No lack of shocking violence bringing organised crime world of London to life

GET EVEN

Martina Cole Loot.co.za (R469)

Headline MARTINA COLE is well known as a brilliant author who has her finger on the pulse of the underworld of East London (the one in the UK). Her books unpick the relationships that exist between The Faces, the families who pass on the strange code of criminality that they enforce through families.

When Lenny Scott turns to The Life he takes with him his young pregnant wife, Sharon Conway. They have been dating since their early teens and all Sharon, who is sweet and loving, wants is to settle down in a council flat, have her baby and a family and love her gorgeous hunk of a husband.

And Lenny Scott is sweet, he does love his wife, he does love his children when they have two little boys Liam and Lenny, but he also can’t hold liquor and turns to violence when drunk. In fact he is involved in a violent incident the night before his wedding, and Sharon starts to feel the first murmurings of disquiet. Lenny Scott works for Jack Johnson, a ruthless man with a heart of gold, if that makes any sense, and even if it doesn’t, Cole has the ability to make her villains multi-layered; they are hard men who are capable of killing to retrieve a debt or avenge a slight to their bosses, but they are also capable of being good dads and some of them even good husbands.

Lenny certainly seems like a good husband to Sharon; she acquires a betting shop of her own through the good offices of Jack when the owner wants to sell, and then expands to a taxi rank.

Life seems good on the surface. Then Reggie arrives on the scene and things become stirred up, although Sharon takes several years to find out what it is about the friendship between Reggie and her husband that disturbs her so.

However, she stays compliant, putting a hot meal on the table every night and looking after her boys who she is determined will never join their father in The Life.

It’s hard to explain how life changes for Sharon, but it does change dramatically when she discovers that she has been betrayed.

At this point Ray, a mysterious character from up North appears, and Reggie brings him into Jack’s inner circle.

He also introduces her to Ray and the pair fall in love. Sharon’s life seems perfect and she has a little girl with Ray, and they move into a gorgeous house with a big garden. It seems all should be right with the world, but off course beneath the surface trouble is brewing again.

Cole’s ability to get into her characters and the nature of organised crime is quite astounding.

She has a way of bringing people I would be very scared to be in the same room with, and show glimpses of humanity and the old criminal code of honour.

The reader has to constantly remind themselves that 99 percent of the characters in Get Even are really vile people. The question though is who is the vilest of them all? In a book that brings the organised crime world of London to life in a startling way, there is no lack of shocking violence, but for some reason it works.

There are also complicating moments of goodness and normality scattered in between that uplift the reader.

In the end Sharon will have to face one of the hardest decisions of her life to save her sanity and what is left of a shattered family. Will she survive? I’ll leave that up to the reader to decide, but expect some last-minute shocks and revelations.

I am not usually a fan of terribly violent novels, but this is a great read.

Cole has ability to make her villains multi-layered. Some of them are good husbands