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A review by katykelly
Geezer Girls by Dreda Say Mitchell
3.0
3.5 stars.
Firstly, it's not a comment on the book itself but the audio version is really grating. A male voice narrating normally isn't a problem for women's voices, but when he's voicing several Cockney female protagonists with really harsh 'Eastender'-stereotype accents, it really affects your enjoyment of a story. Really poor decision, in my opinion. I'd go for a paper copy of this book if I had the choice again.
The book itself is... well, alright. There' s a great story in there (begging to be made into a BBC mini-series), about four teenagers dragged into the world of a London gangster and his drug-running by force, and the mothers who they are trying to save. We start at the wedding day of a 25-year-old, where the bride and bridesmaids are all concealing guns.... At a pivotal moment we flash back for half the book to the lives of a group of 15-year-olds, when Frankie Sullivan forces himself into their world. It does keep you reading, you do want the girls to best the 'Geezer', though you can't see how that's going to happen.
It's an ambitious book - with diamond and drug smuggling, prison scenes in (fictional country) Zankura, child abuse and children's homes, kidnapping, cross-dressers, a court case and murder.
It's also a book where sometimes, I felt the author didn't know how to make the reader understand all the plot twists. There are some great bluffs and twists in there, but after they've happened and we're wondering "how?!", a character comes in and spends a few pages simply explaining it, Bond-villain style. I found some dialogue clunky and unrealistic too, which is more obvious when you listen to a book.
But there's no denying that I enjoyed listening to this, I wanted to get to the end and see how the girls faired.
It's not a genre I read a lot of, but I tried this after seeing it on the 2014 World Book Night list. It's enjoyable, with lots of action and lots to grip someone who doesn't read a lot (despite its length, it's not a difficult read). If you're a fan of crime/thriller/gangster/action stories, you'll love this.
Firstly, it's not a comment on the book itself but the audio version is really grating. A male voice narrating normally isn't a problem for women's voices, but when he's voicing several Cockney female protagonists with really harsh 'Eastender'-stereotype accents, it really affects your enjoyment of a story. Really poor decision, in my opinion. I'd go for a paper copy of this book if I had the choice again.
The book itself is... well, alright. There' s a great story in there (begging to be made into a BBC mini-series), about four teenagers dragged into the world of a London gangster and his drug-running by force, and the mothers who they are trying to save. We start at the wedding day of a 25-year-old, where the bride and bridesmaids are all concealing guns.... At a pivotal moment we flash back for half the book to the lives of a group of 15-year-olds, when Frankie Sullivan forces himself into their world. It does keep you reading, you do want the girls to best the 'Geezer', though you can't see how that's going to happen.
It's an ambitious book - with diamond and drug smuggling, prison scenes in (fictional country) Zankura, child abuse and children's homes, kidnapping, cross-dressers, a court case and murder.
It's also a book where sometimes, I felt the author didn't know how to make the reader understand all the plot twists. There are some great bluffs and twists in there, but after they've happened and we're wondering "how?!", a character comes in and spends a few pages simply explaining it, Bond-villain style. I found some dialogue clunky and unrealistic too, which is more obvious when you listen to a book.
But there's no denying that I enjoyed listening to this, I wanted to get to the end and see how the girls faired.
It's not a genre I read a lot of, but I tried this after seeing it on the 2014 World Book Night list. It's enjoyable, with lots of action and lots to grip someone who doesn't read a lot (despite its length, it's not a difficult read). If you're a fan of crime/thriller/gangster/action stories, you'll love this.