I hated everything about this book. The characters, several generations of an Essex crime family, are all deeply unpleasant and carry out one atrocity after another. They're superficially glossy and care more about flashy cars and designer kitchens than about anything else. They're gangsters who are considered all right as, whatever else they do, they love their old Mum. As with Cole’s previous books, the chapters are fairly short and the style and flow of writing is easy to follow but it’s really just the same old stories and characters.

Loyalty by Martina Cole | Headline Publishing Group, home of Loyalty by Martina Cole | Headline Publishing Group, home of

The plot was too simple for a suspense/thriller novel. There were so many little off-shoots that the plot could have taken that would have been mildly interesting and suspenseful. Unfortunately, the author took none of these and we were left with the unfulfilled hope that the story would become complex and live up to what it was marketed as. Mám rada príbehy z mafiánskeho prostredia. Ten svet ma niečím fascinuje. A Martina Cole mi jeden taký priniesla, i keď nebolo to celkom to, čo som očakávala. Príbeh bol totiž viac zameraný na rodinné vzťahy ako tie mafiánske, našťastie v ňom ale nechýbali rôzne mafiánske praktiky.

The characterisation was as good as ever with the feisty, mouthy ex good time girl Reeva mother of the O'Hara family who likes a drink but has a heart of gold and would do anything for her children. There are trigger points that deal with chid abuse, sexual and physical, rape, violence towards women, drug taking and if you flinch at the C word be prepared to flinch a lot

Loyalty by Martina Cole | Goodreads

Dara Tailor has had to grow up fast. With a mother addicted to cocaine, Dara must look after her seven younger siblings, until social services split them up for ever. Got to mention on a lighter note the Mother from hell,Phyllis,is a classic written character, I couldn’t stand her ( the love to hate was strong ) and as for Judy, well you will be shouting at the book about her…. I had to take a break from reading it because I had heard the line ‘he doesn’t suffer fools gladly’ one too many times and it still came up multiple times when I resumed the read.Like many, many others, I have always been a huge fan of Martina Cole and I used to jump onto her new books as soon as they were released. But again, like many others, I have been left disappointed with her more recent work and I have to say that ‘Get Even’ was no exception to that.” This book is probably the worst book I've ever read. Literally. I read "The Graft" when I was a teenager and I thought it was alright, so when I did a book swap with this book, I thought it would be an easy read, but okay. Aiden O'Hara is the oldest, loves his mum but knows she attracts the wrong sort of guys so he has to watch over his family.