Close [Mass Market Paperback]

Martina Cole (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 1, 2009

The #1 bestselling novelist in the UK now makes her U.S. debut with a hardhitting story that combines the brutality and deep family ties of The Sopranos with an unparalleled look at the underbelly of London's gang land.


Patrick Brodie is on the way up. He is a risk-taker like his alcoholic father, and knows exactly how far he is prepared to go to get what he wants. Before long, Patrick has ruthlessly taken out the old guard of the criminal underworld and become a legend in his own lifetime.

The kind of women he is normally attracted to have no foolish dreams of marriage, children, or, God help them, love. But Lily Diamond is different. There's something about her that has gotten under Patrick's skin, and all he can think about is making her happy and keeping her safe.

Eventually they settle down and have a family, and grow determined that their children will not have to face the same kind of lives they did. But then, the unthinkable happens, and everything is suddenly, irreversibly changed.

Spanning over forty years in the underbelly of crime, CLOSE is powerful, shocking, unsettling, and utterly addictive.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Cole, one of the U.K.'s top-selling authors, brings her gritty brand of crime fiction across the Atlantic, and veteran British actress Nicola Duffett takes on the considerable task of juggling the large cast of characters. Duffett especially shines as Lily, the matriarch of the Brody clan, a crime family whose capacity for violence on the streets seems tame compared to their sordid domestic dramas. Duffett also manages to nail the characterizations of sons Patrick and Lance and their complicated brotherly relationship, yet the other siblings and various underworld associates blur in the dizzying pace. The abridgment makes the listening experience grow increasingly choppy as the story progresses. Transitions between decades lack discernable cues, and the span of time is more episodic than epic. The raw creative talent in both the writing and narration remain evident, and dedicated fans of the gangster-on-the-couch concept of The Sopranos will appreciate the motif. But the finished product feels like a 10-CD title forcefully squeezed into five disks. A Grand Central hardcover (Reviews, May 5).(July)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Booklist

Best-sellers don’t always translate from one country to another, even when they’re written in the same language. Cole has 14 chart-topping novels in the UK and yet remains largely unknown in the U.S. Her publisher hopes to change that by making Close (first published in 2006) her American debut. A committed marketing effort may well generate interest in Cole, but the question remains whether Americans will stick with her book. It seems unlikely. This sprawling family saga of London gangsters is sometimes violent yet curiously bloodless, marred by repetition and cliché, and—although Cole clearly knows her turf—devoid of the specifics that might make it come alive for readers unfamiliar with the milieu. Worse, she tends to cut away from scenes just as they get interesting, instead lingering endlessly on her characters’ thoughts. This impressionistic approach leaves readers looking for solid anchors of plot, time line, and telling detail. It’s a brick-size book that could have been cut by half without serious loss, and though things improve somewhat after the 100-page mark, the question is whether readers not on assignment will get that far. Bad books sometimes do become best-sellers, usually because they tap into our psyche in a particular way; this one obviously has strong appeal at home but, despite the strength of the pound versus the dollar, doesn’t seem likely to travel. --Keir Graff --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 688 pages
• Publisher: Grand Central Publishing; Reprint edition (June 1, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 044654194X
• ISBN-13: 978-0446541947
• Product Dimensions: 4.2 x 1.2 x 7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,556,604 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Loved the characters!, April 22, 2011

By 

D. Williamson "Hooked on Kindle!" (Moncton, NB Canada) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Close (Audible Audio Edition)

Martina Cole's "Close" was downloaded on my kindle and it was a fast-paced and heart-wrenching story about Lily Diamond who finally escaped her miserable upbringing by catching the eye of hardened criminal; the handsome Patrick Brodie. The book spans over 40 years and had a great storyline. Ms. Cole does not disappoint; it was a gritty look of the underbelly of English society, and I cannot get enough of her wonderful stories, please keep them coming.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Deserves Zero Stars, November 15, 2008

By 

H. ODonnell - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Close (Hardcover)

This is the worst book I have read in as long as I can remember, and I usually read 2 or 3 books a week. This is the first time I have ever been motivated to write a negative review of a book, but maybe I can save someone from spending $20 and 8 hours of their life struggling through this miserable story.

There is not a single character in the story that the average reader can relate to. In most novels the reader can figuratively stand in the shoes of a character and ride the emotional roller-coaster with them, hoping things turn out for the best. I know it is the criminal underworld, but the characters in this book are such thoroughly despicable human beings that I never felt like I could empathize with them, and not one of them inspires the hope that things might work out well for them.

The story itself is bland and predictable. There are no twists, no turns, no development in the plot that the reader won't see coming a mile away. In fact, there's not really a plot, exactly; it's more like you get a "day-in-the-life" kind of snapshot of the life of this crime family, only it spans 40 years or so, and gives the sense that the next 40 will continue in the same predictable manner.

The writing style is droll and actually interferes with the telling of the story. The writer is excruciatingly long-winded - the book could've been improved by editing it from 500 to 250 pages. The author will clearly descrbe something in a few sentences, then spend another page describing it some more, often repeating what was said before but in slightly different words, then she'll close the topic by saying, "in short," and instead of following with a brief recap, will go on for another couple of paragraphs saying the same things again. I found myself doing a lot of scanning to get past it.

In short, it was awful.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Close, February 16, 2007

By 

S. Baker "Shelley" (Wellington, New Zealand) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Close (Hardcover)

Martina Cole's books are all based in the London underworld, they are gritty, often violent and surprising. This isn't her best, the earlier books are excellent,but I certainly enjoyed it and it kept me up late finishing it. The women are strong,take no nonsense types and are very often the heroines supporting their bad men. If you enjoy English crime thrillers then I highly recommend any of Ms Cole's books.