Lee Allen's Blog - Posts Tagged "kate-burrows"

Broken by Martina Cole

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


A gritty, disturbing thriller that follows the hunt for a group of paedophiles and a serial killer.

Kate Burrows is facing the most harrowing case of her career. A young boy abandoned at a building about to be demolished is only the beginning, as more children begin to go missing and meet harm, with evidence suggesting their mothers are culpable in their abandonment.

Meanwhile, her relationship with Patrick Kelly is under intense strain. Despite his assurances that he has gone legitimate, unknown to Kate he is a silent partner in a strip club, where one of the staff is found murdered. It soon becomes clear that another, more ruthless, gang is moving in on his turf.

As the investigation becomes one of child murder, with more children in danger, while she finds herself drawn into an increasingly volatile gangland disagreement, the lines are becoming increasingly blurred. Uncovering evidence of a highly organised paedophile ring, Kate is determined to bring all those involved to justice, by whatever means necessary.

Martina Cole’s police detective, Kate Burrows, following her investigation into the crimes of the Grantley Ripper in ‘The Ladykiller’, returns to investigate an even more horrific case of serial murder and once again lift the lid on the dark side of the sex industry. Martina Cole is never one to shy away or sugar-coat, her style effortlessly lending itself well to the telling of this emotive story. It covers many angles in stark detail – the mothers (rarely is a father in evidence) who struggle with their own children as they are barely able to look after themselves, this seemingly never-ending cycle of neglect and abuse through the generations; those who try to help and those who exploit, exploring a level of societal responsibility as well as the sheer horror that some of these people are in the care of young children.

In comparison, the predicaments of the gangsters pale and you feel little sympathy for them, though the subplot is, relatively, light relief from the main storyline of the police investigation. It also complements the main plotline from a different perspective – you often hear a lot of justification for pornography and defence for those running the sex industry, yet corruption, exploitation and abuse are never far away, often the dark truth behind its lucrative existence.

Kate is a tough character, uncompromising in her beliefs and steadfastly the moral heart of the story. Here we see her at her most vulnerable. Her relationship with Patrick is touching, their love for each other evident despite their differing experiences and views of the world, and we witness their relationship at both its most challenged and its strongest as the novel develops.

‘Broken’ is an intense read that explores difficult subject matter - including descriptions of abuse inflicted on children - though these subjects are handled respectfully; a detailed exploration of the tragedy of broken lives.

Harrowing and gripping in equal measure, ‘Broken’ is a masterfully plotted police thriller that swims through the murky underworld of organised crime, one that will stay with you long after you finish reading.



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