 2005)
  • Language English
  • ISBN-10: 0747267669
  • ISBN-13: 978-0747267669
  • Product Dimensions: 17.2 x 11.2 x 5 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 3.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (43 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 21,019 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

    Popular in this category:

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

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Product Description

Amazon.co.uk Review

Is The Graft up to Martina Cole’s usual standard? The unarguable success of her sizable tally of crime novels must be a source of envy to other practitioners. Almost from the beginning, she has gleaned praise for her gritty and pungent fiction. Even the very ordinary TV adaptations of such books as Dangerous Lady stripped no lustre from her reputation, when novels as good as The Know flowed from her pen. Her prose style is always pared down and vivid--which is, thankfully, still very much the case with The Graft.

Nick Leary is having trouble sleeping, what with sultry heat and business and family problems weighing on his mind. His wife is sleeping beside him, when he hears a noise downstairs--and soon he has to decide how much violence he will use to defend his home and family. The decision he makes is to change his life forever. Nick and his wife are taken to the very extremes of human behaviour--and he is obliged to decide how high a price he will pay to keep what he values most.

As ever, Cole exerts an effortless grip throughout her unsettling narrative. We’re used to her exuberantly characterised heroines, but the beleaguered Nick shows that’s she’s just as on-the-nail with her male characters. The edgy plotting has the kind of no-nonsense handling that is Cole's métier. Perhaps a touch more psychological strip-mining of her protagonists would have deepened her achievement, but what the hell--all the right buttons are pressed here.--Barry Forshaw --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.



Review

'There's some fascinating vernacular. The author is taking the reader into Irvine Welsh territory and beyond' Daily Telegraph, 4/12/04 -- Daily Telegraph 20041204 'A touch of the Tony Martins as Cole thrashes out the repercussions with very little guile but all the usual gumption' Mirror, 15/10/04 -- Mirror 20041015 'Her gripping plots pack a mean emotional punch, and this latest is no exception' Mail on Sunday, 17/10/04 -- Mail on Sunday 20041017 'Martina Cole deals with a gritty contemporary subject in an intelligent and compassionte way that's bound to make you think' Daily Express, 16/7/05 -- Daily Express 20050716
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58% buy the item featured on this page:
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Customer Reviews

43 Reviews
5 star:
 (13)
4 star:
 (6)
3 star:
 (9)
2 star:
 (5)
1 star:
 (10)
 
 
 
 
 
Average Customer Review
3.2 out of 5 stars (43 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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31 of 34 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars First class psychological thriller, 31 Dec 2004
By Budge Burgess (Kilmarnock, Scotland) - See all my reviews
(TOP 50 REVIEWER)   
P>This is the stuff of contemporary politics, with Parliament currently debating what sorts of violence homeowners are entitled to visit on a burglar. But in Martina Cole's world, nothing is ever quite what it seems. Here, the homeowner is a rich, respectable businessman ... but a man whose legitimate building business is paralleled by an even more profitable criminal empire. And the burglar, a young teenage punk, has somehow got past the state of the art alarm system, and is discovered carrying a state of the art automatic weapon.

The young burglar's death sets in motion a chain of reactions as police, press, and, most importantly, the families of the homeowner and the youth try to come to terms with the death.

I read this immediately after reading Martina Cole's first published novel - "Dangerous Lady". The difference in style is astounding. This is a writer who has matured and who has worked at her craft ... really grafted. "The Graft" is a character driven novel. Seedy, loud, graced with language you wouldn't want the vicar to hear, this is a very well structured, very well written, and superbly paced piece of work.

Cole dismembers her characters, explores the ways in which the youth's death unhinge all their certainties and assumptions and brutally chronicles their slide into a range of personal addictions. She strips her people down to the marrow, exposing their shallowness or their strengths. As the characters struggle to understand exactly what has happened and why, they are sucked into a maelstrom of violence. The youth will not be the last to die.

A real page-turner of a novel. Gritty, gripping, a first class and highly entertaining read which I commend to anyone who enjoys a good crime story. Not a whodunit in the conventional sense, more an exploration of human frailty. Excellent!

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7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars very poor, 23 Oct 2005
By A Customer
I bought this book because it was a top 10 bestseller, although I can honestly not understand why. Why dialogue was cringeworthy and there was no substance whatsoever to the characters, it was clear Martina Cole had not taken the time to research her characters effectively. Perhaps she was trying to make the characters 'juicy' or a bit more extreme than real life, but the result was embarrasing.

I worked my way through the book in vain hope that the plot may improve but was disappointed throughout. The storyline was there... and there were original twists, but unfortunately the scripting that went with the storyline was dreadful.

I certainly won't be buying another book by Martina Cole. There is nothing memorable about her writing. This is a book to stay on the shelf and collect dust.

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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars Coarse and tedious, 17 Jul 2006
This review is from: The Graft (Audio CD)
I have to admit I gave up on this book about 1/3 through. It is coarse, slow and unappealing. The plot plods along. The characters are cardboard cliches who are unattractive. She wants to be gritty and hard-hitting but it comes across as forced and unnatural. Very disappointing.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews

4.0 out of 5 stars Not quite a 5 star due to slow start
I think the best way to start this book is to go in with an open mind, i read so many of the negative reviews so when i started to read it i couldn't get into it at the start,... Read more
Published 2 months ago by Ms. S. Jones

4.0 out of 5 stars Gritty stuff, surprise ending
Another great book, Nick and Tammy Leary are interesting characters, Tammy starting off annoying but eventually endearing herself to me. Read more
Published 8 months ago by D. Marcus

1.0 out of 5 stars BORING!!!!!
I think Martina has got lazy as certain phrases and thoughts of characters popped up a thousand times. Boring, badly written, repetative and glad to get to the end.
Published 17 months ago by Mrs. Sandra L. Egerton

1.0 out of 5 stars blah blah blah rubbish
I've enjoyed reading some of Martina Cole's other books, even if they are very similar and repetitive. However this book is absolute rubbish. Read more
Published on 31 Oct 2007 by Mrs. Janet Smith

2.0 out of 5 stars It was disappointing ... "and she knew it"
Martina tells a great story and this is as gripping as the others. However, I got to the point of feeling I wanted to SCREAM if I read "and he knew it", "and she knew it" or, to... Read more
Published on 5 Aug 2007 by L. Elliott

4.0 out of 5 stars Wicked
The Graft is another well written and gripping read...
Martina is not afraid to mention the unmentionables and darker side to human nature... Read more
Published on 20 Jul 2007 by Ms Fluffy Bookworm

3.0 out of 5 stars Not the best Martina Cole book I've read
The Graft is my fifth Martina Cole book after reading The Take, The Ladykiller, The Know and Broken. Read more
Published on 11 April 2007 by O. Doyle

5.0 out of 5 stars Gritty, Dirty, Raw, Exciting . . . .
As ever, an excellent story by Martina Cole. Her books never seem to lose the essence of a great un-put-downable story, even though this must be about her ninth or tenth. Read more
Published on 25 Oct 2006 by A. Rose

1.0 out of 5 stars Whatever the editor was paid for this was too much
Having previously read and enjoyed two other Martina Cole novels, I was looking forward to 'The Graft'. What a let-down! Flabby, repetitive, cliched and - dare I say it? Read more
Published on 14 Oct 2006 by G. Seed

5.0 out of 5 stars One of Cole's best - inspiring -
Cole's books have more or less been about the dangerous and dirty side of london, and this is no exeption, it's just as brilliant as the others. Read more
Published on 7 Oct 2006 by R. Clark

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