In the North West criminal underworld, a deal goes tragically wrong, resulting in war between the two main organised crime factions in the region. Shockwaves rock the 30-mile gap between Liverpool and Manchester – with retired detective Brendan Foley right in the middle of it all.
For Brendan, six months after his resignation, life is all different. His marriage is a mess, he’s working as a nightclub bouncer, his brother is still missing and he just can’t stop searching for the crime family that destroyed his life. And at last, he’s found them – and he’s got them bang to rights.
Iona Madison, his one-time partner and now successor as a DI in Warrington Police, is tasked with a body pulled from the River Mersey – a teen-age boy that went missing the previous year, which might bring her own conduct into question. Not only that, Brendan is feeding her information whether she likes it or not – and his unsanctioned activities are causing her headaches.
And now, there’s a price on his head. A million pounds, dead or alive.
And Your Enemies Closer is a serpentine race against time as Brendan and Iona must stay one step ahead of criminals at every corner, while trying to bring justice – in whatever form it takes, and whatever loyalties it might burn.
It’s been probably a year since I read Far From The Tree, Rob Parker’s first book in the Thirty Miles Trilogy, so I have really been looking forward to Book 2 .
The opening chapter ( prologue ) reels you in with a gripping opening, and is quite shocking! Well those shocks reverberate thought And Your Enemies Closer, as a follow us book, this is fabulous, totally gripping!
The characters are well written, with Brendan Foley the now ex-cop estranged from his brother Ross, and desperately trying to get revenge for deeds that shocked me in Book 1, is such a great character. The battle he has in trying to justify staying within the Law, even though he is no longer a Detective, and breaking the Law for revenge against Culpepper, the crime Lord, is fantastically written. Both the Foley brothers are great characters.
My other favourite character in And Your Enemies Closer is DI Iona Madison, she is a totally kick arse, no nonsense Detective who loves boxing and is good at it, she’s a total ball breaker and I love her!
The descriptions of the settings for the storyline are well observed and it makes you feel like you are in the gritty underbelly of Liverpool. And the criminal gangs and their leaders are remarkable. The plot is fabulous and I was gripped, there are some twists that I didn’t see coming and had me gasping out loud! And I must mention the utterly unique way of committing murder, Mr Parker has really done his research for this and it’s absolutely grim and brilliant!
Just a quick mention of the Audible quality, as always with Audible it’s fantastically produced and Warren Brown is a great narrator for this book, really suits it.
So my rating…. Well you’ve guessed it 5 stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Rob writes full time, as well as organising and attending various author events across the UK – while boxing regularly for charity. Passionate about inspiring a love of the written word in young people, he spends a lot of time in schools across the North West, encouraging literacy, storytelling and creative-writing.
He is also a co-host of the For Your Reconsideration film podcast, and a regular voice on the Blood Brothers crime book podcast.
You can follow Rob Parker on Twitter Instagram Facebook
Rob has his own website HERE
You can buy And Your Enemies Closer HERE
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