A powerful and gripping crime novel (Two Women - Martina Cole)

Member Name: dthpsb

Product:	Two Women - Martina Cole
Date:	31/08/09 (56 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Lots of fantastic twists and revelations

Disadvantages: None I loved this book

Martina Cole is a very successful novelist, whose books often end up top of the bestseller charts. She is from Essex and her books are always focused around the criminal underworld of London.

I was first introduced to Martina Cole when I read The Take which was a really great book and soon after I went and got another of her novels, Two Women. This was one of her earlier novels and was first published in 1999. After now reading all of Martina Cole's novels I think her earlier work is of a much better standard, more grittier and powerful. The characters are more intriguing and the storylines much more dramatic. I find her novels published in the last few years much tamer.

Two Women begins with The Prologue telling you of how Susan Dalston is serving time in prison and she is just introduced to her new cell mate Matilda Enderby. Re-wind 25 years and the book starts with us meeting Susan Dalston as a child, we follow her life through the next 25 years until she meets Matilda in prison and the fates of these women becomes linked, with no-one able to predict the consequences of these two women meeting.

The book is split into thirty two chapters and three different 'books' each focusing on different times in Susan's life. Book One begins in 1960 when Susan is just a child, she is unloved by her mother and abused by her father, we here of Susan's troubled childhood which goes on to shape her character and ultimately is the cause for what she goes on to do. All she wants is to protect her own children from what the horrific experiences she had to live through as a child.

Book Two begins in 1969, Susan is married to Barry and they have a child Wendy. Barry however is not the perfect Husband and just like her father is abusive. They go on to have three more children and as the abuse continues Susans instinct to keep her children safe ends with dire consequences. She ends up in prison but happy in the knowledge that her children are now safe.

Book Three begins in 1985, Susan Dalston is in prison and we get introduced to her cellmate Matilda Enderby, as we read how their reltionship develops the book takes a surprising twist and the book will leave you shocked.

I really enjoyed this book and loved the way is was set out covering over twenty years, you really become to understand and emphasise with the main character, realising why she does what she does. It is a gripping and powerful novel which will keep you on the edge of your seat right till the end.

Summary: A classic Martina Cole