Yet again a Cole novel set in the East End of London among villains, gangsters and prostitutes and yet Cole has the knack of bringing the characters alive to the point where you not only sympathise with their plight, but actually relate to the characters and see yourself (if life had been different) being one of those characters and thinking - yeah, I'd have done that if in the same position. I suppose that if you are a mother, reading this book, then you will empathise with Jeanie, the matriarch who, against all the odds, brings up a half-decent family. You will suffer with her as you live through her child going missing and eventually being found dead (we learn that her missing youngest daughter is found dead - in the prologue on the very first page of the book) and you will shed a tear for her as you sit back, thankful that you live where you live and in the manner that you live.A teenager reading this book may well relate to Jeanette, a bloke will relate to Jon Jon. All who read this novel - possibly her best so far - will not fail to be moved."Paulie was clever enough to know the kind of girls who would make him money: not too good looking but not dogs either - that was alright on the kerb, but not in the comfortable surroundings of a parlour. Equally, if the girls were too good looking, they frightened the men off; he had noticed that over the years."As usual the villains stick together under the villain's code and all the coppers are bent and this adds to the story. The paperback (2003) is 629 pages long. I am a slow reader and finished it in two days, constantly wanting to know 'what happens next?'
The Brewster family don't run restaurants where you get two for one on burgers - they run the local neighbourhood and the eldest brother Jon Jon is not to be messed with. Jon Jon loves and respects his mum Joanie though, despite her being the local brass and having differnt fathers for all of her children.The limits of love for daughters, sons and sisters is delved into with the characters. At what point would you disown your child?The book deals with violence and may not be everyones cup of tea. With brutal descriptions of how bad guys meet their ends - I suppose it is abit like an adult comic with wham bams!The thing I love about Martina coal is that you always know exactly what you are going to get - working class crimnals operating in the underbelly of their estates - making their own laws and enforcing their own rules. Corrupt cops and deprivation.
What do You think about The Know (2015)?
Firstly an absolutely fantastic book. But to call it gritty would be a gross generalisation. This is NOT for the faint hearted, the easily offended (no offence intended), nor those that want a simple traditional old read with jolly things and sunny days. The characters are extremely well developed, even if you want to slap them. You are probably lucky enough not to know people quite like this, but society is such we know they exist. Brutal, virtually relentless but tremendous . I 'did' this on Audible Audio, and it was extremely well narrated, top notch.
—David Hale
This was my first book of Martina Cole & after looking at the cover I was not impressed & thought to not to buy it but after reading the summary on the back cover I thought lets give it a shot. I'd never read a book written by UK author & this was my first time. I was expecting something unexpected, but no, there was nothing. This book which could have been finished within 200 or maximum 250 pages has been stretched to 600 or so pages. If you read this book, in the middle you may feel that you reading the same thing again & again. Seriously, the writing was very bad. Sometimes, I've to read again to understand which dialogue was spoken by whom. Some words are totally out of this world. I don't know that people in UK call "myself" as "meself", "police" as "filth" & many more terms were totally naive.The story was good which was something that hold me to read it till end. The characters were good, especially the fat guy - Tommy. I was expecting lots of sex scenes due to the profession of lead characters described by the author but very little & very quick ones were there. The climax is very pathetic. Details are not revealed to the extent & it might not give you those goosebumps.Yes, I had rough time reading this but I wanted to finish it to give it back to my librarian. Overall, I'll think twice before purchasing another Martina Cole book.
—Hyderali Shaikh
