then there's Maura's nephew, Benny, the image of his Uncle Michael, but so similar in character to his Uncle Garry. This book is the sequel to "Dangerous Lady" and continued the story of Maura Ryan and her family who are one of the head crime families in London. I have read one other book by this author and thought it was good, although her work is extremely gory. bestseller Martina Cole which catapulted her to fame and made her the 'undisputed queen of crime writing' ( Guardian ). However, I would recommend to those who love gritty, realistic and a main character who just gets on with it.

This is the very first novel by Martina Cole that I had the great pleasure of reading and I have been hooked ever since then. We realise that Maura had once been pregnant with Terry’s child but fearing what the neighbours would think, her mother forced her to have an unsafe abortion which left her unable to give birth again. 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.

She won the British Book Award for Crime Thriller of the Year with The Take, which then went on to be a hit TV series for Sky 1. I love Martina and am so happy I was introduced to these books about 10 years ago and now I don't have time to sit a read cause of my kids!

I did like Joey’s personality for a bit because he seemed fun and away from the vicious criminal underworld but then he showed his true colours more near the end and family friend Abdul seemed nice until he also showed his true colours. Het kan aan mij liggen, omdat ik Gevaarlijke dame nog niet gelezen heb, maar ik vond Grof spel minder goed dan Vrouwen zonder gezicht.MAURA’S GAME is the unputdownable sequel to DANGEROUS LADY, the iconic first novel by Sunday Times No. She did look after her niece Carla and her nephew Joey very well and always stands up against Carla and her mother when they get homophobic about Joey. None of the characters have any endearing qualities but as it is a tale of gangsters that is only to be expected. This is the followup to dangerous lady, and your with Maura all the way, this is great page turner and each chapter makes you want some more. I had forgotten many plot points, but the head in the wardrobe has definitely always stayed with me.

Martina Cole's unique blend of emotional drama and shocking realism combine in this electrifying new best seller.There were only two things I would have done differently but just the fact that a lot of the book seemed to go on too long prevents me from giving this book 5 stars as I feel it could have been better. The Ryans are one hell of a family and in this Maura has her hands full keeping her brother and Mother under control! A little disappointed though as throughout the book they were all amongst the agreement that Maura wanted out of the world and handing the reins over, yet the ending mentioned nothing of the sort and Maura still seems to be the one on top. MAURA'S GAME is an explosive novel of East End violence and corruption from one of the most original voices in fiction today.

The author manages to give us enough background from the previous book to ensure that this can be read as a standalone. So, if you like to read about gangsters drinking cups of tea whilst 'getting things sorted,' then you should read Maura's Game. This was a very violent and profance book that's not for every reader, but I found it felt very true to life. The Maura Ryan Books: Dangerous Lady and Maura’s Game Available together for the first time, Martina Cole's genre-defining first novel Dangerous Lady and it's sequel, Maura's Game, featuring her classic heroine Maura Ryan.Not a bad novel - I don´t mean to suggest that it is - but simply not as good as "Ladykiller" in terms of plot, character development, or narrative style. To calculate the overall star rating and percentage breakdown by star, we don’t use a simple average. The Ryan family are being set up to take a big fall from underworld grace and their enemies are circling like sharks to come in for the kill (literally) when that happens.