Rafuiala

DI Madeleine Fox #1

by Colin Falconer, Mihnea Columbeanu (translator)

From International Bestselling Author Colin Falconer comes a new Crime Series: The London Babylon Series.

"They’ve enforced the law. Now they want Justice."
Rough Justice
by Colin Falconer

Catching the scrotes who shoot other drug dealers in the head in the front seat of their Corvettes in Camden at three in the morning - that’s one thing. When little girls are murdered, and you know who did it - and clever lawyers keep them out of stir - well, that’s something else. And when one of your own, fresh out of the Academy, gets kicked to death in some back alley and a guy who did it grins at you as he gets a Not Guilty verdict form an apathetic jury - well, patience starts to wear thin.

Madeleine Fox is the only woman working on the Area Major Incident Team so she has developed a thick skin. Her boss is a sexist pig, and a good cop. But even he’s showing signs of wear and tear.

Perhaps in a normal year they would all have got through it, just like every year before it. But this is no ordinary year.

Marenko always told her it was not her job to worry about the bigger picture. You did your job and you closed case files, because you can’t change the world and you’ll go crazy trying.

But that’s before the Candy Man; that’s before Michel de Bruin puts one of Marenko’s own family into a permanent vegetative state. Then certain people start to wonder about the laws they are supposed to serve.

And if they ought to lend justice a hand.

Tough, by turns bitterly funny and achingly poignant, ROUGH JUSTICE is the story of a London major crime squad in the year when justice is finally served - outside the courts.

Genres: Thriller, Mystery, Suspense, Crime

424 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1999

About the author

Colin Falconer writes fast-paced historical adventures that sweep readers across centuries and continents, from the battlefields of Rome to the intrigues of forgotten empires. His novels blend action, danger, and unforgettable characters in richly imagined worlds.

Born in London, Colin now lives in Australia with his wife and their cocker spaniels. Click FOLLOW for updates on new releases, or join his mailing list for exclusive offers.

Reviews

[Darien McCormack · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not as good as his other detective books. What was really odd was this was supposed to be late 90s. But, was more like England in the 1980s. Being English myself, some discrepancies. It was not usual for English children to have peanut butter sandwiches then for packed lunch. The term "Rock Spider" I had to Google as had never heard it and is an Australian jail slang word. Odd as in his Charlie detective stories, no discrepancies like this. The story itself lost it's drift in the middle and became a drudge to keep on. Very odd book all in all. In his books, sometimes you have to reread sentences and put back together. But, the story itself is worth it. This was not worth it.

[Alan Porter · Rating 4 out of 5]

Recommended...
Great read...

[Julius Slighterman · Rating 4 out of 5]

I don't come across British crime novels very often, so it was a nice change to read Rough Justice. I'm not native English, but I love the British accent and phrases. They speak different English than the rest of the world, in a good sense. I enjoyed the police slang in this story.
I think Rough Justice showed the two sides of the coin in several ways.
Usually we don't get much information about the private life of detectives in a thriller, only as much as we need for the story to advance. In this book this hole is filled with plenty of details, and I learned how the crime cases affect the life of detectives: why Fox is afraid of getting into a relationship, how Marenko feels about his ex-wife and son-in-law being on the other side of the machine of justice. These give a deep characterisation and they're compelling details if you're interested in such pieces of the whole picture. However, it can be a weakness of the story, if you're more into fast paced action books.
The ending wasn't big surprise, but it reminded me of life itself. As readers we love to be surprised and we're excited about twists and unexpected turns, but in real life they don't happen that many times. I wouldn't say that the real life is boring, because it can produce amazing things, but very often the outcome is just the result of hard work, and can be foreseen well in advance. Anyway, in the book it was played out well.

[Cathy Geha · Rating 4 out of 5]

This crime story set in England stars Detective Inspector Madeleine Fox, the only woman in the department dealing with major incidents, and her team. At thirty something Madeleine has to deal with men in the department thinking she is doing a man’s job and her family thinking she should be married and in a different line of work all while she pursues the puzzles that crime solving present and that she loves so much. There are a number of murders, the process of solving the murders and pursuit of criminals, bad guys released that should not have been, interactions between various people Madeleine encounters, an attempt at romance and more. This is more than a crime novel or detective story because it questions how justice is best found and served. And asks the question whether or not criminals or victims are better served by the legal system while suggesting the idea of vigilante justice and whether or not it is ever a good idea. I left this story wanting to know more about Madeleine and the people she works with and would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys detective-crime stories.

[Julie · Rating 3 out of 5]

This crime novel is the first in a series with detective Madeleine Fox. I like a good thriller, and, as I enjoy reading novels set in London as this this series is, I was pleased to receive it as part of the Library Thing Early Reviewers program.

I have mixed feelings about the book. While I was interested enough in the story to read through it fairly quickly, I found that, when I picked up the book for the first time the following day, I had to reread a few pages from the day before so that I could place myself back into the plot. That is unusual for me. Clearly the details of the story weren't remarkable enough and didn't leave a big impression. The plot itself was predictable, and a few of the characters were cliched. It was a fun and interesting crime novel, but nothing about it necessarily sets it apart from so many others in the genre.

Without analysing it unnecessarily, however, I enjoyed it and might read the subsequent books in the Madeleine Fox series.

I received this book as a Library Thing Early Reviewer, but that did not influence my review.

[Linda · Rating 5 out of 5]

I like the way this author thinks and writes. ROUGH JUSTICE has a few errors, but they do not damage the read. The British turns of phrases add a certain charm to this book. The plot of this book takes the reader into some dark and secret places known both to killers and cops, and, now, to the reader. Fox, a beautiful lady, finds it hard to be be a female cop, but she is dedicated to her work, more so than her male co-workers. She is on the trail of a pervert who kidnaps, mutilates, rapes and kills little girls. Only by her zealous dedication is the pervert finally nabbed. The side stories show the author's insight into the human mind. A love affair that dies before it is born is a good example. The perfect murder is another. In these instances, the characters work the problems out instead of wasting time trying to make a square peg fit into a round hole. There is some *language* in the book, but it is appropriate. I recommend the book and the author and urge readers to look for sales and promotionals of the author's books.

Thank you, Mr. Falconer, for a Good Read.

[Laurel Heidtman · Rating 3 out of 5]

Rough Justice is an engrossing story with good characters. Even though the ending was no surprise, I still enjoyed the trip to it. From what I've been able to tell, this book was first published in 1999 and released as an e-book in 2014. On the story's first page, it says "Early Nineties," which tells me the book is set in that time period, yet in chapter five, one of the characters is seen using an iPhone (iPhones were born in 2007).

At another point in the story, a character lights up a cigarette in a bar and another character advises him that it's illegal. That also didn't happen until this century. Apparently the author wanted to update the story to make it seem more current, which is fine, but that "Early Nineties" thing needs to be removed from the first page of the book. I probably would have given the book four stars had it not been for these things.

[Irene Adam · Rating 5 out of 5]

I received an advance review copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. This is the first book in the Madeleine Fox British crime thriller series. The central character is a female detective inspector. She is the lone woman in a male world. I liked the way the author uses authentic British dialect, humor, and slang throughout the book. I found it very interesting that detectives in Great Britain don’t carry a weapon. There is a suggestion of the legal system vs. vigilante justice and whether vigilante justice is ever a good thing. This is another excellent book by Colin Falconer. I recommend this very entertaining and interesting British crime thriller. I can’t wait to read the next book in this series.

[Frangipani · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good fiction to fall asleep with. Enough interest to keep you going until you're tired, yet compartmentalized enough that you can put it down and pick it up again without losing the thread. Maddy Fox is a good strong woman character, and as the lead villian showed himself I found my stomach turning and the hair standing up on the back of my neck.
[http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/f/c...]