Product Description

Set in the East End of London from the tail-end of the seventies up until the present-day, THE BUSINESS is a tale of drugs, prostitution and a young girl’s fight for survival – against all the odds.

Imelda Dooley is scared. She’s played hard and fast and now she’s been caught. She’s pregnant and now she’s on her own. Her father, not a man to mess with, will see that somebody pays for this. And it’s not going to be her. So Imelda Dooley tells a lie. A lie that literally causes murders.

When Mary Dooley’s husband is killed in the night’s events, she knows she must graft to keep the family afloat. And graft she does, becoming a name in her own right. But she still has to watch her daughter’s life spiral into a vicious, hate-fuelled cycle of drugs and prostitution.

Caught up in the carnage that is Imelda’s existence are Mary’s adored grandchildren, Jordanna and Kenny. Pretty little Jordanna isn’t yet three and she already knows far too much. All she can do is look after her baby brother and try not to draw attention to herself.

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Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #3859 in Books
• Published on: 2009-04-30
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 576 pages

Review
'An eye-opening account of what life is really like on the wrong side of the tracks...immensely readable.' --SUNDAY EXPRESS

'...all the favourite Cole hallmarks - gritty dialogue, shocking violence and a gripping storyline...Cole at her finest.'
--DAILY EXPRESS

Review
'An eye-opening account of what life is really like on the wrong side of the tracks...immensely readable.'

'...all the favourite Cole hallmarks - gritty dialogue, shocking violence and a gripping storyline...Cole at her finest.'

About the Author
Martina Cole was born and brought up in Essex. She is the bestselling author of fifteen novels set in London's gangland, and her most recent three paperbacks have gone straight to No. 1 in the Sunday Times on first publication. Her latest hardback, THE BUSINESS has been No. 1 in the hardback bestseller chart for six weeks so far... Total sales of Martina's novels stand at over nine million copies.

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Customer Reviews

Absolute Drivel
I have read all of Martina Cole's books and, up until her last, Faces, I have always found them an excellent read, with clever, well thought out plots. Faces was gratuitously violent, with irritating text and loathsome characters. I hoped it was just a blip in her writing, but sadly 'The Business' is actually worse.

The whole plot could have been written in the synopsis on the back of the book, and just how many times did I need to be told that Imelda was not a nice person? Whole storylines were skimmed over, events happened that had me going back over pages to find out what I must have missed (not difficult: I missed huge chunks of repetitive dialogue, where the reader was told, for the hundredth time, that Imelda was not very nice); characters started to become interesting and then just disappeared (Jimmy Bailey, Michael Hanlon); Jordanna's dialogue was written as if by an adult yet she was only supposed to be two years old; Kenny had all the 'Faces' living in fear of him at the tender age of 14... come on - give the reader some credit! It was absolute drivel. And was anyone else as irritated as me with Kenny 'Boy'? This was as annoying as 'Danny Boy' in the last book!

I fear Martina Cole is heading the same way as Patricia Cornwell, her sucess makes her feel she doesn't need to try. However, if the author doesn't care about the book, why on earth should her avid fans? Thank goodness this book was only £9 in Tesco. I'll never buy another Martina Cole!

martina cole's the business
She done it again! ( Do not waste you money on martina cole's the business) thought she could only get better after the absolute rubbish FACES was. but no you've turned from very good to the greatest crap writer ever.

disappointing read
eagerly awaited and sadly disappointed! repetitive, not captivating as her previous books and struggled to finish this one. the story was neither compelling nor believable. what a shame...