Book Review: A Gangster’s Grip by Heather Burnside

I chose this book to read from Rosie Amber’s Book Review Team book list.

Rita returns to her native Manchester from Greece, with husband Yansis as she requires medical treatment she would have to pay for in Greece. it’s been four years since she emigrated and once back at her family home she is mugged and meets aggressive and unfriendly Leroy, her sister, Jenny’s boyfriend. Other surprises for Rita include her sister’s five month pregnancy and her father Ged’s fondness for Leroy and the business he brings.

With red flags waving from her initial impression of Leroy, Rita hazardously undertakes her own research that does nothing to qualm her concerns for her sister and her future baby. In a mission to do what she can to preserve her family’s safety will Rita be able to prevent her worst nightmares?

A gritty novel about the underbelly of crime in Moss Side and gang warfare. We are given a realistic and unglamourised view of living in rough council areas, and how people get by to survive. This book picks up pace and adrenaline as you get further into bit and the author brings a sense of serious malicious consequences alive on the page. I enjoyed reading about the characters and learning more about them. I have not read the first book in the trilogy, Slur, but found that it didn’t at all detract from my enjoyment of this novel.

As gritty, violent and realistic as the book seemed I expect the language has been toned down from the true swearing and slang I would expect to hear on Moss Side, but I still was taken away with the world and characters created in this gritty thriller, which builds to quite a crescendo.

A heart-racing read of gangs and crime and their effect on a family in Manchester. This book is available to read for free to Kindle Unlimited subscribers.

Links To Book:
Amazon UK
Amazon US
Goodreads