Black Widow by Jessie Keane

London gangs
 Review by TheMole

Annie Carter is living in Majorca with her daughter and husband, Max when their home is attacked. Annie is knocked out and comes round to find her daughter and husband are gone, her brother-in-law is killed and his girlfriend left hysterical. Max is head of the Carter family, a London gang involved in clubs and crime. Annie sets out to find her daughter and husband using the families contacts.

I have an admission to make... Dateline 1st September - the day my car had to be MOTed. I took the car to the dealer and had to kill time.. I visited "The Works" and picked this book up and a Robert Rankin for 49p each. I then sat on a wall in the River Gardens and started to read Black Widow. I quickly became engrossed and picked it up at every opportunity after that. (The car passed by the way - in case you are interested?)

I finished the book having enjoyed most of it. No, I THOROUGHLY enjoyed most of it. Was it well plotted with good character development? Sorry, no. I felt at times that I wanted to punch Annie Carter for her attitude and her incompetence and inconsistency. I felt that the ending was nothing like what I had hoped for and was contrived to end the book without adding more pages to the 552 that it enjoyed. So why did I enjoy it? This question bugs me a little and I come to the conclusion that Jessie Keane can tell a story well, even if it's not a very good story. Would I read another Jessie Keane? Well no, I like story telling and good plots to coincide too much. However if I was on a long journey and wanting something to read and one was lying around then I wouldn't be afraid to pick it up.

It says on the front "As good as Martina Cole or your money back" but I have never read Martina Cole and thanks, I won't bother with her books either thank you.

TheMole's review - 2.5 stars
Publisher  - Harper Collins
Genre - Adult Crime/Thriller

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