Brilliant Betrayed

Jacqui Rose’s Betrayed brings to life the dark and gritty world of Soho, the Soho the developers and Westminster Council prefer you to forget about. This is an old style world where men are men and do men things drink, pimp do drugs parties and ladies of the night are the queens. This is the world where men are real men and it is their ‘birds’ who really have them by the nuts the power behind those men, definitely “she who must be obeyed.... well if you fancy a quiet life.”

Del Williams is the biggest of the faces in Soho the man that controls all the dark and dirty dealing of the area, he has men at his beck and call a wife in Spain a girlfriend and daughter in Soho and a copper in his pocket. It is his girlfriend Bunny and his daughter Star who would he would take a bullet for but there is something that Bunny is hiding he needs to know what and it is killing him.

The book opens when Bunny is still a child and she is the witness to her sister’s murder the one for which she is taken into care for. Unfortunately her time in care is anything but easy as the people who con her mother in to signing the papers only want her for one reason so they could use and abuse her to their hearts content. Managing to escape and now with a daughter who she will protect to the ends of the earth she does not trust anyone other than herself and Claudia. To protect her daughter she would eventually have to trust Del and tell him about that very dark past.

This really is a book that displays Soho at its grimiest with a gripping and breath taking tale of gangs, drugs, girls those unspeakable bonds between them all. To muddy the scene are the Russian Mafia and DS Teddy Davies. A thriller of the highest order when you put all the variables in to the mix and will Bunny and Star be able to live through Del’s dark world and survive?

This is a fantastic crime thriller that grabs you from the beginning and like Soho in all its dirty glory grabs your throat and will not let you go till your pockets are empty. This crime thriller really is a fast paced multi level thriller to use the cliché is a real page turner that just reading that one last chapter means you are half way through without realising how much you have actually read. This book is everything you want from a crime thriller believable strong and dark, a world where only the tough really do survive. Great book great thriller great writer. ( )

Betrayed is the fourth standalone novel by Jacqui Rose, who gained noticed as a self published author and then was picked up by Harper Colin’s Avon imprint.

Del Williams owns the streets of Soho, running drugs, prostitutes and protection rackets alongside his legitimate businesses. Rich, powerful and ruthless, few are willing to make an enemy of him but even hard men have their weaknesses. Del’s is his mistress, Bunny Barker, and their precious seven year old daughter, Star and when Del is betrayed by his allies it is they who will pay the price.

I found Betrayed interesting because I haven’t ever read anything quite like it before. It is set within London’s criminal underworld where everyone operates outside the normal rules of society. Betrayed is a gritty novel without the patina of glamour usually ascribed to the gangland lifestyle. Rose portrays a brutal underworld aided by corrupt cops, greedy lawyers, violent intimidation and well greased wheels.

Bunny didn’t quite play the leading role I expected and I thought Del was the stronger and better developed character of the two. There are no real hero’s, nor innocents in this novel. It is a little strange when you realise you are hoping the violent, drug dealing gangster will prevail, but in Betrayed the alternative is unimaginably worse.

The pace of the story is good, as is the writing. It is quite visual in style and could be described as Eastenders meets The Soprano’s. Some readers may struggle with the fairly graphic elements related to the victimisation of children, as well as the coarse language.

The gangland crime fiction sub genre doesn’t hold a lot of appeal for me in general but I liked Betrayal well enough. It was a fast read, and the plot and characters kept me interested for the length of the story. ( )

I have previously read gangster Martine Cole style books but, I would not put it down as my favourite genre. However, this book has changed my perspective completely. This is an exceptionally well written story.

The author has created strong dynamic characters who engage you. Through the book I really invested in these characters and wanted to know what happened to them. The skill of this author at creating characters is huge and she can create characters of all ages. As well as the adults she has created an excellent likeable child in Star who helps the story progress on. Star made me smile on several occasions. An author that can write both genders and all ages equally well is rare. The characters are not all exceptional human beings and Jacqui Rose shows the dark side of human personality as well as the good.

The story is gripping and fast paced and the shorter chapters make you find yourself progressing through the book at a rapid speed eager to find out what happens next. The story itself has an excellent gripping start, good middle portion of story telling and a fantastic end. There is a twist through the book which some may guess but I certainly didn't. Morally the story deals with some quite disturbing aspects of life such as child abuse and abduction. You find yourself recognising these as the true villains of the story. It is only when you finish that you realise that you have turned drug dealers into the good guys when compared against the child abductors.

This is a brilliant read which I thoroughly enjoyed I will certainly be looking for more from this author. ( )