Close (Mass Market Paperback)

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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 the Audio CD edition.

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 the Hardcover edition.

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Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 688 pages
• Publisher: Grand Central Publishing (June 1, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 044654194X
• ISBN-13: 978-0446541947
• Product Dimensions: 6.7 x 4.1 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 2.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #380,774 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

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:

1.0 out of 5 stars "Close" to impossible to finish, August 6, 2008

By	Reader Views "www.readerviews.com" (Austin, Texas) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Close (Hardcover)

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. 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.

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 (REAL NAME)

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.