The Life: A dark suspense thriller of crime and corruption

Absolutely amazing read, so much going on, starting off with working out who is who and how they fall into the family , not an ending I expected amazing, very dark read, and a lot going on in the background, that leaves you thinking how is that going to pan out great story well done Martina 10/10 I recommend this as a must read and thank you Martina Cole for all your time and the hard work that you have put into this book ,and my favourite narrator Annie Aldington bless her does a fantastic job 5 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟on to your next book best wishes to you Martina x

I have read and enjoyed all Martina Cole's books up until this latest one which I just didn't get. As always we had the same good son/bad son, go to mass, Irish mum etc,etc. It all gets a bit predictable after reading so many of her books but I can normally overlook that as her standard of writing is ,for me, brilliant and the stories have me gripped.This time though there were so many characters we didn't get to really know them and I just kept getting mixed up as to who was who. There were so many chapters often only a couple of pages long which were not necessary as they did not define a new part of the story but were just a continuation of the last page. I kept reading on waiting for a story to evolve but it didn't and I found myself getting annoyed wanting the old MC magic to happen but it didn't. Finally I know MC's books contain strong violence at times as this is part of the world she writes about but there is a torture scene towards the end of the book which was so graphic I skipped some of the pages. In future I will stick to Jessie Keane or re-readings M's earlier books.

First time I really hope for a sequel. This story although sad at times was funny and in a strange way inspiring.It's a great read from the first word.Trouble is its hard to put down. You want to know what happens next.Enjoy

What can I say I am in the middle of reading this book cannot put it down am a great fan of Martina Cole and love all of her books and am always looking for the next one to come out.

I am an ardent Martina Cole fan and have read most of what she has written and as such I was very much looking forward to reading The Life.I know as a Cole fan that you are going to get a somewhat similar theme to the book (Irish, Poor, Gangster, Big Family, Matriarch Mass Loving Mommy, violence some mental illness and a women who see's nothing but her man), however with this book I actually felt like I was reading snippets of all of her other books.It doesn't help with the lazy character naming, its like she had a pot of all of the other names in her other books and she dipped in when she needed one.Also as the book went on the characters seem to have an alarming way of completely changing their personality and moral code to fit with the storyline (or chapter which seemed to come every 3 pages)The Life feels like it has been Cut & Shoved from all of her other books....has she ran out of ideas?All in all I was disappointed as I am normally a fan

Same old story just the names changed, the writer has us thinking London was full of Irish scum who come over here get pregnant and marry gangsters. According to her all the clubs and strip clubs were run by these ex Irish RCs in all her books.Ireland must have been empty they were all over here.

I have gave up reading this book. Have tried to fathom out what is going on, but keep putting it down and then trying again but now I am not reading anymore. Gone are the days you could pick a book up from Martina Cole and not be able to put down, but this book and the last few have been really hard to get into. So many people's names to remember. Think I am going to stick to Kimberley Chambers, Mandasue Heller, Karen Woods who writes brilliantly, and not forgetting Jessie Keane, now these ladies from picking up the book and reading the first page and you can't put the book down until its finished.

Typical Martina Cole fare which I thoroughly enjoy. To be honest the phrase ‘the life’ was repeated on nearly every page and I won’t countenance that! It’s a great read, and a pleasing ending.