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Black Rose: A Midsummer Night's Chutzpah
Existence is about survival.
A continually bullied runt of a youngster, Chas Larkin discovers his chutzpah and decides to take on the London gangs.
In the sleazy and violent East End of 1966 London, he is unwittingly assisted by Scotland Yard and MI5, who use the boy to delay an IRA campaign in the city. Together with the mysterious DCI Casey, an enigma amongst the bomb-damaged slums, they stir the pot of fermenting disquiet.
But can Chas achieve his midsummer night's dream of total revenge?
Black Rose is a story of matriarchal might, of superstition, of a lucky charm tainted with malevolent juju, and of a young man's smoldering anger and thirst for retribution.
A continually bullied runt of a youngster, Chas Larkin discovers his chutzpah and decides to take on the London gangs.
In the sleazy and violent East End of 1966 London, he is unwittingly assisted by Scotland Yard and MI5, who use the boy to delay an IRA campaign in the city. Together with the mysterious DCI Casey, an enigma amongst the bomb-damaged slums, they stir the pot of fermenting disquiet.
But can Chas achieve his midsummer night's dream of total revenge?
Black Rose is a story of matriarchal might, of superstition, of a lucky charm tainted with malevolent juju, and of a young man's smoldering anger and thirst for retribution.
356 pages, Kindle Edition
Published January 30, 2021
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February 28, 2022
Set in the 1960s in the East end of London, the rivalry between the Larkins and the Saints has been going on for decades. As these two crime families try to one-up each other, Chaz Larkin finds himself in the middle. Growing up with poor eyesight and a club foot, has made him the target of bullies not only from the Saints but even within his own family. All he wants is out, but will someone save him, or will he have to take matters into his own hands?
I really enjoyed this novel by Pete Adams, and I have to say, I learned a few new words too. The story is a combination of wit and seriousness. The action never stops and there are twists you won’t see coming.
I look forward to reading more in this series.
I really enjoyed this novel by Pete Adams, and I have to say, I learned a few new words too. The story is a combination of wit and seriousness. The action never stops and there are twists you won’t see coming.
I look forward to reading more in this series.
May 21, 2024
I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. Here it is.
Black Rose is Pete Adams’ eighth book, and the first in the Larkin’s Barkin’ series of darkly comic crime novels. Set during the summer of 1966, the story follows the mysterious Irish detective, DI Padraig (Paddy to his friends) Casey who has been parachuted into the East End of London to deal with a plethora of troublesome gangsters.
The story contains all the usual suspects: bent coppers, tough matriarchs, tarts with hearts, and psychotic killers. But there are some welcome surprises, too. Among the core group of cast members are a number of strong female characters in positions of authority: DI Casey’s love interest, the Pakistani doctor Nadia; Casey’s partner, Detective Sergeant Flora Wade; and Flora’s lesbian lover Wendy – a psychiatrist. What’s more, the Saints and Larkins – the crime families at the centre of the action – are led by lines of severe and often cruel women: Bessie Saint is followed by Bessie Saint the younger, and ‘the wizened old grand dame, Madge Larkin’ is followed by Maude. In a similar vein, the shadowy Brockeln Belland banking empire, which features in yet another series by this prolific author, is ruled by a succession of black widows who kill off the male members of the family once they have served their purpose. It’s good to see such a diverse group of women – on both sides of the law.
Casey, too, is something of a surprise. Like all good fictional detectives, he harbours dark secrets of his own, and there is a sense that once the protected wrath within him is unleashed, no one will be safe. But he is also gentle, smart, witty, and loyal. Casey is also, very clearly, a ‘new man’ with overtly feminist leanings that put him out of step with his more boorish colleagues. He’s a great character, with just enough of the unknown about him to keep the reader guessing.
It’s said that the police often rely on gallows humour to deal with the sometimes grisly events they encounter, and humour is a key feature of the book. One gets the sense that Adams had great fun when writing it, moving from puns to quips to visual gags and on to word play and inane Cockney banter. Humour, of course, is highly subjective, but there are times when the comedy feels lathered on a bit too thickly – most often when one character or another has their ‘brains blown out’. The comedy here is not limited to the perception of the characters, but is part of the narrative itself in much the same way that Tom Sharpe uses comic exaggeration and farce to create a humorous character or situation. The issue for me is not the juxtaposition of the comic and the tragic (violence/cruelty/gore), but the balance between the two. Too often, what is tragic is treated as something humorous in and of itself. And this makes me uncomfortable. Yes, a character’s perception of violence can be humorous, but without unsettling the moral equilibrium, surely violence itself cannot be.
In a similar fashion, there are a number of instances of narrative intrusion in which the action is paused to present the reader with details that can either be essential or superfluous to the story at hand – a not uncommon device found in well-known classics. Hawthorne uses it in The Scarlett Letter, the Brontes use it in Jane Eyre and Wuthering Heights, and Fitzgerald uses it in The Great Gatsby. In these examples, the narrator serves as an extra character within the story, and when used purposefully, the intrusion feels as though the reader has been given access to privileged information. But narrative intrusion can also break the spell of the story – as it occasionally does in Black Rose. One instance where this occurs is when we are told that although the first IRA bombing in London didn’t take place until 1970 (four years after the story we are reading), an attack had long been expected. This detail feels as though it should be a footnote in a nonfiction text, but one suspects the author is simply trying to reassure us that he knows his history. Another example serves as a form of clever self-publicity when we are alerted to the fact that the Brockeln Bellands feature in one of Adams’ other books. It’s a great plug…I just wish it didn’t come mid-page.
It might appear that I’m not a member of Pete Adams’ intended audience, but the fact that I’ve found a number of points to critique does not mean I don’t appreciate his writing. I do, in fact, and I would love to see him write a straight crime novel without falling back on his trademark gags. Black Rose is an impressively complex novel with interesting and complex characters, many of whom go on to live again. As the story reaches its climax and major East End crime figures are vanquished, the truth about the mysterious DI Casey is revealed, and Adams sets the scene for the next instalment of their adventures. And yes, despite my criticisms, I am intrigued to see what happens next.
Black Rose is Pete Adams’ eighth book, and the first in the Larkin’s Barkin’ series of darkly comic crime novels. Set during the summer of 1966, the story follows the mysterious Irish detective, DI Padraig (Paddy to his friends) Casey who has been parachuted into the East End of London to deal with a plethora of troublesome gangsters.
The story contains all the usual suspects: bent coppers, tough matriarchs, tarts with hearts, and psychotic killers. But there are some welcome surprises, too. Among the core group of cast members are a number of strong female characters in positions of authority: DI Casey’s love interest, the Pakistani doctor Nadia; Casey’s partner, Detective Sergeant Flora Wade; and Flora’s lesbian lover Wendy – a psychiatrist. What’s more, the Saints and Larkins – the crime families at the centre of the action – are led by lines of severe and often cruel women: Bessie Saint is followed by Bessie Saint the younger, and ‘the wizened old grand dame, Madge Larkin’ is followed by Maude. In a similar vein, the shadowy Brockeln Belland banking empire, which features in yet another series by this prolific author, is ruled by a succession of black widows who kill off the male members of the family once they have served their purpose. It’s good to see such a diverse group of women – on both sides of the law.
Casey, too, is something of a surprise. Like all good fictional detectives, he harbours dark secrets of his own, and there is a sense that once the protected wrath within him is unleashed, no one will be safe. But he is also gentle, smart, witty, and loyal. Casey is also, very clearly, a ‘new man’ with overtly feminist leanings that put him out of step with his more boorish colleagues. He’s a great character, with just enough of the unknown about him to keep the reader guessing.
It’s said that the police often rely on gallows humour to deal with the sometimes grisly events they encounter, and humour is a key feature of the book. One gets the sense that Adams had great fun when writing it, moving from puns to quips to visual gags and on to word play and inane Cockney banter. Humour, of course, is highly subjective, but there are times when the comedy feels lathered on a bit too thickly – most often when one character or another has their ‘brains blown out’. The comedy here is not limited to the perception of the characters, but is part of the narrative itself in much the same way that Tom Sharpe uses comic exaggeration and farce to create a humorous character or situation. The issue for me is not the juxtaposition of the comic and the tragic (violence/cruelty/gore), but the balance between the two. Too often, what is tragic is treated as something humorous in and of itself. And this makes me uncomfortable. Yes, a character’s perception of violence can be humorous, but without unsettling the moral equilibrium, surely violence itself cannot be.
In a similar fashion, there are a number of instances of narrative intrusion in which the action is paused to present the reader with details that can either be essential or superfluous to the story at hand – a not uncommon device found in well-known classics. Hawthorne uses it in The Scarlett Letter, the Brontes use it in Jane Eyre and Wuthering Heights, and Fitzgerald uses it in The Great Gatsby. In these examples, the narrator serves as an extra character within the story, and when used purposefully, the intrusion feels as though the reader has been given access to privileged information. But narrative intrusion can also break the spell of the story – as it occasionally does in Black Rose. One instance where this occurs is when we are told that although the first IRA bombing in London didn’t take place until 1970 (four years after the story we are reading), an attack had long been expected. This detail feels as though it should be a footnote in a nonfiction text, but one suspects the author is simply trying to reassure us that he knows his history. Another example serves as a form of clever self-publicity when we are alerted to the fact that the Brockeln Bellands feature in one of Adams’ other books. It’s a great plug…I just wish it didn’t come mid-page.
It might appear that I’m not a member of Pete Adams’ intended audience, but the fact that I’ve found a number of points to critique does not mean I don’t appreciate his writing. I do, in fact, and I would love to see him write a straight crime novel without falling back on his trademark gags. Black Rose is an impressively complex novel with interesting and complex characters, many of whom go on to live again. As the story reaches its climax and major East End crime figures are vanquished, the truth about the mysterious DI Casey is revealed, and Adams sets the scene for the next instalment of their adventures. And yes, despite my criticisms, I am intrigued to see what happens next.
December 20, 2024
This is the third book I have reviewed from architect and author Pete Adams. The first two were Dead No More (Rhubarb Papers Book 1) in 2021 and Rite Judgement (DaDa Detective Agency Book 2) in 2022. Although all three books are situated in different series, they are united in a single, whimsical world (the 14-book Hegemon Chronicles, of which 11 are written) where multinational corporations, British police and intelligence agencies, and religious organizations come to brilliant life in Adams’s surrealist, socially conscious, quick-witted world.
If you are interested in comparisons, Robert Anton Wilson, James Joyce, William S. Burroughs, and Umberto Eco’s Foucault’s Pendulum and Baudolino immediately come to mind.
Like the authors mentioned above, Adams’s intelligence and facility with history, society, culture, politics, and economics are readily apparent, as is the transdisciplinary nature of his themes. For instance, Rite Judgement has all of the elements mentioned in the opening, while drawing heavily on Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring.
Subversion through parody and puns is the order of the day, which, as a creative writing teacher and storyteller, I have found to be a potent way to illuminate themes for an audience. When hard truths are coated in silliness (sugar), they help the medicine go down—and more importantly, to be digested. Silliness is apparent in the situational exaggerations, the characters’ desire to do a bit of shagging every chance they get, and the rapidly delivered witticisms that are a hallmark of Adams’s works.
Although the police and shadowy multinationals are essential players in the current series, Black Rose: A Midsummer Night's Chutzpah introduces a new cast of characters, ala Peaky Blinders: two working-class families in the East End, the Saints and Larkins, who run the East India Dock, gambling and whore houses, and just about everything else in their proximity. As above, so below as the spiritualists and philosophers say (apparently, they aren’t wrong). The appellation East India refers to the original mega-corporation, the East India Company, which was the power behind the throne in England for centuries, being as it was at the center of the maritime and slave trade and Opium Wars. Essentially, thugs in powdered wigs.
The Saints and Larkins run competing pubs, side by side, where they plot and plan, shouting orders above the din of clinking glasses and drunken patrons. Although they are seemingly rivals, the nature of their overlapping enterprises requires a tense cooperation (think America and China). Both families are matriarchal. Being raised Sicilian, this did not surprise me at all. Both of my grandfathers had plenty of bark, but, on the rare occasion there was someone in need of “correcting” (always admittedly warranted) my grandmothers were the ones with the bite.
Black Rose: A Midsummer Night's Chutzpah begins with a burned commemorative crumpet, in honor of a Saint(ed) son who was reported missing in action during World War I. According to the Preface, the element of the burned crumpet began as a writing exercise, with a myth committed to paper by a painter. One of the painter’s paintings also gave inspiration to some of the central characters. Writers take note: Who knows where an intriguing prompt might lead?
As to the Larkins, the Barkin’ Larkin’ of the series title is Chas, a teen with a bum leg, terrible sight, and a massive problem with bullies—inside his family as well at school and because of the Saints. Everyone has their limit, and when this beleaguered laddie reaches his, the narrative appreciably intensifies.
The working-class vernacular and rough talk/manners of the Saints and Larkins up the levity throughout. Whereas Peaky Blinders had the single verbal joy of goons instead of guns, especially when the Big Bads were the Irish Republican Army (IRA), Black Rose gives us page after page of rapid-fire colloquialisms, accents, and jargon. Some of the time, even the characters in close proximity have no clue what another is saying.
My mention of the IRA was not only to make a contextualizing comparison—the Irish threat to England and the internal strife on the Emerald Isle itself loom like a spectre over the narrative. There are shadowy, almost mythic families; several Irish pretend to be otherwise to navigate their careers in London; the organized crime families cannot resist participating in arms dealing; and the Black Rose of the title (Roisin Dubh, pronounced “Rosheen Dove”) figures mightily throughout. The sequences involving the early years of renewed violence in Ireland and England provide the moments of greatest levity, and rightfully so, as the characters share their stories of dead relatives and broken relationships.
Once Adams delivers the backstory, the body count between the families begins to rise through a series of beatings, bombings, and other malevolence, causing a seismic shift in family leaders, alliances, and reveals about interfamilial connections, amorous and otherwise. Again, the IRA, and the Irish in general, complicate the plot with several Gordian knots.
The year is 1966, and the growing strength of the IRA and their counterbalance, the Ulster Defence Association, is just beginning to catch the attention of the Metropolitan police, Scotland Yard (the inner workings of which, physically and operationally, Adams treats us to a prolonged and no doubt delightfully distorted tour), MI5, and the Flying Squad (aka The Sweeney Todds).
Although the first bombing in London (historically) is still four years away, people are aware of mounting tensions that will soon become The Troubles, three decades of strife between Catholics (separatists) and Protestants (loyalists) in Northern Ireland.
Enter Casey, the story’s nontraditional hero, and his newly assigned partner, a caustic lesbian detective named Wade (the first having nothing to do with the second). Add in a Palestinian doctor named Nadia (whose experiences with the Israelis create a reinforcing parallel) as Casey’s love interest and Chas’s protector, and Wade’s girlfriend, Wendy, and the story begins to bubble on multiple levels.
The banter between individuals and branches of law enforcement and intelligence is a highlight of the book. Truly funny stuff amidst the mounting carnage and historical gravity.
By the start of the third act, all of the factions—including a powerful multinational in the City of London (introduced in other Hegemon series) that is playing, ala the Illuminati and Global Elite, both sides of the conflict, crash together in the kind of unbridled chaos that calls to mind Monty Python, Animal House, and Blazing Saddles.
The ensuing secrets that Adams reveals and who emerges in positions of power I will leave for you to discover. As for me, I plan to read the next in the series, A Deadly Queen, which takes place three years later, over the winter.
If you are interested in comparisons, Robert Anton Wilson, James Joyce, William S. Burroughs, and Umberto Eco’s Foucault’s Pendulum and Baudolino immediately come to mind.
Like the authors mentioned above, Adams’s intelligence and facility with history, society, culture, politics, and economics are readily apparent, as is the transdisciplinary nature of his themes. For instance, Rite Judgement has all of the elements mentioned in the opening, while drawing heavily on Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring.
Subversion through parody and puns is the order of the day, which, as a creative writing teacher and storyteller, I have found to be a potent way to illuminate themes for an audience. When hard truths are coated in silliness (sugar), they help the medicine go down—and more importantly, to be digested. Silliness is apparent in the situational exaggerations, the characters’ desire to do a bit of shagging every chance they get, and the rapidly delivered witticisms that are a hallmark of Adams’s works.
Although the police and shadowy multinationals are essential players in the current series, Black Rose: A Midsummer Night's Chutzpah introduces a new cast of characters, ala Peaky Blinders: two working-class families in the East End, the Saints and Larkins, who run the East India Dock, gambling and whore houses, and just about everything else in their proximity. As above, so below as the spiritualists and philosophers say (apparently, they aren’t wrong). The appellation East India refers to the original mega-corporation, the East India Company, which was the power behind the throne in England for centuries, being as it was at the center of the maritime and slave trade and Opium Wars. Essentially, thugs in powdered wigs.
The Saints and Larkins run competing pubs, side by side, where they plot and plan, shouting orders above the din of clinking glasses and drunken patrons. Although they are seemingly rivals, the nature of their overlapping enterprises requires a tense cooperation (think America and China). Both families are matriarchal. Being raised Sicilian, this did not surprise me at all. Both of my grandfathers had plenty of bark, but, on the rare occasion there was someone in need of “correcting” (always admittedly warranted) my grandmothers were the ones with the bite.
Black Rose: A Midsummer Night's Chutzpah begins with a burned commemorative crumpet, in honor of a Saint(ed) son who was reported missing in action during World War I. According to the Preface, the element of the burned crumpet began as a writing exercise, with a myth committed to paper by a painter. One of the painter’s paintings also gave inspiration to some of the central characters. Writers take note: Who knows where an intriguing prompt might lead?
As to the Larkins, the Barkin’ Larkin’ of the series title is Chas, a teen with a bum leg, terrible sight, and a massive problem with bullies—inside his family as well at school and because of the Saints. Everyone has their limit, and when this beleaguered laddie reaches his, the narrative appreciably intensifies.
The working-class vernacular and rough talk/manners of the Saints and Larkins up the levity throughout. Whereas Peaky Blinders had the single verbal joy of goons instead of guns, especially when the Big Bads were the Irish Republican Army (IRA), Black Rose gives us page after page of rapid-fire colloquialisms, accents, and jargon. Some of the time, even the characters in close proximity have no clue what another is saying.
My mention of the IRA was not only to make a contextualizing comparison—the Irish threat to England and the internal strife on the Emerald Isle itself loom like a spectre over the narrative. There are shadowy, almost mythic families; several Irish pretend to be otherwise to navigate their careers in London; the organized crime families cannot resist participating in arms dealing; and the Black Rose of the title (Roisin Dubh, pronounced “Rosheen Dove”) figures mightily throughout. The sequences involving the early years of renewed violence in Ireland and England provide the moments of greatest levity, and rightfully so, as the characters share their stories of dead relatives and broken relationships.
Once Adams delivers the backstory, the body count between the families begins to rise through a series of beatings, bombings, and other malevolence, causing a seismic shift in family leaders, alliances, and reveals about interfamilial connections, amorous and otherwise. Again, the IRA, and the Irish in general, complicate the plot with several Gordian knots.
The year is 1966, and the growing strength of the IRA and their counterbalance, the Ulster Defence Association, is just beginning to catch the attention of the Metropolitan police, Scotland Yard (the inner workings of which, physically and operationally, Adams treats us to a prolonged and no doubt delightfully distorted tour), MI5, and the Flying Squad (aka The Sweeney Todds).
Although the first bombing in London (historically) is still four years away, people are aware of mounting tensions that will soon become The Troubles, three decades of strife between Catholics (separatists) and Protestants (loyalists) in Northern Ireland.
Enter Casey, the story’s nontraditional hero, and his newly assigned partner, a caustic lesbian detective named Wade (the first having nothing to do with the second). Add in a Palestinian doctor named Nadia (whose experiences with the Israelis create a reinforcing parallel) as Casey’s love interest and Chas’s protector, and Wade’s girlfriend, Wendy, and the story begins to bubble on multiple levels.
The banter between individuals and branches of law enforcement and intelligence is a highlight of the book. Truly funny stuff amidst the mounting carnage and historical gravity.
By the start of the third act, all of the factions—including a powerful multinational in the City of London (introduced in other Hegemon series) that is playing, ala the Illuminati and Global Elite, both sides of the conflict, crash together in the kind of unbridled chaos that calls to mind Monty Python, Animal House, and Blazing Saddles.
The ensuing secrets that Adams reveals and who emerges in positions of power I will leave for you to discover. As for me, I plan to read the next in the series, A Deadly Queen, which takes place three years later, over the winter.
May 7, 2021
*I received a free copy of this book with thanks to the author. The decision to review and my opinions are my own.*
I’ve read some of Pete Adams books before, specifically the Kind Hearts and Martinets series, and so am familiar with his genius at pick ‘n’ mixing elements from different genres to very powerful affect. Those who haven’t read anything from this author before, prise your mind wide open and prepare for it to be blown!
Black Rose takes a simple story of rival gangs and the police officers attempting to beat-or-join them, mixes in a dash of terrorism and espionage, then whirls it around with large amounts of madcap comedy, chaotic violence and running gags, and the reader just has to cling on as best they can and try to keep up with it all.
There are more memorable characters here: poor, abused Chas Larkin; feisty redheaded Roisin O’Neill; Nadia, Paddy, Wade and Wendy; the Larkin and Saint matriarchs and their muscle-male relatives… all individual and unforgettable. Paddy and Nadia reminded me very faintly of Adam’s beloved previous heroes, Jack and Mandy, at times, especially in the bantering affection beginning to bud between them. But these are new characters and this is a different story. One that brings in ‘the Irish Question’ and explores whether violence can ever bring peace – serious issues, only partly masked by the light-hearted tone.
I actually felt quite proud of myself for keeping up with the plot and characters here, and being able to spot the darker goings on beneath the crumpet and cor blimey cover story.
Read Pete Adams if you’re looking for an action-packed political thriller like none you’ve ever read before. Oh, and the O’Neills say hello! 😉
'The family factions, long established in the East End of London, were the Saints and the Larkins. The Saints, the larger, more established, villainous family, held in check, one could say, by the precocious, lunatic may be more appropriate, Larkin family, who knew no fear when all around knew they should. And so, the lines of friction between the two families became white hot and sparked whenever the crumpet went missing.'
– Pete Adams, Black Rose
Review by Steph Warren of Bookshine and Readbows blog
https://bookshineandreadbows.wordpres...
I’ve read some of Pete Adams books before, specifically the Kind Hearts and Martinets series, and so am familiar with his genius at pick ‘n’ mixing elements from different genres to very powerful affect. Those who haven’t read anything from this author before, prise your mind wide open and prepare for it to be blown!
Black Rose takes a simple story of rival gangs and the police officers attempting to beat-or-join them, mixes in a dash of terrorism and espionage, then whirls it around with large amounts of madcap comedy, chaotic violence and running gags, and the reader just has to cling on as best they can and try to keep up with it all.
There are more memorable characters here: poor, abused Chas Larkin; feisty redheaded Roisin O’Neill; Nadia, Paddy, Wade and Wendy; the Larkin and Saint matriarchs and their muscle-male relatives… all individual and unforgettable. Paddy and Nadia reminded me very faintly of Adam’s beloved previous heroes, Jack and Mandy, at times, especially in the bantering affection beginning to bud between them. But these are new characters and this is a different story. One that brings in ‘the Irish Question’ and explores whether violence can ever bring peace – serious issues, only partly masked by the light-hearted tone.
I actually felt quite proud of myself for keeping up with the plot and characters here, and being able to spot the darker goings on beneath the crumpet and cor blimey cover story.
Read Pete Adams if you’re looking for an action-packed political thriller like none you’ve ever read before. Oh, and the O’Neills say hello! 😉
'The family factions, long established in the East End of London, were the Saints and the Larkins. The Saints, the larger, more established, villainous family, held in check, one could say, by the precocious, lunatic may be more appropriate, Larkin family, who knew no fear when all around knew they should. And so, the lines of friction between the two families became white hot and sparked whenever the crumpet went missing.'
– Pete Adams, Black Rose
Review by Steph Warren of Bookshine and Readbows blog
https://bookshineandreadbows.wordpres...
June 11, 2021
I enjoy reading crime fiction set in different countries. It took me a little bit to get used to the dialogue but once I did this flowed really well and I really enjoyed it.
Chas Larkin is a great character and I equally loved Roisin "The Black Rose". It was heartbreaking to read about Chas' abuse by his mother. When Roisin steps in as his protector and these two start causing havoc between the rival gangs it's beautiful, chaotic fun.
If you're looking for something a little different, check this one out. It's a little emotional, with some heartfelt moments, has a dash of mystery and a whole lot of crazy. Perfect mix for an enjoyable read.
I sincerely appreciate the publisher and Blackthorn Book Tours for providing me with an E-Copy. All opinions expressed herein are mine and mine alone.
Chas Larkin is a great character and I equally loved Roisin "The Black Rose". It was heartbreaking to read about Chas' abuse by his mother. When Roisin steps in as his protector and these two start causing havoc between the rival gangs it's beautiful, chaotic fun.
If you're looking for something a little different, check this one out. It's a little emotional, with some heartfelt moments, has a dash of mystery and a whole lot of crazy. Perfect mix for an enjoyable read.
I sincerely appreciate the publisher and Blackthorn Book Tours for providing me with an E-Copy. All opinions expressed herein are mine and mine alone.
August 1, 2021
Take two East End pubs & a history that stretches back in time, certainly beyond that of the ancestors now grappling with one another on rival territory. Meet the Saints & the Larkins, the feuding families fighting each other for the upper hand, and at the centre of it all poor Chas Larkin who really doesn’t fit the brief at all. Only when Chas’s mother dies, do things take a drastic turn & steer his life on a very different course. This novel is witty, fast-paced & cleverly constructed, with all the wit & humour that is a distinctive trait of the masterful Pete Adams.
June 6, 2021
CW/TW: physical and sexual abuse
This is a gritty detective story and can be tough to read at times. It tells a tale of crime families in England and the power, abuse, and scandal that goes along with them.
I was given the opportunity to read this book with the request for an honest review. I personally didn't care for this book. It was too dark and gritty for me. That being said, if you like detective novels and that gritty darkness, I think you will love this book. There are really interesting and powerful characters in this story. I also like the lore woven through this story.
This is a gritty detective story and can be tough to read at times. It tells a tale of crime families in England and the power, abuse, and scandal that goes along with them.
I was given the opportunity to read this book with the request for an honest review. I personally didn't care for this book. It was too dark and gritty for me. That being said, if you like detective novels and that gritty darkness, I think you will love this book. There are really interesting and powerful characters in this story. I also like the lore woven through this story.
May 31, 2021
Spoilers: One thing that I will say about Peter Adams's The Black Rose is that it had a very strong premise and a great engaging and suspenseful beginning and middle. However, somewhere towards the end, it really lost itself. While the book provided plot twists that were genuinely surprising, they were so far out in left field that Adams really should have let go of surprise and instead let the compelling narrative lead to a better, even if it had to be more conventional, ending.
The Black Rose is great at exploring the British criminal underworld and the families that run it. Adams was clearly inspired by such noted real-life firms like the Clerkenwell Crime Syndicate (AKA The Adams Family), The Arif Family, The Richardson Gang, and The Kray Twins. The inner lives, rules, standards, and family honor and sometimes disloyalty come into play within the fictional Saint and Larkin Families. The two families have been at war for generations. They have had blood for blood. Every time one member gets killed, another is struck down in retaliation. They vie for ownership of the streets and the various illegal operations around town. Occasionally, they stop the fighting out of respect if important key members die or they join forces to fight a common enemy like the law or a rival firm.
This time the Saints and Larkins have found a corker of an enemy: The O'Neill Crime Syndicate, a new group that originated from Ireland.
Their main representative isn't a seasoned gangster. In fact, she is a fifteen year old girl, Roisin (pronounced Ro-sheen) O'Neil AKA Rose and The Black Rose. Rose befriends Chas Larkin, the sickly and mentally ill outcast of the Larkin family. When Rose and Chas begin their own crime spree, the Saints and Larkins realize that they have to put their differences aside to take on this new, psychopathic, and highly dangerous enemy.
The contrast between the Larkin-Saints and Chas and Rose are what makes the book. While no one in the book is particularly likeable, there are differences. The Larkins and Saints have been doing the criminal rivalry for decades so they are an integral part of the neighborhood. As much as these families hate each other, they realize that they are dependant upon one another.
The Saints control the docks and the Larkins control the gambling houses, brothels, and other businesses around the docks. Both families are headed by tough as nails women in Bessie Saint and Alice "Nan" Larkin. They have their separate pubs in which they congregate-Dad's for Saints and Arrie's for Larkins. Two younger women in the families develop a friendship that turns into a romance, possibly a suggestion of a union at least by marriage. (Hey even the Hatfields and McCoys put down their guns temporarily when two of them married each other. Only to pick them up again after they got divorced.)
Both families know and respect the East End and the people that inhabit it, considering the London area their protectorate. They commit violence towards each other such as threatening rival family members (whoah to the Saint schoolchild who bullies a Larkin and vice versa. Rest assured, they will live to regret it.) and destroying their property. But they have rules and standards.
For example if an important family member is killed, they call off the fight long enough for a grieving process to continue and even have representatives attend the funeral. They both grieve when a mass death arrives (and in this book, it happens a lot.)
Their sometimes peace is symbolized by a crumpet that resides under a glass case in Dad's. The rules are that no one would but a Saint may touch it and the Larkins honor it until it gets mysteriously stolen in the beginning and the Larkins don't own up to it. This incident leads to a long chain of violence between the Saints, Larkins, the police, and the newcomer O'Neils which fractures the strained peace between the Saints and Larkins, especially when Chas and Rose become involved.
Chas meets Rose when she defends him from bully, Mickey Saint at school. Chas is often considered an outcast even within his own family, so in Rose he finds someone intoxicating and bewitching, a kindred spirit, and an understanding friend. However, there is a darker side to Rose's behavior as she beats Mickey Saint practically to death. The two continue to go on a crime spree of wanton violent destruction, not caring whether it's Saint or Larkin property or neither. Rose and Chas act without conscience or scruples and they don't care who they hurt. In fact, Rose seems to delight in playing the two crime families against each other.
She also is able to carry Chas along. Playing on his loneliness, isolation, and his subconscious thoughts against the rest of his family and the Saints, Rose is able to put into action what he has wanted to do for some time. The more she acts, the more Chas follows her into that world and the more dangerous he becomes.
That's why she frightens the two families so much. Rose is less of a real person than an entity who feeds off of hatred and destruction. Unlike the two families who have a code and rules, Rose has none. She has no loyalty or allegiances. We hear about the O'Neills but don't see them except for Rose and there is even doubt whether they really exist or only exist because of this one girl. She is willing to do what the Saints and Larkins are not and that makes her more villainous and far more dangerous.
It's as though Hannibal Lector was put into the middle of the Godfather. His psychopathic chaotic nature contradicts that of the Corleones and he would be considered a greater evil than them. That's how Rose is seen to the Saints and Larkins. She shakes up their world because she is not a part of it. She is beyond their control and almost unstoppable, unless the two families work together to end this two-person crime spree.
In fact the only thing that stops Rose is an ending that puts things to a screeching halt. I won't spoil it, but let's say it's one of those endings that seems to pull a twist out of thin air and a ridiculous one at that. It relies on an absolute suspension of disbelief that is beyond incredulous and requires a lot of questions to ask how it was possible to be pulled, how this twist could have been maintained when logistics would have prevented it, and the subsequent ramifications for what had occurred before the reveal.
I don't want to say that Rose O'Neill is a good character who deserves a good ending, but she was built up to be so mesmerizing, so destructive, and so chaotic that this ending does her an injustice. A good antagonistic character deserves a better ending than that.
The Black Rose is great at exploring the British criminal underworld and the families that run it. Adams was clearly inspired by such noted real-life firms like the Clerkenwell Crime Syndicate (AKA The Adams Family), The Arif Family, The Richardson Gang, and The Kray Twins. The inner lives, rules, standards, and family honor and sometimes disloyalty come into play within the fictional Saint and Larkin Families. The two families have been at war for generations. They have had blood for blood. Every time one member gets killed, another is struck down in retaliation. They vie for ownership of the streets and the various illegal operations around town. Occasionally, they stop the fighting out of respect if important key members die or they join forces to fight a common enemy like the law or a rival firm.
This time the Saints and Larkins have found a corker of an enemy: The O'Neill Crime Syndicate, a new group that originated from Ireland.
Their main representative isn't a seasoned gangster. In fact, she is a fifteen year old girl, Roisin (pronounced Ro-sheen) O'Neil AKA Rose and The Black Rose. Rose befriends Chas Larkin, the sickly and mentally ill outcast of the Larkin family. When Rose and Chas begin their own crime spree, the Saints and Larkins realize that they have to put their differences aside to take on this new, psychopathic, and highly dangerous enemy.
The contrast between the Larkin-Saints and Chas and Rose are what makes the book. While no one in the book is particularly likeable, there are differences. The Larkins and Saints have been doing the criminal rivalry for decades so they are an integral part of the neighborhood. As much as these families hate each other, they realize that they are dependant upon one another.
The Saints control the docks and the Larkins control the gambling houses, brothels, and other businesses around the docks. Both families are headed by tough as nails women in Bessie Saint and Alice "Nan" Larkin. They have their separate pubs in which they congregate-Dad's for Saints and Arrie's for Larkins. Two younger women in the families develop a friendship that turns into a romance, possibly a suggestion of a union at least by marriage. (Hey even the Hatfields and McCoys put down their guns temporarily when two of them married each other. Only to pick them up again after they got divorced.)
Both families know and respect the East End and the people that inhabit it, considering the London area their protectorate. They commit violence towards each other such as threatening rival family members (whoah to the Saint schoolchild who bullies a Larkin and vice versa. Rest assured, they will live to regret it.) and destroying their property. But they have rules and standards.
For example if an important family member is killed, they call off the fight long enough for a grieving process to continue and even have representatives attend the funeral. They both grieve when a mass death arrives (and in this book, it happens a lot.)
Their sometimes peace is symbolized by a crumpet that resides under a glass case in Dad's. The rules are that no one would but a Saint may touch it and the Larkins honor it until it gets mysteriously stolen in the beginning and the Larkins don't own up to it. This incident leads to a long chain of violence between the Saints, Larkins, the police, and the newcomer O'Neils which fractures the strained peace between the Saints and Larkins, especially when Chas and Rose become involved.
Chas meets Rose when she defends him from bully, Mickey Saint at school. Chas is often considered an outcast even within his own family, so in Rose he finds someone intoxicating and bewitching, a kindred spirit, and an understanding friend. However, there is a darker side to Rose's behavior as she beats Mickey Saint practically to death. The two continue to go on a crime spree of wanton violent destruction, not caring whether it's Saint or Larkin property or neither. Rose and Chas act without conscience or scruples and they don't care who they hurt. In fact, Rose seems to delight in playing the two crime families against each other.
She also is able to carry Chas along. Playing on his loneliness, isolation, and his subconscious thoughts against the rest of his family and the Saints, Rose is able to put into action what he has wanted to do for some time. The more she acts, the more Chas follows her into that world and the more dangerous he becomes.
That's why she frightens the two families so much. Rose is less of a real person than an entity who feeds off of hatred and destruction. Unlike the two families who have a code and rules, Rose has none. She has no loyalty or allegiances. We hear about the O'Neills but don't see them except for Rose and there is even doubt whether they really exist or only exist because of this one girl. She is willing to do what the Saints and Larkins are not and that makes her more villainous and far more dangerous.
It's as though Hannibal Lector was put into the middle of the Godfather. His psychopathic chaotic nature contradicts that of the Corleones and he would be considered a greater evil than them. That's how Rose is seen to the Saints and Larkins. She shakes up their world because she is not a part of it. She is beyond their control and almost unstoppable, unless the two families work together to end this two-person crime spree.
In fact the only thing that stops Rose is an ending that puts things to a screeching halt. I won't spoil it, but let's say it's one of those endings that seems to pull a twist out of thin air and a ridiculous one at that. It relies on an absolute suspension of disbelief that is beyond incredulous and requires a lot of questions to ask how it was possible to be pulled, how this twist could have been maintained when logistics would have prevented it, and the subsequent ramifications for what had occurred before the reveal.
I don't want to say that Rose O'Neill is a good character who deserves a good ending, but she was built up to be so mesmerizing, so destructive, and so chaotic that this ending does her an injustice. A good antagonistic character deserves a better ending than that.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
June 14, 2021
Survival.
The instinct that defacto guides us every step of the day and way.
What lengths would you go to survive? What all would you be willing to do?
Black Rose: A Midsummer Night’s Chutzpah by Pete Adams set in the 1960’s is a story of gangsters and IRA bombings on one front but on a deeper level is about a little boy trying to survive, trying to feel safe.
“He didn’t ask for much, just to be safe. It was how he survived.”
Chaz Larkin, born to one of two rival gangs in East End, London, is a teenager who is beaten to the point of blindness by bullies at school, his mother and the gang members of both factions-Larkins and the Saints.
Hospitalized and close to death, Chaz finds himself at a crossroads, a death target painted on his head by the rival gang and unwanted by his own gang.
It is here that the mysterious DCI Casey enters and then the twists just keep coming.
Along with Mayhem.
DCI Casey seems to bring that about at every turn he takes.
Adams has managed to make this book poignant and yet hilariously funny.
A thriller page turner it is jam-packed (pun intended) with Crumpets, superstitions, rival gangs, the start of the IRA bombings in England, corruption and cockney accents that will make ‘my fair lady’ coherent.
Does Chas survive the litany of assaults he faces?
Will the mythical Valkyrie ‘Black Rose’ appear and help him?
Will he use his own chutzpah to get revenge?
Or will he just turn larkin barkin mad?
Black Rose is Historical Fiction with a twist. One that you don’t see coming.
So glad I got this RC it was a thrill to read. Hope you liked my fair and honest review.
Happy Reading:)
The instinct that defacto guides us every step of the day and way.
What lengths would you go to survive? What all would you be willing to do?
Black Rose: A Midsummer Night’s Chutzpah by Pete Adams set in the 1960’s is a story of gangsters and IRA bombings on one front but on a deeper level is about a little boy trying to survive, trying to feel safe.
“He didn’t ask for much, just to be safe. It was how he survived.”
Chaz Larkin, born to one of two rival gangs in East End, London, is a teenager who is beaten to the point of blindness by bullies at school, his mother and the gang members of both factions-Larkins and the Saints.
Hospitalized and close to death, Chaz finds himself at a crossroads, a death target painted on his head by the rival gang and unwanted by his own gang.
It is here that the mysterious DCI Casey enters and then the twists just keep coming.
Along with Mayhem.
DCI Casey seems to bring that about at every turn he takes.
Adams has managed to make this book poignant and yet hilariously funny.
A thriller page turner it is jam-packed (pun intended) with Crumpets, superstitions, rival gangs, the start of the IRA bombings in England, corruption and cockney accents that will make ‘my fair lady’ coherent.
Does Chas survive the litany of assaults he faces?
Will the mythical Valkyrie ‘Black Rose’ appear and help him?
Will he use his own chutzpah to get revenge?
Or will he just turn larkin barkin mad?
Black Rose is Historical Fiction with a twist. One that you don’t see coming.
So glad I got this RC it was a thrill to read. Hope you liked my fair and honest review.
Happy Reading:)
June 14, 2021
Black Rose: A Midsummer Night’s Chutzpah, is a glorious mix of gritty realism, surreal humour, historical social commentary, and much else beside. Read it as a thriller – it’s fun, it’s racy, it’s full of action. Read it as study in gang warfare, beautifully observed from the inside, complete with the local slang that can often mystify (google "cockney rhyming slang" before you start!) Read it – no, REREAD it (you will want to) - as an unexpected study in what loneliness and brutality can do to a human mind, what strange paths the human mind can go down. It’s a story in multiple layers. The echoes in its subtitle are not accidental, and the book is not what you think at the beginning. At the end it made me think long about Ronnie Kray – a child of exactly the period and location – who died in Broadmoor, a high security psychiatric institution. A paranoid schizophrenic, yes. Violent, yes - just as violent as his saner twin brother, Reggie. But always a natty dresser, a mischievous, wicked humorist, and never short of chutzpah.
June 3, 2021
Black Rose is the first book in Pete Adams’ latest series: Larkin’s Barkin‘. It is set in the seedy East End of London in the 1960s in a world full of gang violence, prostitution, extortion, casual racism and general unseemliness, and reminded me very much of Guy Ritchie’s movies in terms of its setting, characters, language and themes. This is the world that spawned the Kray twins and the 1963 Great Train Robbery.
Amidst all of this unpleasantness there is an undercurrent of dark humour, which I thoroughly enjoyed, along with plenty of Cockney rhyming slang-based language. The Cockney slang used in this part of London is more than a language – it is a code of honour, a badge of belonging. Outsiders such as the Irish DI, Padraig Casey stick out like a sore thumb and are immediately not to be trusted, until they can prove themselves worthy.
“Such was life in the oft eulogised East End of London. Not fun. Not a big loving family, but a life on the edge, and tolerated only by developing a rare sense of humour, bordering on denial. Everyone liked a tin bath, (laugh).”
In Black Rose there are two main rival gang families, the Saints and the Larkins. Both typically violent family is run by a “tough as old boots” matriarch and based in an East End pub which just so happen to be next door to each other. An Irish family, the O’Neills may or may not have recently arrived on the scene and are quickly gaining an infamous reputation.
These are gritty, vengeful people who deal in death and violence on a daily basis. The police are mostly in the pocket of the gangs and no one lives a particularly long or healthy life.
DI Padraig “Paddy” Casey is an Irish misfit brought into London’s East End due to his experience with the IRA. It turns out he is working for MI5, attempting to rid London of any upcoming IRA violence. Amazingly perceptive, he takes the measure of his partner, DS Wade, and any scenario surprisingly quickly. Casey and Wade are part of a new anti-terrorist Met Team.
“Someone in the City of London is funding not only the IRA, but also the UDA,’ then for the benefit of Wade, he explained, ‘the Ulster Defence Association, they are an extreme group that we have always thought to be unusually well funded, set up to oppose the Catholics in the North of Ireland.”
Chas Larkin is the runt of Betsy Larkin’s litter with a club foot and lazy eye. All he’s known his entire life is bullying and abuse. His relatives keep saying they should have drowned him in the River Thames at birth. Unsurprisingly this has led to his mental state being somewhat unstable. Hence the “Larkin’s Barkin” of the series’ title (barkin = barking mad).
Roisin, the Black Rose of the title is a very mysterious character. She claims to be just a year older than Chas but is very capable and knows how to handle herself in a fight, putting Chas’s bully, Mickey Saint into a coma in the school toilets. She seems to miraculously appear when Chas needs her and selflessly defends him. Then she disappears without leaving a trace. DI Casey says the O’Neill family is a myth and doesn’t actually exist – so who exactly is the enigmatic Roisin?
Some of the characters are more like cariacatures. DS Wade, Casey’s partner is a stereotype of a 1960s depiction of a lesbian, right down to her masculine attitudes and her sensible shoes.
The book was fast-paced and flowed fairly well, but I think you need to be familiar with cockney rhyming slang to be able to appreciate it fully. Without such knowledge, a reader would soon get lost, and be unable to properly follow the plot. There was a surprising twist at the end, that left me wracking my brains to figure out if there had been any clues along the way – if there were I missed them!
Amidst all of this unpleasantness there is an undercurrent of dark humour, which I thoroughly enjoyed, along with plenty of Cockney rhyming slang-based language. The Cockney slang used in this part of London is more than a language – it is a code of honour, a badge of belonging. Outsiders such as the Irish DI, Padraig Casey stick out like a sore thumb and are immediately not to be trusted, until they can prove themselves worthy.
“Such was life in the oft eulogised East End of London. Not fun. Not a big loving family, but a life on the edge, and tolerated only by developing a rare sense of humour, bordering on denial. Everyone liked a tin bath, (laugh).”
In Black Rose there are two main rival gang families, the Saints and the Larkins. Both typically violent family is run by a “tough as old boots” matriarch and based in an East End pub which just so happen to be next door to each other. An Irish family, the O’Neills may or may not have recently arrived on the scene and are quickly gaining an infamous reputation.
These are gritty, vengeful people who deal in death and violence on a daily basis. The police are mostly in the pocket of the gangs and no one lives a particularly long or healthy life.
DI Padraig “Paddy” Casey is an Irish misfit brought into London’s East End due to his experience with the IRA. It turns out he is working for MI5, attempting to rid London of any upcoming IRA violence. Amazingly perceptive, he takes the measure of his partner, DS Wade, and any scenario surprisingly quickly. Casey and Wade are part of a new anti-terrorist Met Team.
“Someone in the City of London is funding not only the IRA, but also the UDA,’ then for the benefit of Wade, he explained, ‘the Ulster Defence Association, they are an extreme group that we have always thought to be unusually well funded, set up to oppose the Catholics in the North of Ireland.”
Chas Larkin is the runt of Betsy Larkin’s litter with a club foot and lazy eye. All he’s known his entire life is bullying and abuse. His relatives keep saying they should have drowned him in the River Thames at birth. Unsurprisingly this has led to his mental state being somewhat unstable. Hence the “Larkin’s Barkin” of the series’ title (barkin = barking mad).
Roisin, the Black Rose of the title is a very mysterious character. She claims to be just a year older than Chas but is very capable and knows how to handle herself in a fight, putting Chas’s bully, Mickey Saint into a coma in the school toilets. She seems to miraculously appear when Chas needs her and selflessly defends him. Then she disappears without leaving a trace. DI Casey says the O’Neill family is a myth and doesn’t actually exist – so who exactly is the enigmatic Roisin?
Some of the characters are more like cariacatures. DS Wade, Casey’s partner is a stereotype of a 1960s depiction of a lesbian, right down to her masculine attitudes and her sensible shoes.
The book was fast-paced and flowed fairly well, but I think you need to be familiar with cockney rhyming slang to be able to appreciate it fully. Without such knowledge, a reader would soon get lost, and be unable to properly follow the plot. There was a surprising twist at the end, that left me wracking my brains to figure out if there had been any clues along the way – if there were I missed them!
March 4, 2021
I received a free e-copy of Black Rose in exchange for an honest review, which I give freely without bias. Many thanks to the author for the copy.
This is my introduction to the writing talents of Pete Adams and I was not disappointed. Initial impression, this is different and in a good way. The build up to the story, with a preface, foreward and then the initial chapter sparked a great deal of interest. I loved the idea of the grotty crumpet, being a good luck charm for the gang members, best explained by this quote from the book: 'Someone's 'arf inched the lucky crumpet and replaced it with a replica…' she paused to think on '… and this one's got bad juju.'
It's a tale of the senseless enmity between two equally villainous gangs: the Saints and the Larkins who own two pubs in the east End of London. I loved the word play used to describe the pubs. The pub owned by the Saints is called the Dog and Duck Pub (Dad's.) The Larkins own the Bottle and Glass pub, "Arries." The various character names, are entertaining too: Roisin O'Neill, 'most called her Rosie, or Ginger Nut,' ...
There are speculations, whispers and uncertainties about an up-and-coming rival group: the O' Neils and Roisin, a young girl who comes to the aid of poor long-suffering Chas.
There's a rich diversity in the characters, all of which are so blooming great, particularly the female characters and gangster molls which Pete Adams did a wonderful job in portraying. Equally, Chas, the unfortunate lad with the club foot, who is bullied, ridiculed and treated appallingly by everyone including his mum, has an enviable creative character arc to keep you enthralled.
I loved the engaging banter between and amongst various characters notably: Detective Inspector Padraig, (Paddy,) Casey. Detective sergeant Flora Wade, Wendy Richards the child psychiatrist, Flora Wade's girlfriend Wendy, Nadia and the gangland molls.
At its heart this is a witty tale, full of observations about the deep recesses of human nature. It packs some surprises including: gangland killings, pub bombings, the threat of the IRA, heads exploding and extraordinary revelations as the tale unfolds. And that's not forgetting the fate of the crumpet (which had me in fits of laughter!)
Highly recommended, one not to be missed!
This is my introduction to the writing talents of Pete Adams and I was not disappointed. Initial impression, this is different and in a good way. The build up to the story, with a preface, foreward and then the initial chapter sparked a great deal of interest. I loved the idea of the grotty crumpet, being a good luck charm for the gang members, best explained by this quote from the book: 'Someone's 'arf inched the lucky crumpet and replaced it with a replica…' she paused to think on '… and this one's got bad juju.'
It's a tale of the senseless enmity between two equally villainous gangs: the Saints and the Larkins who own two pubs in the east End of London. I loved the word play used to describe the pubs. The pub owned by the Saints is called the Dog and Duck Pub (Dad's.) The Larkins own the Bottle and Glass pub, "Arries." The various character names, are entertaining too: Roisin O'Neill, 'most called her Rosie, or Ginger Nut,' ...
There are speculations, whispers and uncertainties about an up-and-coming rival group: the O' Neils and Roisin, a young girl who comes to the aid of poor long-suffering Chas.
There's a rich diversity in the characters, all of which are so blooming great, particularly the female characters and gangster molls which Pete Adams did a wonderful job in portraying. Equally, Chas, the unfortunate lad with the club foot, who is bullied, ridiculed and treated appallingly by everyone including his mum, has an enviable creative character arc to keep you enthralled.
I loved the engaging banter between and amongst various characters notably: Detective Inspector Padraig, (Paddy,) Casey. Detective sergeant Flora Wade, Wendy Richards the child psychiatrist, Flora Wade's girlfriend Wendy, Nadia and the gangland molls.
At its heart this is a witty tale, full of observations about the deep recesses of human nature. It packs some surprises including: gangland killings, pub bombings, the threat of the IRA, heads exploding and extraordinary revelations as the tale unfolds. And that's not forgetting the fate of the crumpet (which had me in fits of laughter!)
Highly recommended, one not to be missed!
June 10, 2021
Pete Adams, fresh from the enjoyable Kind Hearts and Martinets and DaDa Detective Agency series, has turned his attention to the London of the mid 60’s. In this new environment, Adams has created two families at war for generations, but who own pubs next to each other and are both nervously watching a new family try to establish dominance on their patch. We meet a new police officer, DCI Casey, who appears in the local nick with his eyes on a potential local tie to the IRA and at the heart of it all is Chas Larkin. Young, limping, angry and waiting for a chance of vengeance. All the ingredients for a fantastic crime thriller with characters and humour that will keep you smiling long after you’ve finished the story.
Given this synopsis there are two ways in which an author can take this story. Some would create a dark, gritty thriller filled with suspense, double crossing and grim faces. Pete Adams is not that author! Pete creates wild characters filled with eccentricity and life who bounce off the page. He then puts them in situations which can appear gently surreal whilst building a top class plot around the whole package. If you are after pure escapism of the highest class this is a great book for you.
Black Rose, whilst the start of a new series, delivers as a standalone. The two main protagonists we follow throughout the book are the mysterious DCI Casey from Ireland who is on a zealous mission to stop the IRA carrying out atrocities in the heart of London by stopping the flow of funding and weapons. And Chas Larkin, seen as the local invalid, unloved and unwatched as he plans and schemes with the enigmatic Roisin Dubh – the Black Rose. A blur of energy, which seems to consistently lead to death and explosions, the Black Rose is the Devil on Chas’s shoulder, but what does she really want?
I loved this new novel from Pete Adams. It was the ‘pick me up’ read I needed and demonstrates that it is possible to bring together satirical characters, humorous scenarios and excellent plotting. The whole book will leave you wanting more, whether that is the next book in the Larkin’s Barkin series or one of Adams’s other series then that is up to you and your Kindle! Highly recommended..
Given this synopsis there are two ways in which an author can take this story. Some would create a dark, gritty thriller filled with suspense, double crossing and grim faces. Pete Adams is not that author! Pete creates wild characters filled with eccentricity and life who bounce off the page. He then puts them in situations which can appear gently surreal whilst building a top class plot around the whole package. If you are after pure escapism of the highest class this is a great book for you.
Black Rose, whilst the start of a new series, delivers as a standalone. The two main protagonists we follow throughout the book are the mysterious DCI Casey from Ireland who is on a zealous mission to stop the IRA carrying out atrocities in the heart of London by stopping the flow of funding and weapons. And Chas Larkin, seen as the local invalid, unloved and unwatched as he plans and schemes with the enigmatic Roisin Dubh – the Black Rose. A blur of energy, which seems to consistently lead to death and explosions, the Black Rose is the Devil on Chas’s shoulder, but what does she really want?
I loved this new novel from Pete Adams. It was the ‘pick me up’ read I needed and demonstrates that it is possible to bring together satirical characters, humorous scenarios and excellent plotting. The whole book will leave you wanting more, whether that is the next book in the Larkin’s Barkin series or one of Adams’s other series then that is up to you and your Kindle! Highly recommended..
December 21, 2023
Author Adams presents to us the fabled 60s East End, London and steps it up about fourfold as he often does with his head-rocking novels. The Saints and the Larkins, both criminal gangs, of course, have pubs next door to one another. But don’t mistake them as being the same just because both are ruled by powerful women; they have different areas in which they excel.
Other entities striving for dominance in the East End include, why, the police, naturally; medical care, some benign and some not so much; the Black Rose and her supposed Irish clan;—and others—at a time when the UK is struggling against the Irish Republican Army that is seeking to end British rule in Northern Ireland. Enough factions?
But uniting all these in some way is a friendless and bullied, club-footed and poor-sighted pre-teen Chas Larkin, who is pounded on by dozens of the above and especially by his prostitute mother. But young Chas is befriended by many as well, and turns out to be…hmm…the story’s center as he emerges as quite a bit more than what he seems (even to himself) to be. Adams' skill is such that we all come to care about Chas.
Pete Adams knows how to confound the story’s participants and surprises his readers with his impish humor. He must be an East Ender himself the way he digs into this chronicle that is certainly British to the core. I urge him to someday write his autobiography so we can understand where his jumps of reasoning and character creation emerges from. He’s an original, and without a doubt, well worth the read—of this and a large body of his other crime-related stories.
Other entities striving for dominance in the East End include, why, the police, naturally; medical care, some benign and some not so much; the Black Rose and her supposed Irish clan;—and others—at a time when the UK is struggling against the Irish Republican Army that is seeking to end British rule in Northern Ireland. Enough factions?
But uniting all these in some way is a friendless and bullied, club-footed and poor-sighted pre-teen Chas Larkin, who is pounded on by dozens of the above and especially by his prostitute mother. But young Chas is befriended by many as well, and turns out to be…hmm…the story’s center as he emerges as quite a bit more than what he seems (even to himself) to be. Adams' skill is such that we all come to care about Chas.
Pete Adams knows how to confound the story’s participants and surprises his readers with his impish humor. He must be an East Ender himself the way he digs into this chronicle that is certainly British to the core. I urge him to someday write his autobiography so we can understand where his jumps of reasoning and character creation emerges from. He’s an original, and without a doubt, well worth the read—of this and a large body of his other crime-related stories.
June 14, 2021
Book Review - Black Rose by Pete Adams.
Firstly I would like to thank the lovely folk at Blackthorn Book Tours for sending me a copy of this rip roaring ride of a book with the request for an open and honest review.
This is a well written and highly engaging detective novel. Full of gangsters, family rivalry, secrets, violence, overbearing matriarchs and lashings of dark humour throughout.
It is the first book in a new series by the author. It is set in 1960s London. Two families, The Saints and The Larkins are rival gangs and the police, some of whom are the ultimate bent coppers, make up our ensemble. It’s dog eat dog and also very much a case of “Keep your friends close but your enemies even closer!” It evokes the dark and gritty Kray-esque London of the swinging sixties.
The characters are enjoyable, the setting is vivid and the pacing is fast and keeps you on your toes.
A very good start to a series that promises to be full to the brim with great writing, brilliantly imagined characters and everything else that makes a good detective noir novel.
Firstly I would like to thank the lovely folk at Blackthorn Book Tours for sending me a copy of this rip roaring ride of a book with the request for an open and honest review.
This is a well written and highly engaging detective novel. Full of gangsters, family rivalry, secrets, violence, overbearing matriarchs and lashings of dark humour throughout.
It is the first book in a new series by the author. It is set in 1960s London. Two families, The Saints and The Larkins are rival gangs and the police, some of whom are the ultimate bent coppers, make up our ensemble. It’s dog eat dog and also very much a case of “Keep your friends close but your enemies even closer!” It evokes the dark and gritty Kray-esque London of the swinging sixties.
The characters are enjoyable, the setting is vivid and the pacing is fast and keeps you on your toes.
A very good start to a series that promises to be full to the brim with great writing, brilliantly imagined characters and everything else that makes a good detective noir novel.
June 14, 2021
Very intriguing and compelling read!
Adams pens an interesting take on thriller stories, by adding humor to it. Black Rose: A Midsummer Night’s Chutzpah is a very enjoyable story. I haven't read anything from this author before, and I really enjoyed it. The characters were witty and raw, and sometimes intense, but there is a great balance of wit, sarcasm, and the thrilling tone of violence and corruption. Set in the 1960s in London, the story is a unique and intriguing story, that brings a clash of terrorism, spies, and humor that rises above the chaos. This book deserves a second read! (and maybe more). A very well-written story, and I enjoyed it. Magnificent story, kept this reader turning the pages. A definite attention grabber. The thrills and intrigue is written clearly and the characterizations are engrossing. The author's technique of raw, magnetic characters and great plotlines is a gift. Black Rose: A Midsummer Night’s Chutzpah is a definite recommendation by Amy's Bookshelf Reviews. I look forward to reading many more stories by this author.
Adams pens an interesting take on thriller stories, by adding humor to it. Black Rose: A Midsummer Night’s Chutzpah is a very enjoyable story. I haven't read anything from this author before, and I really enjoyed it. The characters were witty and raw, and sometimes intense, but there is a great balance of wit, sarcasm, and the thrilling tone of violence and corruption. Set in the 1960s in London, the story is a unique and intriguing story, that brings a clash of terrorism, spies, and humor that rises above the chaos. This book deserves a second read! (and maybe more). A very well-written story, and I enjoyed it. Magnificent story, kept this reader turning the pages. A definite attention grabber. The thrills and intrigue is written clearly and the characterizations are engrossing. The author's technique of raw, magnetic characters and great plotlines is a gift. Black Rose: A Midsummer Night’s Chutzpah is a definite recommendation by Amy's Bookshelf Reviews. I look forward to reading many more stories by this author.
July 22, 2022
Yet again Pete Adams delivers an entertaining yarn packed with action and thrills, along with larger than life characters and witty asides. It’s the summer of 1966 in London’s East End, and two rival gangs, the Larkins and the Saints, rule the docklands. Their watering holes, two pubs that sit side by side in Stepney, form the backbone of the gangs’ escapades, not least due to a certain burnt crumpet.
I cannot help but be reminded of Peaky Blinders in the gangster grit of the tale and the theme of the IRA. Adams likes to get right inside a story, likes to position the reader up close and personal. You can’t help but feel sorry for poor Chas Larkin, bullied ruthlessly by the overbearing Mickey Junior. The story grows ever more intriguing and exciting once Chas seeks vengeance on his oppressors while the police, in the from of DI Casey, seeks to tackle the violent tactics of the IRA. A riveting read brimming with Adam’s unique combination of comedy and gravitas, political insight and a genuine affection for his characters.
I cannot help but be reminded of Peaky Blinders in the gangster grit of the tale and the theme of the IRA. Adams likes to get right inside a story, likes to position the reader up close and personal. You can’t help but feel sorry for poor Chas Larkin, bullied ruthlessly by the overbearing Mickey Junior. The story grows ever more intriguing and exciting once Chas seeks vengeance on his oppressors while the police, in the from of DI Casey, seeks to tackle the violent tactics of the IRA. A riveting read brimming with Adam’s unique combination of comedy and gravitas, political insight and a genuine affection for his characters.
February 11, 2021
I've read another series by this author and this one is very different, but still has the author's skill in slapping you in the face with his writing. The characters are so vibrant that they almost jump off of the page. I'm not usually a fan of books containing too much violence, but Pete Adams has a way of grappling humour and serious issues and wrapping them brilliantly between the pages. Black rose has lucky charms (a half eaten crumpet), high stakes with territorial family wars between rival gangs, The Larkins, Saints and O'Neills and as soon as you start reading about Chas and Roisin, you are completely hooked on the story and have to turn page after page after page. It's a compulsive read. If you enjoy crime reads packed full of intrigue and high levels of drama, with a fast paced plot, then you'll love this book. I can't wait to read more from this author.
February 13, 2021
This is the first book by this author I’ve read to date. It won’t be the last. I was totally captivated by the author’s skill, the characters, especially Chas, the subtle humour in what is actually a very serious story. So captivated was I with Chas that at one point near the beginning of the book, I almost stopped reading because I was hurting so much for the boy. But I read on, and was glad I did, for Chas triumphed. The situation between the Saints and the Larkins was brilliantly portrayed; throw in the mysterious O’Neils and, along with the equally mysterious Brendan Casey, his Sergeant (or Bagman), Wade, and their respective partners/love interest, and you have an explosive, action-packed story that will ultimately blow your mind with the unexpected twists at the end. I’ll definitely be looking out for the next instalment.
March 20, 2021
Has the Wow! factor
I really enjoyed Black Rose. Having read previous books by this author, I expected something similar to his previous works but I was wrong.
Black Rose stands alone as, an excellent page turner that had me gripped from the first pages right through to the end.
What appears at first to be a story of inter-gang warfare, between two East End of London crime families soon morphs into something far more mysterious and potentially threatening to the safety of the realm. I hate spoilers so I'm not going to relate the plot here, but believe me, this is probably the best book to come from the pen of Mr Adams. It has great characters, a believable plot, and enough violence, action and romantic elements to keep any reader entertained and on the edge of their seats. Thoroughly deserves a five star rating from me.
I really enjoyed Black Rose. Having read previous books by this author, I expected something similar to his previous works but I was wrong.
Black Rose stands alone as, an excellent page turner that had me gripped from the first pages right through to the end.
What appears at first to be a story of inter-gang warfare, between two East End of London crime families soon morphs into something far more mysterious and potentially threatening to the safety of the realm. I hate spoilers so I'm not going to relate the plot here, but believe me, this is probably the best book to come from the pen of Mr Adams. It has great characters, a believable plot, and enough violence, action and romantic elements to keep any reader entertained and on the edge of their seats. Thoroughly deserves a five star rating from me.
June 15, 2021
The book kept my attention from the first page to the last.
Black Rose is set the East End of London during the 1960s, the story follows rival gangs the Saints and the Larkins who have been at war for generations and just happen to own pubs next to each other. Both are put out when a new family the O' Neils try to establish dominance on their patch.
What starts out as a story of inter-gang warfare turns into so much with so many amazing characters, my favourite character being Chas Larkin but I don't want to give anything away so I recommend you grab your self a copy, sit back and immense yourself in this explosive and action-packed story you won't be disappointed.
Well done to the author Pete on a most excellent book.
Black Rose is set the East End of London during the 1960s, the story follows rival gangs the Saints and the Larkins who have been at war for generations and just happen to own pubs next to each other. Both are put out when a new family the O' Neils try to establish dominance on their patch.
What starts out as a story of inter-gang warfare turns into so much with so many amazing characters, my favourite character being Chas Larkin but I don't want to give anything away so I recommend you grab your self a copy, sit back and immense yourself in this explosive and action-packed story you won't be disappointed.
Well done to the author Pete on a most excellent book.
June 6, 2021
First time reading a crime thriller novel. Copy provided by Henry Roi for a review.
Stylistically written action filled political thriller that depicts the British criminal underworld in the 1900s with a sprinkling of satire. Renders a story about rivaling gangs and law enforcers with the intent of extirpating crimes but gets enmeshed in all of the chaos. Has well structured characters and arcs that takes on social injustice, transgressions and espionage.
Though i do think that the ending was somehow unfitting for Ro, I'm still satisfied with the other characters especially Chas. Low key Sherlock vibes. Great for crime/thriller readers.
Stylistically written action filled political thriller that depicts the British criminal underworld in the 1900s with a sprinkling of satire. Renders a story about rivaling gangs and law enforcers with the intent of extirpating crimes but gets enmeshed in all of the chaos. Has well structured characters and arcs that takes on social injustice, transgressions and espionage.
Though i do think that the ending was somehow unfitting for Ro, I'm still satisfied with the other characters especially Chas. Low key Sherlock vibes. Great for crime/thriller readers.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
February 22, 2021
This is a story of rival gangs in the East End of London, involving The Saints, Larkins and O’Neills.
The characters were really interesting and I loved the relationship between Casey and Nadia and also Flora and Wendy.
The book is full of drama and plenty of twists and turns to keep you going. The plot is really good and I enjoyed the authors style of writing. This is my first book by this author and it won’t be my last. I would highly recommend this book.
I received a copy of this book from the author in exchange for my honest review.
The characters were really interesting and I loved the relationship between Casey and Nadia and also Flora and Wendy.
The book is full of drama and plenty of twists and turns to keep you going. The plot is really good and I enjoyed the authors style of writing. This is my first book by this author and it won’t be my last. I would highly recommend this book.
I received a copy of this book from the author in exchange for my honest review.
February 21, 2021
An excellent novel, full of bone dry wit and sarcasm, set in '60 East End of London. There's gang warfare, crooked Coppers and corrupt institutions that we seemed to take for granted in the 60's. But in amongst the literary wit, there is an undercurrent of seriousness running through a plot that throws a light on the IRA terror campaign on the UK mainland. This is truly an engrossing novel that kept me up late at night. Happy to recommend.
July 18, 2021
Head back to London in the '60s. The book is written with an English edge to it, so readers may take a moment to get used to that, but once they do, there is no turning back from this page-turner. The author takes readers into the lives of different families in London, including the strong women whom I found a great addition to the story. Readers who are fascinated by crime, mystery, and a look into a different time and a peek into gangs will love this.
March 6, 2021
Another brilliant read from this awesome author. a well-told tale with laughs and brilliant characters. this is possibly one of my favourites so far, but time will tell. a masterpiece and a must for any crime novel lover.
June 14, 2021
You can read my FULL NON-SPOILER review at my site: https://inkdrinkerhana.wordpress.com/...
December 17, 2021
I do love a gangster novel especially if it's set in the 1960's .
Rival families the Saints and the Larkins are true rivals on east end turf.
Thrown in the mix is a new DI Brendon Casey from Ireland with an unknown Irish O'Neill's family all hell is about to break loose in the east end.
Who can you trust and who can you love?
This is a explosive novel that will keep your heart racing
Rival families the Saints and the Larkins are true rivals on east end turf.
Thrown in the mix is a new DI Brendon Casey from Ireland with an unknown Irish O'Neill's family all hell is about to break loose in the east end.
Who can you trust and who can you love?
This is a explosive novel that will keep your heart racing
Displaying 1 - 28 of 28 reviews