The Life

As usual this Martina Cole story does not fail to disappoint, it focuses on two half brothers and their relationship with each other, between them run the criminal world in London. The story revolves aound them, their families and all the siblings.

What makes this audio book even better is that it is read by Annie Aldington, who does a brilliant rendition as always.

Another cracking read from Martina Cole she brings the characters to life and you feel as if you are there with them through all the tragedy, brutality and also the joy





I always enjoy reading the books by this writer.

This is not a review of "the life" as to be honest i only managed to listen to 4 mins of it before i had to turn it off, instead this is a review of Annie Aldington's naration. She has without doubt the most whining voice you will ever hear. the 4 mins i listened to centered around the furenal of the main charactures mother after being killed by a car bomb, after listening to Annie narate all i can think is please kill me too!!!

Its difficult to get into the narrator is hard to listen too not so good with the male cockney, but eventually its a good read if you have read martina cole before you will know the stories are predictable but good

with Martina Cole and yet she still manages to hold the interest Gangland life in the East End, told from the perspective of the women standing on the sidelines

I listened to the free chapter and then brought the book after being impressed. The book is about the Bailey family and how the two brothers take over the smoke. The book describes how their family develops with success and tragedy though the generations. It has great characters and interesting twists and turns and a great ending to boot. I highly recommend it to anyone

This was really disappointing. It starts well enough, a thoughtful prologue and fairly punchy first chapter. However, it goes on to become a mind numbing account of the uninteresting lives of a family of London crooks.



The writing is dreadful. We are *told* virtually everything and *shown* none of it. When there is some action it is followed up by pages of tedious exposition.



I gave up on it after about 4 hours, not caring one iota for any of the characters nor what lies in store for any of them in the latter part of the book.



The publisher says it is "The most authentic novel of gangster family life ever written". Well, if that's the case give me the inauthenticity of Mario Puzzo over this any day.



...and Annie Aldington's Jamaican accent is appalling.