No Julia and Hugh in this Notting Hill! (Dangerous Lady - Martina Cole)

Member Name: karenuk

Product:	Dangerous Lady - Martina Cole
Date:	30/03/04 (295 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: compelling, great characters, very readable

Disadvantages: violent, disturbing scenes

So, how does a self-confessed internet addict cope, when faced with two weeks computer-less? She reads. A lot. Hence finishing two Martina Cole books (of around 600 pages each) in just a few days!

Dangerous Lady was the author’s first novel, published back in 1992. I own the 10th anniversary edition with a foreword by Cole herself. Having read several of her books before, I knew what to expect – crime, murder, violence and seedy sex – but with a huge portion of strong family connections, wonderfully described characters and decades of their lives evolving over the pages.

Before Martina Cole, I had always shied away from these kinds of books, not relishing the prospect of reading about death and the criminal underworld for fun. But with her books, the strength of her writing makes it worthwhile. You recognise familiar themes throughout her books, but somehow each one remains fresh and different from the others.

In some ways, you might expect an author’s first novel to be the weakest, hoping their work will improve over the years. However, I loved Dangerous Lady and would rate it as my second favourite of her novels I have read so far. It had all the things I love about her writing, but I felt the more ‘unpleasant’ side of things was toned down.

The heroine of this book is a woman called Maura Ryan, who we follow from her birth in 1950 through to the late 1980s. She was brought up in poverty in Notting Hill, as the only girl in a family of nine children. Her mother, Sarah tried her hardest to feed and clothe her brood, while her lazy husband, Benjamin, drank most of the meagre income they did have.

But one of their sons, Michael, soon realised that crime really did pay and through his dodgy dealings, the family began to prosper. He is handsome and charming and finds it easy to get his own way. If people refuse to see things as he does, he is quite happy to resort to violence. In fact,
he relishes it. His reputation as a hard man with a debatable mental state is one that gets results – or else!

The other brothers followed his lead and they all benefit from their new lifestyle, but as Maura grows up, will she be following in their footsteps too? Sarah Ryan hopes not. Somehow she can turn a blind eye to her boys’ shady work, especially if it affords her a better standard of living – but a girl? Her only daughter? She doesn’t think so. She spends many an hour worrying about the future.

However, Maura eventually falls in love and it looks as though her dreams will be fulfilled and her mother will get her wish. Maura longs to be married to her sweetheart, settled down with a house and children of her own. But her boyfriend, Terry Petherick, is a policeman. There is no way her family will approve. In fact, once her brother Michael finds out, Terry’s life could be in danger. So how will things turn out?

It’s difficult to review a Martina Cole book, as there are so many shocks and surprises, that you don’t want to spoil them by giving anything away. But suffice to say, something happens which hardens Maura and leads her to join Michael in his criminal lifestyle.

Soon, Maura and Michael make a formidable team, feared and respected across the country, as their empire grows to include lap dancing clubs, the takings of armed robberies and drug dealing. But that kind of life brings risks and none of the Ryan family are strangers to tragedy as the years go on.

Although many parts of the book are at best unsettling and at worst disturbing (particularly an abortion scene), Dangerous Lady is well worth a read. I found it very easy to get into and it is the sort of book you just can’t resist picking up in any free moment – or making the time to read it. It is compelling, you are desperate to know what happens next.

The characters are written so well, that y
ou easily come to care about them. Even casual, cameo roles are usually given some background information, which means that if they meet a gruesome end, you care more, as you know if they leave a partner or children.

Some readers can find a large book daunting – This one is 563 pages long. - but I have never found one of Martina Cole’s hard to get into and I always wish they were even longer, as I love them and get so involved in the characters’ lives. Luckily, this one has a sequel – Maura’s Game – so you can read more about the Ryan family, if you wish.

I found this novel different to her later ones and enjoyed it more for that. This one even has a happy ending! Maura’s Game soon shatters that though! I hope the author doesn’t think adding more brutality and swearing to her novels is the way to go, as I think Dangerous Lady is much better than Maura’s Game (one of her more recent releases), but if her readership continues to buy them, who am I to argue?


DANGEROUS LADY by Martina Cole
Published by Headline
£6.99

www.martinacole.co.uk

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