An account of the life of a henchman in the service of the gangster organisation run by the Kray twins. Having seen films but not read about the Kray brothers, this was an interesting read, although with some flaws in the text.
This story paints a vivid picture of gangster culture within the swinging 60s London area. There are many characters revolving around the whirlwind that was the Kray brothers empire. There are arguably too many characters for the short 245 pages, there is definitely scope for more details to be added to show us more dimensions to each character, however this would depend on if the author had a deeper understanding to fill this gap. The Krays were depicted rather well, with an outward appearance of classy gangsters. In contrast they each held deep paranoia and were intensely competitive with each other, this when combined with alcohol led to some very poor decisions. These effectively brought an end to their reign and respectability as well as branding them as some of the most notorious psychopaths of recent times. It was hard to distinguish the individuality of character to each twin though, at times it seemed that Ronnie and Reggie were easily interchangeable. As could be expected John Dickson came across the best, as a criminal with a good heart it's easy to warm to his character. It's hard to believe that he was always the good guy, but this is what has been presented.
Written in an overly simplistic tone, the facts and stories don't always link together very well or at all. There are many disappointing dead ends where we don't learn the full story, which is probably due to the author not having or withholding the answers. In addition, it's not clear when this was written, over time memories change and for these reasons the authenticity is called into question. It would have been good for more work to have been put into the plot, to make the story flow better, which would have made for a much more enjoyable read.
The strength in my rating for this book purely comes from the interesting content, I would not buy this book, but I have enjoyed reading it. If the defects were addressed then another star could be added.
This story paints a vivid picture of gangster culture within the swinging 60s London area. There are many characters revolving around the whirlwind that was the Kray brothers empire. There are arguably too many characters for the short 245 pages, there is definitely scope for more details to be added to show us more dimensions to each character, however this would depend on if the author had a deeper understanding to fill this gap. The Krays were depicted rather well, with an outward appearance of classy gangsters. In contrast they each held deep paranoia and were intensely competitive with each other, this when combined with alcohol led to some very poor decisions. These effectively brought an end to their reign and respectability as well as branding them as some of the most notorious psychopaths of recent times. It was hard to distinguish the individuality of character to each twin though, at times it seemed that Ronnie and Reggie were easily interchangeable. As could be expected John Dickson came across the best, as a criminal with a good heart it's easy to warm to his character. It's hard to believe that he was always the good guy, but this is what has been presented.
Written in an overly simplistic tone, the facts and stories don't always link together very well or at all. There are many disappointing dead ends where we don't learn the full story, which is probably due to the author not having or withholding the answers. In addition, it's not clear when this was written, over time memories change and for these reasons the authenticity is called into question. It would have been good for more work to have been put into the plot, to make the story flow better, which would have made for a much more enjoyable read.
The strength in my rating for this book purely comes from the interesting content, I would not buy this book, but I have enjoyed reading it. If the defects were addressed then another star could be added.