Sopranos
fans will welcome British author Cole’s U.S. debut, the U.K.’s #1 hardcover bestseller for 2006, which offers plenty of violence, sex, intrigue and skullduggery involving London’s criminal Brodie family over several decades. In the 1960s, young Patrick Brodie cuts a path to the top by brashly brushing aside those running the city’s East End clubs with their illegal liquor and prostitutes. Meanwhile, he marries a beautiful, abused factory girl, Lily Diamond, who soon bears him a brood. Pat provides brains and brawn, but Lily is the glue that holds the fractious family together as their fortunes rise and fall with increasing waves of violence. In the Brodies’ world, the only law is corrupt, the only trust is in family (and that’s not absolute) and the only certainty is death. Despite needless repetitions (Pat Brodie was “not a man to cross,” “a man to respect,” “a man only a fool would cross,” etc.), this book should appeal to those who like their crime fiction raw. (July)
