Lost in Shadows

by Alex O'Connell

Tortured by his brutal childhood in rural Ireland, Frankie Doyle makes his living the only way he knows how – violence. Set in the twilight netherworld of London’s seedy underbelly, Lost in Shadows tells the story of a psychopathic gangland enforcer in a city where the cops are as dirty as the crooks. The debut full length fiction of the acclaimed poet, Alex O’Connell leads you on a lightning-paced, rip-roaring rollercoaster ride of violence, madness, violence, betrayal, violence, sex, violence, revenge and… well, more violence that runs the entire gamut of human emotions from A to B!

What the authors say about Lost in

DH Loved it… but a bit too saucy for my tastes!

Jane What a ride! This is the gangster novel I would have written. Frankie Doyle is a psycho Mr Darcy on acid. Only sexier. I swooned.

Marcel It’s action all the way – just what I want I want in a novel. What a page turner!

Charles S’alright, I suppose. Can’t expect much for less than a dollar.

Genres: Thriller

276 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 27, 2011

About the author

In his formative years Alex O’Connell deserted from the French Foreign Legion after mistaking it for the British Legion and finding that it was far from an ideal place to find cheap beer and a quiet game of dominoes with the lads.

Despite the bad memories, he still finds himself singing Le Boudin when he’s drunk.

He is unsure whether he would be permitted to enter Canada and uses it as an excuse for avoiding Belgium.

Rumour has it that he was thrown out of the Cork affiliate of the LA street gang the Crips for being way too mean. But as O’Connell sagely says, you shouldn’t always listen to rumours.

To his enduring shame, in 2008 he was blackballed by the Hell’s Angels after turning up for a Chapter meeting on his BMX bicycle, explaining that his Raleigh Chopper was being serviced by his friend Eddie. This is not likely to be true as Eddie denies even knowing O’Connell.

Satanists and the Catholic Church are united in their condemnation of O’Connell. The Satanists have excommunicated him but this is a step too far for the Catholics who fear his reprisals.

O’Connell’s wife has asked for a divorce for her birthday for the last three years but he has always ended up getting her something cheaper. His children, Dubhlainn, his favourite, the other boy and the girl, Deirbhile, all claim that they are adopted.

Unsurprisingly, O’Connell doesn’t like to talk about himself much.

He is available for weddings, christenings and bar mitzvahs and works cheaply.

Alex O’Connell lives in fear of vampire attacks. He believes his special O-negative blood group makes him an especially attractive target.

***

‘O’Connell’s my kinda guy. I’d fix him a Daiquiri and take him marlin fishing. I could listen to those vampire stories of his for hours… well until about 9ish. After that I get a bit tired.’
Ernest Hemingway.

***

Reviews

[Louise Wilson · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5 stars rounded up to 3

Tortured by his brutal childhood in rural Ireland, Frankie Doyle makes a living the only way he knows how - violence. Set in the twilight netherworld of London's seedy underbelly, Lost In The Shadows tells the story of a psychopathic gangland enforcer in a city where the cops are as dirty as the crooks.

There's quite a lot of spelling mistakes or the wrong spelling of the word they were using. The pace is fast in this gritty but violent story. The plotline was ok with realistic characters.

#FreeKindleBook

[Faith Hall · Rating 2 out of 5]

Free books are great...in the sense that they cost no money.this book is one I'm glad I didn't pay for.it started by being a good London gangster type of book which promised to read well.the first problem was the awful typo errors.but I can get over that as long as the story is good.once it reached around 70% read I no longer cared who lived or died.the only thing that kept me reading at that point was the faint hope that there may be some interesting twists.alas it become dull and predictable and I stopped caring who lived or died by 85%.then I stopped reading it and I'm glad.no sleep lost here.could of been great but missed by a long shot in the end.

[Sharon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fabulous Freebie. I really enjoyed this gritty, violent, fast paced story of London gangsters and bent coppers. The sociopaths and serial killers were pretty realistic too.

One problem being the editing or lack of but for a freebie I can forgive that. The story telling and in-depth characterisation made me feel that I should have paid something for this one.

I strongly recommend this whether a freebie or not. If still a freebie it's a steal !

[Karen Herbert · Rating 1 out of 5]

Dreadful

I have only ever stopped reading a book before the end, and that was decades ago, but life is too short to go further through this one either. There is so much wrong with this it is heard to list it all, but an editor would have made it easier to follow, even if the storyline wasn’t as bad. Actually any kind of qualification in or study of the English language would be helpful. Sorry, rubbish story, unintelligible and repetitive, gross drivel. I would like to find something redeeming to say, but I simply can’t. Although I got this as a free book it isn’t worth investing my time on.

[Mrs J Nadin · Rating 2 out of 5]

There were several words missing from the text through the book as if no one had proof read it - made the flow difficult.

Rather disjointed story, flipping from one person to another, with only one actually finished up - not an easy enjoyable read!

[Chalky's Store · Rating 5 out of 5]

Interesting reading

I enjoyed this book more than I thought I would. Very well written, kept me hooked all the throughout and I could not put it down.

[Neil · Rating 2 out of 5]

When I initially read the précis, it was a book which sounded interesting, and possibly one that I would enjoy. It was actually a free download. However, through various factors it failed to deliver my anticipated enjoyment. The first half of the book was OK, but towards the end I started to lose interest in the characters, until finally I no longer cared who died and who survived. Maybe it was the lack of proof reading, or the continuous spelling errors, which detracted from my enjoyment. There was the grittiness, and the violence, you would expect from a Gangster type thriller, but with some proof reading it would have been vastly improved.

[Samantha Lee · Rating 1 out of 5]

It may have been free but this one wasn't for me. I thought the storyline showed some promise but it was a badly edited book and this seriously interferred with the flow. I persevered but that's more because I can't bring myself to leave any books unfinished but I wished I had given up a lot sooner.

[Mike · Rating 1 out of 5]

Couldn't get past the first few chapters. Needs serious editing both for textual errors, p.o.v. changes that throw the reader, and for trimming a lot of excess. I have the feeling that behind the faults there is something worth dragging out, but I don't have the time or energy.

[Mike · Rating 1 out of 5]

Free...but it needs to be. Was there an editor? I doubt it, or someone just used a spellchecker. Big mistake. i.e. To instead of too; meet instead of mete; peel instead of peal; and many more. Let alone the basic typos and missing words and extra words. Really badly written.

[Jack · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was a thriller featuring some very ugly-minded and generally not very bright gangsters. Frequent spelling errors and a lack of proofreading detracted from the story.

[Cath Sandland · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really enjoyed this book,only downside was that either it wasn't proof read very well or my kindle was playing up!

[David Highton · Rating 1 out of 5]

very badly written