Close: A gripping thriller of power and protection

Description

Keep your friends close and your enemies closer. And your family should be closest of all. Patrick Brodie knows exactly how far he's prepared to go to get what he wants. And he wants it all. Now. Before long, Patrick has become a legend in his own lifetime. Violently. Lily Diamond is different from the kind of woman Patrick is normally attracted to. But together they are determined that their children will have everything they didn't. Until the unthinkable happens and Lily is left on her own to look after their family in a dangerous world. The Brodies must stay close to survive. But as everyone knows, your sins will always find you out.

Martina Cole is the acknowledged queen of crime drama with over twenty novels to her name, of which over a dozen have been No.1 bestsellers. Several of Martina's novels have been adapted for the screen, including The Take and The Runaway which were shown on Sky 1 to remarkable reviews. In addition, Two Women and The Graft have been adapted for the stage; both were highly acclaimed when performed at the Theatre Royal Stratford East, which also staged Dangerous Lady in 2012, celebrating twenty years since Martina's debut novel was published. Martina Cole is a phenomenon. She continues to smash sales records with each of her books, which have sold thirteen million copies. In 2011 Martina surpassed the 50 million sales mark since records began and was the first British female novelist for adult audiences to achieve this - and she has spent more weeks in the No. 1 slot on the original fiction bestseller list than any other adult novelist. Her hard-hitting, uncompromising and haunting writing is in a genre all its own - no one writes like Martina.

Cole is brilliant at portraying the good among the bad, and vice versa, so until the very end we never quite know who to trust. This is the very stuff that makes her so compelling - Daily Mirror No one writes about East End women and their vagaries like Martina Cole - Maxim Jakubowski, Murder One 'A powerful novel that pulls no punches... Cole has an ear for the vernacular of the East End, as well as an ability to portray the viciousness of life at the edge' the Guide - Guide Right from the start [Cole] has enjoyed unqualified approval for her distinctive and powerfully written fiction - The Times Intensely readable - Guardian Martina Cole explores the shady criminal underworld, a setting she is fast making her own - Sunday Express Utterly compelling - Mirror The story will grip you from the first pages - Best