Gritty gangland police procedural that proved a struggle to finish and failed to hold my interest.
Gallowstree Lane is a gritty and highly authentic police procedural set in London and the third novel in Kate London’s series featuring DI Sarah Collins and DC Lizzie Griffiths of the Met Police. The novel takes an uncompromising look at gang culture, organised crime and the realities and difficulties of policing such matters in contemporary Britain when more teenagers than ever are carrying a knife. Despite its obvious authenticity I found the novel a struggle for a variety of reasons, not least because of my lack of interest in the largely motiveless crime of postcode wars and tit for tat reprisals between gangs fighting for territory. Kate London’s novel takes this scenario further when a turf war and the stabbing of a teenage boy threatens to escalate and potentially disrupt a secretive two year operation into the Eardsley Bluds and their leader, Shakiel Oliver, who is intent on illegally trafficking guns into the country and onto the streets named Operation Perseus.
The novel gets off to a flying start and launches the reader straight into the midst of the action when a fifteen-year-old low level member of the Eardsley Bluds, Spencer Cardoso, is fatally stabbed and his best friend, Ryan Kennedy, flees the scene after calling an ambulance. As tenacious DI Sarah Collins struggles fo make progress in identifying the witness to Spencer’s murder or gaining an insight into his life, beleaguered DC Lizzie Griffiths is struggling to juggle single parenting with the demands of a career in the force. After Lizzie arrests Ryan for a previous assault in a shopping centre and discovers that he is flagged as part of a highly sensitive high-level operation, she inadvertently stumbles upon the answer to Sarah’s question and her opportunity to do justice to the murdered Spencer. When Lizzie is seconded to work on the confidential and specialist policing of Operation Perseus it reunites her with the father of her child and married ex-lover, flashy DI Kieran Shaw and hands her the knowledge to scupper his ambitions and potentially solve a brutal murder. As Sarah’s investigation threatens to jeopardise Operation Perseus and alert Shakiel Oliver to the interests of the undercover police, tensions between departments and distinct investigations threatens to muddy the waters as the competing egos of the detectives fight to prioritise their cases.
Extensive parts of the narrative make clear the characters rationale and conflicting line of thinking throughout and these interludes serve as a brake on what should have been a pulsating and fast-paced read and border on overexplaining much of the story. I was neither swept up but the urban atmosphere or convinced by Kate London’s need to use “dem”, “dat” and “diss” when recounting from Ryan’s perspective. The perspectives of earnest Sarah and impetuous Lizzie, rather consumed by her personal woes with baby son, Connor, dominate the story with occasional interludes from DI Kieran Shaw. Kate London’s cast of detectives all share the very human quality of fallibility and mistakes of judgement and oversights are present throughout the story, however arrogance in the case of DI Shaw and the frosty demeanour of DI Collins make it difficult to sympathise with either.
Having read neither of the two preceding novels I was dismayed to find that Gallowstree Lane did not make for seamless reading as a stand-alone and there is extensive referencing of history between the characters which is alluded to and yet goes unexplained throughout and alienates new readers. Although alliances and hostilities based on previous encounters can be inferred from reading between the lines, this proved a source of frustration and limited my investment in the story. I struggled to identify with any of the characters throughout and I found DI Sarah Collins to be the epitome of politically correct and sanctimonious policing who seemed to clamp down on any banter and had little camaraderie with her team. Other characters, such as DI Kieran Shaw who is heading up Operation Perseus, seem to tread a finer line and I suspect offer a more realistic view of the attitudes of many fighting the perpetrators of inner city knife crime.
Whilst the subject matter and storyline failed to capture my enthusiasm I suspect others with a keener interest in gangland culture and the practicalities of policing in modern cities may well enjoy this insight. Whilst Kate London’s awareness of the underworld that she depicts is clearly evident and her knowledge of current police procedures is head and shoulders above many authors of the genre, I began to loose track of which of the police were really working to the same objectives and a united team the longer the story went on for. My takeaways from reading were the now familiar topics of poor parenting and cuts to police numbers and whilst I am intrigued to learn the backstory of the police characters I have no interest in reading more of this series. It may be the reality of life today but criminals killing criminals and the gangland ethos of Gallowstree Lane sadly proved far from thrilling for me and even finishing the book became a feat of endurance!
With thanks to Readers First who provided me with a free copy of this novel in exchange for my honest and unbiased opinion.
The novel gets off to a flying start and launches the reader straight into the midst of the action when a fifteen-year-old low level member of the Eardsley Bluds, Spencer Cardoso, is fatally stabbed and his best friend, Ryan Kennedy, flees the scene after calling an ambulance. As tenacious DI Sarah Collins struggles fo make progress in identifying the witness to Spencer’s murder or gaining an insight into his life, beleaguered DC Lizzie Griffiths is struggling to juggle single parenting with the demands of a career in the force. After Lizzie arrests Ryan for a previous assault in a shopping centre and discovers that he is flagged as part of a highly sensitive high-level operation, she inadvertently stumbles upon the answer to Sarah’s question and her opportunity to do justice to the murdered Spencer. When Lizzie is seconded to work on the confidential and specialist policing of Operation Perseus it reunites her with the father of her child and married ex-lover, flashy DI Kieran Shaw and hands her the knowledge to scupper his ambitions and potentially solve a brutal murder. As Sarah’s investigation threatens to jeopardise Operation Perseus and alert Shakiel Oliver to the interests of the undercover police, tensions between departments and distinct investigations threatens to muddy the waters as the competing egos of the detectives fight to prioritise their cases.
Extensive parts of the narrative make clear the characters rationale and conflicting line of thinking throughout and these interludes serve as a brake on what should have been a pulsating and fast-paced read and border on overexplaining much of the story. I was neither swept up but the urban atmosphere or convinced by Kate London’s need to use “dem”, “dat” and “diss” when recounting from Ryan’s perspective. The perspectives of earnest Sarah and impetuous Lizzie, rather consumed by her personal woes with baby son, Connor, dominate the story with occasional interludes from DI Kieran Shaw. Kate London’s cast of detectives all share the very human quality of fallibility and mistakes of judgement and oversights are present throughout the story, however arrogance in the case of DI Shaw and the frosty demeanour of DI Collins make it difficult to sympathise with either.
Having read neither of the two preceding novels I was dismayed to find that Gallowstree Lane did not make for seamless reading as a stand-alone and there is extensive referencing of history between the characters which is alluded to and yet goes unexplained throughout and alienates new readers. Although alliances and hostilities based on previous encounters can be inferred from reading between the lines, this proved a source of frustration and limited my investment in the story. I struggled to identify with any of the characters throughout and I found DI Sarah Collins to be the epitome of politically correct and sanctimonious policing who seemed to clamp down on any banter and had little camaraderie with her team. Other characters, such as DI Kieran Shaw who is heading up Operation Perseus, seem to tread a finer line and I suspect offer a more realistic view of the attitudes of many fighting the perpetrators of inner city knife crime.
Whilst the subject matter and storyline failed to capture my enthusiasm I suspect others with a keener interest in gangland culture and the practicalities of policing in modern cities may well enjoy this insight. Whilst Kate London’s awareness of the underworld that she depicts is clearly evident and her knowledge of current police procedures is head and shoulders above many authors of the genre, I began to loose track of which of the police were really working to the same objectives and a united team the longer the story went on for. My takeaways from reading were the now familiar topics of poor parenting and cuts to police numbers and whilst I am intrigued to learn the backstory of the police characters I have no interest in reading more of this series. It may be the reality of life today but criminals killing criminals and the gangland ethos of Gallowstree Lane sadly proved far from thrilling for me and even finishing the book became a feat of endurance!
With thanks to Readers First who provided me with a free copy of this novel in exchange for my honest and unbiased opinion.