PROTAGONIST: The Brodie familySETTING: East end of LondonRATING: 2.0Martina Cole is a best-selling author in the UK, and Close is the first of her books to be published in the United States. Perhaps the fact that it is reminiscent of the TV show, The Sopranos, made it seem that the book would appeal to an American audience. That rationale remains to be proven.Close is a sprawling book that follows the saga of the Brodie crime family of London over several decades, beginning in the 1960s. The family patriarch, Patrick Brodie, has a knack for the crime business and worked his way up to being the kingpin of the East End of London's crime scene. He falls in love with a much younger woman, Lily Diamond, who is a perfect match in every way—they both had dysfunctional childhoods but are totally dedicated to each other and their ever growing family. That doesn't mean that Pat doesn't stray; he takes advantage of sexual opportunities, but never feels that he is unfaithful since the women mean nothing to him. Lil is amazingly accepting of Pat's little trysts. As it turns out, she is a pretty good businesswoman in her own right and manages some of Pat's hostess clubs for him. Pat and Lil have 5 children together. The eldest, Patrick Junior, is out of the same mold as his father. The second son, Lance, however, is amoral and vicious, to the point where his own mother cannot love him. His affection comes from his grandmother, who has always been emotionally unavailable to Lil but completely bewitched by Lance. There are two twin girls, one who has mental issues when she is older as a result of an action that is telegraphed repeatedly throughout the book before being disclosed.The basic story focuses on Pat and his dealings with his underlings and competitors. It boils down to survival of the fittest. Those who are greedy or disloyal are dispatched in ways that will teach others a lesson. Of course, there is always the next best thing on the horizon. One cannot expect to live a long life as a crime lord, which proves the case for Pat, who is brutally murdered by some of his henchmen in front of his wife and children. Pat never thought of providing for his family; after his death, Lil does whatever is expedient to support her family. She has a relationship with his replacement, which results in 2 more children and another child by a different man (that's 8 children in all). Ultimately, when Pat Jr. grows up, he takes up where his father left off. It's more of the same—treachery and gruesome retaliation, over and over again.Close is a hard book to like. I don't believe that I found one character in its 500 pages that I cared about. I’m assuming that we were supposed to view Lil as the noble mother who sacrificed all for her brood. Instead, I found her to be an opportunist and a vitriolic woman who showed no nobility. The lack of likable characters made it difficult to maintain an interest in the book, especially since Cole's writing style consists of pages and pages of redundant exposition. She must have brought up Lil's guilt about her feelings about Lance dozens of times, as well as repeatedly describing Lil's abysmal childhood and her mother's failings. Some judicious editing would have reduced the length of this book considerably.Did you ever have a small thing in a book drive you nuts, something that it is likely others won't notice? In this book, it is the use of the word "skulduggery". It's an odd enough word that it kind of sticks out, and the author seems to have fallen in love with it. It appears 4 times in 2 pages in one section, and it became like fingernails on a blackboard every time I saw it in the book. It was interesting to me that the book was not Americanized at all, which is unusual for something being aimed at a mainstream audience. I think many readers will find some of the references and slang impenetrable. It's odd to see a gangster being referred to as "an ice cream", for example.Close is one case where you shouldn't believe the hype. It's not a very good book with significant weaknesses in characterization, plotting and dialog. I do wonder if one of Cole's 12 previous books might have been a better choice to introduce her to the US.
I took Close by Martina Cole with me on a recent holiday to Portugal. I had only read one of Martina Cole's books before. That was "The Family". I figured that with over 600 pages this book would probably keep me going for a week.. However, like "The Family" this book, "Close" deals with the progression of a family over several decades and is a real page-turner.Lily Diamond is the matriarch of the family who marries Patrick Brodie when she is very young. It allows her to escape from a poor and dreadful home life. Brodie is determined to make something of himself. He intends to make his name in a seedy under world and knows exactly how far he'll go to get what he wants. He wants to be at the top of the tree.Before long, Patrick has taken out the old guard of the criminal underworld in a calculating and ruthless manner. He has become a legend in his own time. Such legends don't go for marriage, children, or love. However, when he meets Lily Diamond, she gets deep under his skin. All Patrick can think about is making her happy and keeping her safe.They settle down in London, England and have a family, and determine that their children will not have to face the same kind of hardships they did. They endeavour to ensure that children want for nothing.Then the unthinkable happens, Patrick is brutally murdered in front of the whole family and Lily is left on her own to look after their family in a cruel and dangerous world. It is a world where you can trust no one. She uses all her talents and skills to guide them through difficult times. The Brodie family must stay close to survive but families can get too close.I really enjoyed this novel. It is racy, sometimes brutal but never dull. Do not read it if you are prudish or easily offended. However, if you like an exciting story with lots of twists and strands, this is well worth reading.
What do You think about Close (2007)?
Como é possível que este livro tenha sido escrito pela mesma autora do maravilhoso Hard Girls? Estão a ver água e vinho? É exactamente como estes dois livros são. Não têm nada a ver. Estava à espera de um policial puro e duro. Daqueles com mortes inexplicáveis e provas escondidas dentro de chinelos.E o que foi que encontrei? Simplesmente o conceito de inimigo, vingança e família. O livro segue Patrick Brodie, que é daqueles homens de toda a gente no mundo do crime tem medo e é respeitado porque é brutamontes. E depois dele, seguem-se os filhos que vão pelo mesmo caminho e o livro corre e corre e corre e nada de relevante acontece. Chega a ser chato quando a autora se põe a descrever os antepassados dos criminosos. Mas não vou desistir da autora. Espero que este livro tenha sido apenas um lapso.
—Andreia Silva
Reviewed by Nikki Pringle for Reader Views (7/08)“Close” is the story of the Brodie family of London, England. The family patriarch, Patrick, runs the gangs, hostess clubs and drug runners in and around the London streets. His wife, Lil, married him when she was 16, in part to get away from her miserable parents, and started producing babies almost immediately. In between having children, she assisted her husband by running some of his girls and hostess clubs, and accepted, even seemed to enjoy, the violence that was part of their everyday lives until it was brought much too close to home.After Patrick’s brutal murder, Lil is left out in the cold with five kids and no means of support. She begins selling herself to put food on the table and clothes on the kid’s backs. She takes up with the wrong kinds of men in an effort to find stability for her family. As her children grow and she adds to her brood, her oldest two sons plot to take back what they feel is rightfully theirs as the children of the legendary Patrick Brodie. Using their father’s status, his old connections, and the reputations they have been building for themselves over time, Patrick Jr. and Lance avenge their father while taking over as the bread-winners for their younger brothers and sisters and their mother.Martina Cole is a best-selling author in the UK and I had hoped she would be on par with other UK crossovers like J.K. Rowling and Jeffery Archer, but for me, this book was the first and last reading of Cole that I will attempt. I found the execution of the plot incredibly repetitive, overly and unnecessarily vulgar and violent, and just plain dull. The storyline jumped repeatedly over periods of time ranging from a few months to 20 years with nothing to fill readers in on what transpired during these gaps of time. Some of the characters and storylines were superfluous and befuddled the already murky storyline even more. Instead of telling of an incident once and being succinct, precise and well-written, the events are dragged out over multiple pages and retold by different characters but the wording and feeling of the scene are almost identical. The bug “twist” involving Lance was as plain as the nose on your face almost from the beginning of the story. It would have been interesting had it not been so predictable. I felt that none of the characters were given enough of an individual personality. They all seem to speak and act in the same manner regardless of race, gender or social standing. Overall, “Close” is not a book I would recommend to anyone, other than readers who have enjoyed Cole’s past novels and want to go ahead and try to get through this one too.
—Nikki
Encore has a series based on this book so I thought I'd read it. It was very good and I cried at the end. Starts in the 60's and finishes in the 80's, a Irish family who runs the town -- Irish mob. A young girl and meets the son, Tom, of the Irish mob head they marry raise their family and Tom and she eventually takes over the underground runnings of the town. There are hidden secrets to this family which you may or may not figure out toward the end. Murder and dysfunctional family. Once I started this I could not put it down. Recommend
—Judy
