MY FIRST LOVE - LUTON TOWN - A NEAR 40 YEAR LOVE AFFAIR

Peter Osgood

My first love (before reading and books) was football. As a kid growing up in the 60’s and 70’s I used to live and breathe football. My favourite team of the time was Chelsea and I can recall charging around my back garden in full kit, imitating my hero of the day Peter Osgood.

My first live match was a treat from my uncle – an opportunity to see West Ham take on my beloved Chelsea in December, 1972. A great day but marginally spoilt by the outcome; Chelsea losing 3 – 1 in East London.

Johnny Giles

My dad used to like Leeds, probably because of the little Irishman who used to run their midfield at the time – Johnny Giles. In truth though, my father was always more interested in Gaelic Games and how the All-Ireland football and hurling championships unfolded each year. Go on Dublin!

Kenilworth Road

Early 1974, I probably started badgering my father to take me to a football match and eventually he relented. On a Tuesday evening, the 16^th April, 1974 I visited Kenilworth Road for the very first time to see Luton Town take on Oxford United. Luton were flying high and seeking promotion to Division 1 – the top-flight of English football at the time. My first taste of Luton saw them lose 1 – 0, but the season ended successfully and promotion to the old First Division was realised.   

No instant love affair or attraction developed. Luton spent one solitary season in Division One, before being relegated back down to the second tier.

A year and a half later – 29^th October, 1975 I went to see Dunstable Town take on Luton in a friendly. The occasion was my 12^th birthday and the excitement was exacerbated by Dunstable Town having in their line-up none other than the legendary George Best. Best by then was a shadow of the former player that had helped Manchester United ascend to the top of British and European football. I remember nothing of the game other than the score line – a 1 -1 draw.

At some point during the 1975-76 season, I started to regularly attend home games with some school friends. From memory there were 4 of us that used go and we would be down at the Oak Road end turnstiles at about 1.15 pm waiting for the ground to open at around 1.30. If we were lucky, we were first through the gate and could rush up the steps to the top of the terraces and would run down at speed to secure a spot at the front directly behind the goal. Admission used to be 30p for children.  Kenilworth Road was (and still) is a tight, compact ground. Small in capacity but loud, noisy and heaving when Luton were playing well. 9,000 could sound like 10 times that amount!

Over the next couple of years, a lasting love affair with the club and the team developed. The following season or two the bond I felt for the club grew. 1978 was the year I bought my first season ticket for the princely sum of £15. Something I was to repeat for the following 20 years or so.

Ricky Hill

Late 70’s we had a decent side. David Pleat was manager and we had a couple of skilful, black budding stars in Ricky Hill and Brian Stein. We had a few unsuccessful seasons challenging for promotion back to the top-flight, before cracking it in 1981-82. That year we ran away with the title, ending the season above arch rivals – Watford and securing promotion with only 4 defeats. By this time, I was happily following the Town to away matches; particularly when they played in London, which was only half an hour away on the train.  

Brian Stein

Raddy Antic

1982-83 we were back in the big time! Man Utd, Liverpool, Everton, Arsenal, Tottenham and the rest all rolled into town. Great days, great crowds, memorable victories and humbling defeats all followed. By the end of the season relegation loomed large. We travelled to Man Utd on a weekday evening and lost. Saturday we were back in Manchester playing their arch-rivals City in an us or them, do or die shoot-out. 85 minutes gone, a NIL-NIL draw seemed inevitable and a quick return to the second division. Up steps the most popular Yugoslavian in the history of the town – Raddy Antic who shoots and scores from about 12 yards out. Pandemonium ensued – 5,000 happy, delirious, dancing Luton fans – 38,000 disgruntled, angry Mancunians. The following 5 minutes were the longest of my life. City missed a chance late on to equalise and send us down, but we held on. You may dimly recall seeing footage of our manager dancing across the pitch, before players and fans were attacked by City supporters, triggering the intervention of mounted police.

David Pleat

We stayed in the top flight for 10 seasons in total. Most of them struggling to avoid relegation, but a few in the middle were relatively successful and in 1986-87 we finished the season in an all-time high of 7th position. I had some of the best days of my life following Luton with my friends. Sundays to Wednesdays would be spent reflecting on the game and performance and result of the last game, assuming we had no midweek fixture. Thursday to Saturday lunchtime was spent anticipating the next game on a Saturday afternoon, planning an away trip and organising transport and a driver.

I think what made these days so happy and memorable were my friendships at the time. It was never just about the football, games and trips away were social occasions and outings. Drink was never far from our thoughts – if we won we would drink to celebrate and if we lost we would drink to cheer ourselves up.

I used to be able to remember every away ground I visited watching Luton – 40 easily…..Arsenal, Tottenham, Chelsea, West Ham, QPR, Millwall, Leighton Orient, Southampton, Reading, Newcastle, Sheffield Wednesday, Ipswich, Norwich, West Brom, Wolves, Aston Villa, Birmingham, Leicester, Derby, Oxford, Watford, Cambridge, Derby, Stoke, Shrewsbury, Swansea, Blackburn, Liverpool, Everton, Man Utd, Man City, Cardiff, Brighton, Cardiff, Leeds, Notts Forest, Notts County, Rotherham, Northampton and Wimbledon.  

My own life evolved and changed significantly in this period. In either late 1984 or early 1985, I left home and moved into digs in Leighton Buzzard – a quiet market town about 13 miles away from Luton. I gradually separated from my football friends and started taking my then girlfriend (future wife) to see super Luton instead. A shared passion.

On and off the pitch was a bit of a roller-coaster……….plastic pitch, the Millwall riot, causing Maggie Thatcher to show an interest in football and our chairman of the time, a Tory MP – David Evans to introduce a membership scheme and away fans ban, which helped make us the most unpopular club in English football.

Luton - Millwall 1985

Highlight and lowlights…….

1985 FA Cup semi final, unluckily losing to the best team in the country at the time Everton.

1988 FA Cup semi final, deservedly losing to Wimbledon 2 -1.

1988 Simod Cup Final, getting spanked by lower league Reading 4 – 1 at Wembley.

1988 – 24^th April – one of the greatest days of my life – with the exception of the day I set eyes on my future wife for the first time, the day I married my wife and the occasion of the birth of my three children.  Wembley stadium Littlewoods Cup Final – LUTON TOWN 3 ARSENAL 2

Cup Winners - Steve Foster, Andy Dibble, Brian Stein

I can remember the match like it was yesterday. Luton went 1 – 0 up early first half through Brian Stein. Arsenal equalised second half, then went 2 – 1 ahead. A few minutes later, the referee awarded them a penalty and I thought it was all over. Up stepped Nigel Winterburn to seal the victory but our goalkeeper Andy Dibble makes the save. 7 minutes from time, Danny Wilson – who my wife hugged and kissed the following day at the victory parade through the town – equalises. In the 90^th minute after a sublime cross from Ashley Grimes, Brian Stein strikes with his second of the game to snatch the win and secure the only major trophy Luton have lifted in over 100 years of professional football.

Brian Stein's 90th minute winner!

1989 – we returned to Wembley to face Brian Clough’s Nottingham Forest in the final the following year. Despite an early 1 – 0 lead after a goal from Luton legend, Mick Harford we lost 3 – 1.

1992 saw us relegated from the top flight and saw the start of a downward spiral. From Luton’s Wikipedia entry………

The club was relegated from the top division at the end of the 1991–92 season, and sank to the third tier four years later. Luton stayed in the third-tier Second Division until relegation at the end of the 2000–01 season. Under the management of Joe Kinnear, who had arrived halfway through the previous season, the team won promotion from the fourth tier at the first attempt. 

"Controversial" owner John Gurney unsettled the club in 2003, terminating Kinnear's contract on his arrival in May; Gurney replaced Kinnear with Mike Newell before leaving Luton as the club entered administration. Newell's team finished as champions of the third-tier Football League One in 2004–05.

While Newell's place was taken by first Kevin Blackwell and later former player Mick Harford, the team was then relegated twice in a row, starting in 2006–07, and spent the latter part of the 2007–08 season in administration, thus incurring a ten-point deduction from that season's total. The club then had a total of 30 points docked from its 2008–09 record by The Football Association and The Football League for various financial irregularities dating back several years. These deductions proved to be too large an obstacle to overcome, but Luton came from behind in the final of the Football League Trophy to win the competition for the first time.

Relegation meant that 2009–10 saw Luton playing in the Conference Premier, a competition which the club had never before contested. They remain there as of the 2013–14 season, having unsuccessfully contested the promotion play-offs three times in the previous four years. In the 2012–13 FA Cup fourth round, Luton won their away tie against Premier League club Norwich City 1–0, and in doing so became the first non-League team to beat a side from England's top division since 1989.          

Over the past 15 years, football and Luton has assumed a lesser significance in my life. I had been previously spoilt – I had the good fortune to start watching my unfashionable but stylish and entertaining team at a time when they were about to enter the most successful period in their history. I enjoyed over 25 years watching them win, lose and draw with panache.

With the advent of our family in March 1995 and the subsequent addition of two further mini Keanes in 1996 and 1998, football and Luton was a lower priority. Money was tighter, time was tighter, work hours were longer, baby-sitters for 3 young kids every other Saturday was a stretch and an imposition on ever-willing grandparents. I/we gradually stopped attending matches and eventually the buzz and the passion and ardour dimmed.

Saturday’s at 5 o’clock would still have me looking for the Town’s result. But as the wiki entry above indicates, the club suffered through a long period of poor management and our fortunes on the pitch declined.

Harsh treatment from the football authorities saw us lose our Football League status in 2009. We have battled unsuccessfully to get back ever since, coming close but never quite succeeding.  A succession of managers have tried and failed.

John Still

2013-2014 may finally see an upturn in our fortunes and the start of a renaissance. Just over a year ago we appointed John Still as manager and he has galvanised the whole club, uniting staff, players and supporters in a common goal of getting Luton Town back into the football league.

Luton - Tamworth

Tuesday night Luton beat Tamworth 2 - 0 to move 16 points clear of Cambridge United, who have 6 games left to play (possible 18 points). By 22.00 hours GMT tonight, if Cambridge have lost at Woking, Luton will be back in the football league. Should Cambridge draw or win, the champagne will be on ice until Saturday lunchtime when Luton face Braintree at Kenilworth Road. A victory then, if still required will get the corks popping. Should the unthinkable happen and we lose, we will still have a further 3 opportunities to secure the points required, but hopefully those matches won’t be needed. My nerves can’t take it!

								SEASON 2013/2014 Select Season 2013/2014 2012/2013 2011/2012 2010/2011 2009/2010 Last updated 10 Apr 2014 HOME AWAY PLD W D L F A W D L F A GD PTS 1 Luton 42 17 3 1 58 12 10 8 3 35 18 +63 92 2 Cambridge Utd 40 15 4 2 42 11 6 9 4 20 16 +35 76 3 Grimsby 40 9 7 4 37 24 11 3 6 22 16 +19 70 4 Gateshead 41 11 6 4 38 22 8 5 7 27 26 +17 68 5 FC Halifax Town 41 15 5 1 52 17 4 5 11 24 37 +22 67 6 Alfreton Town 42 13 5 3 42 29 8 1 12 21 36 -2 66 7 Braintree Town 41 11 2 7 26 18 8 6 7 26 18 +16 65 8 Barnet 42 11 5 5 29 21 7 6 8 24 24 +8 65 9 Salisbury 42 12 6 3 30 19 6 3 12 20 37 -6 63 10 Nuneaton 42 11 4 6 26 23 6 7 8 25 32 -4 62 11 Kidderminster 41 13 3 4 41 22 4 7 10 17 35 +1 61 12 Woking 41 10 4 6 29 24 8 3 10 28 35 -2 61 13 Forest Green 41 13 4 4 44 19 4 4 12 29 39 +15 59 14 Welling 42 9 5 7 26 19 6 7 8 28 32 +3 57 15 Macclesfield 41 11 4 5 33 22 6 2 13 25 34 +2 57 16 Lincoln City 42 9 6 6 26 16 5 7 9 27 39 -2 55 17 Wrexham 42 10 5 6 28 20 5 4 12 29 39 -2 54 18 Southport 42 11 5 5 29 22 1 5 15 15 42 -20 46 19 Chester FC 42 5 10 6 24 28 6 3 12 21 38 -21 46 20 Hereford 42 8 6 7 21 21 3 6 12 18 37 -19 45 21 Aldershot 42 10 6 5 44 28 4 6 11 18 28 +6 44 22 Dartford 41 7 3 10 29 31 4 5 12 16 35 -21 41 23 Tamworth 42 5 7 9 22 27 3 2 16 15 46 -36 33 24 Hyde 42 0 3 18 17 53 1 4 16 18 54 -72 10

These days, I monitor their fortunes from the vantage point of TV, radio, lap-top and newspaper, but my love affair and affections for the town have been re-awakened.

About 10 o'clock tonight - fingers crossed!

C’mon You Hatters!*

*Luton are nicknamed The Hatters because of the town’s long and historic connection with the millinery industry.

   

  

OLEN STEINHAUER - THE CAIRO AFFAIR

Synopsis/blurb…..

Sophie Kohl is living her worst nightmare. Minutes after she confesses to her husband, a mid-level diplomat at the American embassy in Hungary, that she had an affair while they were in Cairo, he is shot in the head and killed.

Stan Bertolli, a Cairo-based CIA agent, has fielded his share of midnight calls. But his heart skips a beat when he hears the voice of the only woman he ever truly loved, calling to ask why her husband has been assassinated.

Omar Halawi has worked in Egyptian intelligence for years, and he knows how to play the game. Foreign agents pass him occasional information, he returns the favour, and everyone's happy. But the murder of a diplomat in Hungary has ripples all the way to Cairo, and Omar must follow the fall-out wherever it leads.

American analyst Jibril Aziz knows more about Stumbler, a covert operation rejected by the CIA, than anyone. So when it appears someone else has obtained a copy of the blueprints, Jibril alone knows the danger it represents.

As these players converge in Cairo in The Cairo Affair, Olen Steinhauer's masterful manipulations slowly unveil a portrait of a marriage, a jigsaw puzzle of loyalty and betrayal, against a dangerous world of political games where allegiances are never clear and outcomes are never guaranteed.

I have previously read and enjoyed a couple of the author’s earlier books back in the middle of 2011 – The Istanbul Variations and Victory Square, so was looking forward to catching up with his latest offering. Both of those books concerned Eastern Europe in the aftermath of WW2 and the Cold War. The Cairo Affair has a more contemporary feel with events concerning the Arab Spring in 2011, particularly with regard to Libya.

Difficult to decide what to put into a review and what to leave out, without basically re-hashing the synopsis above. The narrative jumps between two timelines; the early 90’s and 2011. The delivery of events is presented from the perspective of several of the main players within the book; an approach which worked for me. I was reminded of a recent read – Penance by Dan O’Shea where a similar construction paid off.  

A few bullet points then ………Egypt, Libya, Langley, Budapest, 2011, Yugoslavia, Serbs, Croats, 1991, America, desert, marriage, honeymoon, affair, diplomacy, intelligence services, police – both secret and other, heritage, freedom, loyalty, money, secrets, surveillance, Mubarak, Gaddafi, assassin, death, politics, plans, plots, truth, lies, trust, manipulation, cooperation, relationships, family, betrayal, revenge, poetry and much more.

A few more bullet points and a verdict ……. Interesting, enjoyable, clever, intelligent, stunning, entertaining, educational, informative, eye-opening, satisfying and amazing.

Well-fleshed characters – not all of them likeable and great detail, the plot and the premise for “Stumbler”, makes you wonder whether Steinhauer has his own mole working inside Langley.

Time to dust off his other books.

5 from 5

Accessed via Net Galley. In the UK – The Cairo Affair was released last month.

Tracy at Bitter Tea and Mystery blog enjoyed and reviewed this here.

    

2 BY LARRY FONDATION

My 2 by post today concerns an author I have only recently discovered; Larry Fondation.

I haven’t yet read anything by him, but at some point this year I will hopefully rectify this aberration.

Larry’s website is here.

There’s a quote from him there .......…… 

 “I think Los Angeles reveals itself most at the margins. On the street corners, in bars and nightclubs. In the sounds of the traffic, police sirens and helicopters, in the words and music of local bands…”

He has published 5 books in total in addition to the 2 up on here. You can check out Martyrs and Holymen, Unintended Consequences and Common Criminals if you’re so inclined.

Angry Nights

Angry Nights is about a world where betrayal can become a part of the structure of everyday experience…At a time when the plight of urban America increasingly makes for grim headlines and when some have even cast the very future of our cities in doubt, Angry Nights provides a gripping account of life in the American inner city. In prose that is terse and bristling with tension, Angry Nights reveals a highly charged world that many of us fear, or worse, prefer to deny…

Fish, Soap and Bonds

Fish, Soap and Bonds follows the movements of three homeless persons on the unforgiving streets of Los Angeles. Through their eyes we experience both the depths and heights of humanity: hate and discrimination, sacrifice and redemption. This is the third in Fondation’s series of “LA Stories.”

Larry Fondation

All 5 books are loosely connected tales of LA life, a place I like reading about. 

MARCH FILMS AND TV

I managed to remember the title of another film watched in February - Savages, based on the Don Winslow book of the same name. Slow start and it was okay but not memorable. Apart from John Travolta and Salma Hayek I didn't recognise anyone else in the film.

March started with a bang film-wise and then fell away before ending on a high.

From Dusk Til Dawn - a bit of Tarantino, Clooney and Harvey Keitel along with a young Juliette Lewis. A bit of a wild ride, kind of starts out as a crime film, then morphs in a vampire movie with a blood and guts finale in a Mexican tittie bar.........I loved it. Second time around for me.







The Cider House Rules - based on the John Irving book which I read years ago. About a doctor running an orphanage and performing illegal abortions for troubled women. Michael Caine is excellent. Charlize Theron is superb too. Tobey Maguire, of Spiderman fame gets to serve under Caine as his apprentice doctor/abortionist and perfects that kind of goofy look he seems quite good at. Verdict - really enjoyable.

A reminder also to dig something of Irving's out this year for a read or re-read!

About Time - another enjoyable Richard Curtis film, released last year. Stars Bill Nighy in a kind of feel-good family flick involving a bit of time travelling. Excellent and a decent way of passing a few hours.

Missing in Action - I only caught an hour of this - a bit of ol' Chuck Norris showing those naughty Vietnamese who's the daddy! I always did have a bit of a soft spot for Chuck, can't say the film has aged that well though.

Getaway - with Ethan Hawke (should have stuck to the writing) and Selina Gomez. Absolutely dire and a couple of hours of my life I'll never get back! Those nasty black-ops agency types ought to play this on a loop to suspected Al-Qaeda dudes...........they'll soon throw the towel in and confess!











The Book Thief - best til last. Loved the book, loved the film - absolutely fantastic in my opinion and recommended. Didn't find it too mawkish or sentimental - just the right tone.

Geoffrey Rush is superb as is the young girl who plays Liesel, Sophie Nelisse.








TV - same old, same old.....Brooklyn Nine-Nine still rules.

Second best programme on UK TV at the minute is Gogglebox, though I did miss the first couple of this new series........for the uninitiated it's a reality programme following a selection of families watching TV shows .....giving their reactions, thoughts, comments, analysis on a variety of shows that aired on mainstream telly the previous week.........absolutely hilarious!

From Wikipedia..........Gogglebox is a British observational documentary, which has aired since 7 March 2013 on Channel 4. The show features recurring British couples, families and friends sitting in their living rooms watching weekly British television shows.

Stars of the show - Leon and June Bernicoff

Farah Ramzan Golant, the boss of All3Media, said: "Everyone loves watching TV and talking about TV. But the show isn't really about TV. The show is about people's lives, their relationships, their living rooms and the way children and parents talk about TV. It's near real-time because you're watching what happened in the seven days before. That’s quite priceless. It captures a cultural response to something that's happening in the world. Gogglebox shows TV in people's living rooms is alive and well and thriving. It is asserting the indispensable role of TV in the fabric of people's lives."

MARCH ADDITIONS TO THE LIBRARY.......SOME OF AT LEAST

No sign of the embargo taking effect just yet!

Some of what was added to the shelves in March.......

Time to apportion some responsibility for these,

My fault

My fault

Jose Ignacio

Favourite cover - Purple Jesus, (how could you not want to read a book titled that?), followed by Never Hit the Ground, with Welcome to Oakland or Nightmare Alley in third.

Goodreads giveaway

Glen

Paul D. Brazill

Least favourite - Bad Religion or Federales

Paul D. Brazill

Raven

My fault

Still - a Goodreads friend

Paul D. Brazill

Keishon

My fault

MARCH 2014 READING LIST AND PICK OF THE MONTH

March provided a decent month of reading, without me finding that book that was truly stand out and memorable. I had a slow start to the month with the Hunsicker book, which has made me decide, as much as possible to avoid long books at the start of the working week as I just get bogged down. Better to save them for a holiday or a weekend start when I can eat a big chunk up and make some progress. My enjoyment of The Contractors probably suffered as a result, though a mark of 3 appears generous.

Book of the month!

9 books were read in the month, which is 1 shy of my goal of 10 to achieve 120 for the year. I have yet to hit that magical figure in any month in 2014 - hopefully I will catch up later in the year.

All 9 books were authors new to me, (18 from 26 so far in 2014 - I've decided to count Agatha Christie as a new author last month),

4 of the books were debut novels and I would happily read more from all debut authors - Kirschman, Veste, Harvkey and McCrary.

2 were by females (making 5 from 26 for the year - 19% go me! Double last year's % but could still do better)

5 were Net Galley books (God, I really went overboard on there didn't I?), 2 were received from the author, 1 from the publisher and 1 book was actually bought, though it subsequently transpired it wasn't even a whole book, just a portion of it.

7 were US authors - no surprise there, 1 from Australia, 1 from the UK.

In the course of the month my reading took me to Sydney, Liverpool, Cincinatti, Texas, New York, Missouri and Indiana, with some flying visits to Arizona and Mexico as well as a couple of unknown locations!

Progress on my challenges - no Vintage Reads, no Scottish reads, no Espionage reads, no TBR Mountain reads, 1 for my Down Under challenge and a few states filled on my USA challenge (6 from 51, so I'm making some progress there).

Most of my reads were very good, just a bit short of great. Tough to pick a book of the month, but as I read it cover to cover in about 3 hours flat it has to be Ellen Kirschman's Burying Ben. The good news is, she's writing a second Dot Meyerhoff book!

Runner-up!

A close second would be Les Edgerton and The Bitch.

The full list of March reads is as follows:

Harry Hunsicker - The Contractors (3)

Les Edgerton - The Bitch (4)

Mike Resnick - Dog in the Manger (4)

Ellen Kirschman - Burying Ben (4)

Mike McCrary - Getting Ugly (4)

B. Selkie (aka Peter Robb) - Final Cut (aka No Sweat) (aka 1/3rd of Pig's Blood and Other Fluids) (3)

Mike Harvkey - In the Course of Human Events (4)

Luca Veste - Dead Gone (4)

Dorothy Uhnak - Codes of Betrayal (4)

---------------------------------------------

April aims - hit 10 for the month, keep up the female count, chip away at some of my challenges, clear the Net Galley burden from my shoulders - free is not always a good thing!

DOROTHY UHNAK - CODES OF BETRAYAL

Synopsis/blurb…….

Codes of Betrayal is a drama of double cross and triple jeopardy. At it's center is Nick O'Hara, an NYPD member whose shifting family loyalties will ultimately force him to confront his deepest notions of honor, loyalty, and justice. The son of an Irish father and an Italian mother, Nick O'Hara has always been a loyal cop. His relationship with his grandfather, Mafia boss Nicholas Ventura, has been an albatross, but never an issue. Then, in a moment of carelessness, he sends his thirteen-year-old son, Peter, to spend the afternoon at a Little Italy street fair with his underboss cousin. Caught in an alley between Little Italy and Chinatown, the boy is brutally gunned down, a bystander caught between mob crosshairs.

First taste for me of Dorothy Uhnak, but not my last, as I have a few of her earlier books on the shelves. She featured her in a recent “2 BY” post.

Uhnak also counts as my New York entry for my USA State Reading Challenge.

Codes of Betrayal is her last published novel originally released in 1997. With a New York setting and an Irish/Italian family there’s a potential clichéd book in the offing. If I think New York Irish, my mind conjures cops. If I think New York Italian, I’m figuring family and Mafiosi. Uhnak delivers a book along those lines, but it would be unfair to write it off as formulaic.

We have a cop – Nick O’Hara; married with a son. He’s honest in his work, less so in his marital relationship fidelity-wise. There are tensions present; the job has taken its toll and as a couple they struggle to communicate. His upbringing since the death of his father, at the hands of his mob-connected Uncle, possibly on the orders of his Mafiosi grandfather has distanced him from the Italian side of his family. A family re-union brings Nick's son into contact with his cousin’s boy; a lad of a similar age. Disaster strikes and O’Hara decides to seek revenge on his grandfather.

Dorothy Uhnak

O'Hara despite his cheating is a likeable character, with enough flaws and foibles to be realistic as opposed to a cardboard cut-out super cop. His grandfather and ultimately his nemesis - Nicholas Ventura - has virtues and positive attributes as well as the ruthless, heartless streak that keeps him entrenched at the head of his operation. He's both feared and respected. You do feel he has a genuine love and affection for Nick, in spite of his manipulative, controlling nature.  

Cops, mobsters, family, Irish, Italian, drugs, plan, gambling, robbery, death, vengeance, Colombians, Chinese, construction, Vegas, son, wife, cousin, uncle, grandfather, FBI, college, surveillance, death, estrangement, divorce, China White, betrayal, comeuppance.

An interesting mix, decent plot, a couple of strong female characters – Nick’s wife who I felt we didn't see enough of and a childhood friend of O’Hara’s – Laura Santalvo – a lady I didn't particularly warm to throughout; so conversely felt we saw too much of!    

Character, setting, plot, pace, conclusion – all ticks in the box, without being the best book I've ever read.

Overall verdict 4 from 5.

Another Net Galley acquisition (will I ever see the end of them?)

All of Uhnak’s back catalogue has been made available on e-book by Open Road Media – find them here!