The Runaway

by Martina Cole

A gritty, unputdownable thriller from of corruption and violence from the No. 1 bestseller When Cathy Connor and Eamonn Docherty are thrown together as children in the sleazy streets of London's east End their fate is sealed. Cathy's miserable life as a prostitute's child leads to a terrifying ordeal that leaves her with no choice...Entering the world of Soho as a runaway, she is rescued and taught to survive in a criminal underworld by Desrae. Meanwhile, Eamonn, who fled to America with his father, has gained a reputation as one of the most ruthless villains in New York. It's only a matter of time before their paths cross and, when they do, Cathy's an equal match for Eamonn. She's beautiful, clever and tough. And nothing's going to make her run away again...

Genres: Crime, Fiction, Thriller, Mystery, Mystery Thriller, Contemporary, Drama

736 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1997

About the author

Martina Cole was born and brought up in Essex. She is the bestselling author of fourteen novels set in London's gangland, and her most recent three paperbacks have gone straight to No. 1 in the Sunday Times on first publication. Total sales of Martina's novels stand at over eight million copies.

Reviews

[Kathryn_w_221185 · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cathy Connor and Eamonn Docherty were forced to live together as children; Cathy's Mum is a prostitute and Eamonn's Dad lived off her wages. They maybe poor but they have each other.

After a series of events Eamonn is forced to move to New York and Cathy, after running away from the care home, is rescued by Desrae who teaches her how to survive in Soho. You know it's only going to be a matter of time before their paths cross and it's all go when they do.

If you have read any of MC's books you know the drill, they are all quite similar in terms of their characters and the plot themes; the guys want to be a face and the girls are either used by said face or are powerful in their own right.

A graphic story but to me this is one of MC's better books.

[Ken · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cathy Connor and Eamonn Docherty are brought together in the grim East End of London, Cathy the daughter of a prostitute and Eamonn’s relationship is severely tested other time.

Highly gripping and authentic, Cole is a great enjoyable read!

[Andrea · Rating 5 out of 5]

The first ever Martina Cole book I read. Very out there and brutal, love her books though. Not for the faint hearted!!!

[Adele-Marie · Rating 3 out of 5]

hmmm, good one. long but good. a bit too gory too stomach at times. made me feel blessed i'm an insignificant nothing, rather than a big head hunted down by enemies who would go for my throat any time...

[Hil Sloan · Rating 1 out of 5]

Simply dreadful! I listened to this as an audible download on the strength of all the great reviews on Goodreads and Amazon. It just went on and on.. I kept listening because I thought it must improve soon. So much gratuitous violence and interminable graphic detail that left little room for a decent plot.

[Sandra Harvey · Rating 4 out of 5]

A real page turner. I love M.C. books. Never disappoint.

[Baba · Rating 2 out of 5]

One usually knows what to respect with Cole and her stories of the underclass and some of the criminal families that live amongst them - but The Runaway sees Cole's storytelling powers remain as well as they've always been but as one reads more of her books it all appears to formulaic with most characters been a slight tweak of others she's written before. If you've never read a Cole before, you will most likely very much enjoy this. 4 out of 12.

[Joanna Mcdonald · Rating 4 out of 5]

Brilliant read, couldn't put the book down. Realy good ending as well.

[Alex · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5

[jamie · Rating 1 out of 5]

Anybody that has the gall and wherewithal to come on here and say they ENJOYED this book are just as f**ked in the head as the characters throughout it.

This book has me wanting to revisit the laws of free speech because for someone to be able to articulate such graphic and horrifying plot points and scenarios is worrying and flags serious issues.

I never knew it was possible to write a PAGE LONG rape scene. I have never endured something so vivid and so horrifying, and the worst part is - IT ADDED NOTHING TO THE PLOT!!! Eammon rapes poor Cathy when she is just 12 or 13 years old and then 35 f**king years later they are STILL together and she is STILL enabling such a degenerate (not to victim blame but, come on?).

We follow two characters through thirty five years and I hated every single month. Eammon was nothing less than devil spawn, literally beating, bruising, killing, raping all and sundry until his death FINALLY came in 1995. I have never met such a repugnant character in my life, someone who I truly loathe to my core - I guess that gives MC some points, if that’s what you want to call them.

On the other hand, did MC even know who Cathy was, or rather who she wanted her to be?! Cathy was supposedly head strong and independent, yet spent paragraph after paragraph drooling over Tom, Dick and Harry and going back to deadbeat men time and time again!! Also, I have never known someone to have so much allure? There is no man in this book which doesn’t talk about how blue her eyes are and how blonde her hair is and how small her waist is and how pointy her nipples are, like… I got it by Chapter 10.

Just when you think a character is a good one, they disappoint you. Richard Gates is apparently Gods Gift yet he then sees the EDGE OF A NIPPLE and all of a sudden, AND I QUOTE, wants to have sex with Cathy ‘whether she wanted him or not’. Does MC have a SA fetish, genuinely?!

On that note, there is so much unnecessary sex and it just begins to lose all meaning. Joey Palasque is dead - let’s have sex. My husband was just killed by the man who raped me yet is still somehow in my life - let’s have sex. My DAUGHTER is in the police office SLEEPING OFF DRUGS that were administered to her when she was KIDNAPPED and nearly RAPED at the age of THIRTEEN - let’s get promiscuous with the police officer. It started to feel like a fetish book… one that I would only expect to find in the depths of the dark web.

I could go on about the characters forever, but one needs to read the book to truly understand what I’m on about. Final character point - there were so many of them I genuinely just started glancing over names, how is anyone meant to understand who everyone is and what their role is in building this so called ‘plot’? People were being introduced and killed within a page, I wish I was joking.

Linguistically speaking, there were some phrases repeated just too much for my liking. Somehow everybody had something that gave them edge, they knew that they had aforementioned edge, and they ‘used it to their advantage’. A character could have black f**king hair and MC would be like ‘X had a head of dark hair, this gave him edge in Soho and East London (in case you forgot where this was set), and he used it to his advantage’. Similarly, everyone has seen to something. A blind eye needs turning? Eammon will see to that. The toast is burnt? Richard has seen to that. It’s a cloudy day? Kitty will see to that. It got so repetitive I was rolling my eyes.

Also has MC ever met a 14 year old… ever? Why was Gates never coming to Cathy’s without a present for Kitty? And why was he then PLAYING with Kitty like she’s a toddler? At 14 I was literally a functioning human and if a 60 year old man tried playing with me like a kid I would’ve been concerned for his mental.

FINALLY, and I laugh whilst writing this. You’re telling me the w*nker (I forgot his name - shock) that was killed in prison had both wrists and his throat sl*t and then he had time to STAND UP, LOOK AROUND, have MULTIPLE profound thoughts and then… I can’t believe this actually was a part of the book… he was found with the word ‘Bastards’ written IN BLOOD beside him. I’m sorry… am I reading a thriller or watching a melodrama?

I would like to reiterate that I am concerned for people giving this anything over 1 star. If you are one of those people, I hope I never encounter you in life. This was a plotless book which simply felt like an outlet for Cole’s most perverse and grotesque fantasies and imaginings.

This will be taken to the charity shop tomorrow, I can’t bear to have it in my home.

[Joanna Mcdonald · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastic read. A story about how a young girl, no matter how badly her upbringing is, can still make a good life for herself.

Brought up by a prostitute for mother and an alcoholic for a father, she manages to escape her damaged life and find refuge, not after going thru her fair share of emotional traumas.

She ends up stabbing one of her mothers punters and her mother, deciding that she hasn't been a good mother, decides to take the blame for it.

After her mother is jailed, she is put into care, where she escapes the brutal beatings and torture that her foster family dish out.

Eventually making a new life for herself and becoming a success herself.

Brilliant book!!!

Really sad ending, but I couldn't put this book down.

[[ J o ] · Rating 1 out of 5]

Couldn't finish this book - got about half way. It wasn't that it was badly written, all the full stops were in the correct place, or was just so long and boring. It's difficult to say that something with such a depressing and harsh storyline was boring but it truly was and I'm kind of tired of the same old crime fiction storylines of whores and women thinking they need men to survive. I'm honestly thinking of starting to read chick-lit, this stuff is getting old.

[Joanna Mcdonald · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastic book about a girl who survives a really bad childhood, with an alcoholic father and a prosititute mother.

She makes a success out of herself with courage and determination.

She doesn't use her past or upbringing as an excuse in life.

Heartwarming story, really sad ending but utterly brilliant.

[Theweebarrell · Rating 5 out of 5]

Cathy and Eamonn are thrown together as children growing up on the sleazy streets of London's East End. Cathy learns how to survive in the criminal underworld, and Eamonn, fleeing to America, has become a ruthless villain. Its only a matter of time before their paths cross again.

It lets you see how a friendship from the past can be good or bad for you. And how it affects your loyalties

[Ria · Rating 5 out of 5]

Cathy Connor and Eamon Docherty are brought up together, knowing each other since childhood and clinging together between his alcoholic, abusive father and her prostitute mother the kids have no one else.
Inevitably as they get older they fall in love but when after a shocking tragedy Cathy gets taken into care her world is turned upside down and the pair are separated as Eamon after a brutal murder flees to New York.
Meeting many years later they resume their love affair, both are now harder and worldly wise but when one is still a bad apple and the love is all one sided how can this possibly work?
Set against the backdrop of London's East end and the USA this is a gritty look into the world of child and adult prostitution, sexual abuse and the seedy underworld that links these lifestyles.
Graphic and harrowing this is still an excellent read with a great story woven through serious social issues.

[Yatrik Vasavada · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a book...a real rollercoaster of emotions is what you go through while reading this one..you live through the characters of the book almost as if watching a drama on tv... that's how it's been written with gritty twists and turns...go for this one if you are into a bit of drama tailored with thrills of gang wars, love , betrayal and much more to explore as you go on!

[Sharon · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow what a book, at times it’s almost too hard to handle some of the raw and brutal scenes but overall it is quite an optimistic book that no matter how hard life gets if you have strength of character you can overcome it.

It follows the story of Cathy O Connor who was brought up by a mother on the game. After her live in partner Docherty leaves her (along with his son and Cathy’s lifelong friend Eamonn), she begins to bring her work home and they have designs on her daughter Cathy. In one scene where her mother is being attacked Cathy stabs a punter and kills him. The kindly detective Richard Gates ensures that her mother takes the blame for it but Cathy is packed off to an institution anyway at which she endures so much abuse she nearly dies and eventually goes on the run.

Always with her first love Eamonn in the front of her mind (although he actually took advantage of her and stole her virginity) she manages to keep enough hope to get through and ends up on the sleazy streets of Soho. Forced to give some random stranger fellatio she narrowly escapes rape as she is rescued by transvestite Desrae. With luck being on her side Desrae is one of the few genuine and honest characters in the book and takes her under his wing and nurses her both mentally and physically back to health. She then joins his/her venture and forges out a successful life for herself working in the Soho Clubs.

But she is never far from the criminal underworld and therefore vicious murder, detestable sex and brutal attacks. Eamonn in the meantime has fled a murder in London and has joined the criminal underworld in New York, working for gangsters like the mafia and eventually terrorist organisations like the IRA. He has also got himself a wife he doesn’t love and ten children!

Eventually their paths cross again and the love they felt for each other is still very apparent, but the selfish greedy streak is also still there in Eamonn where he thinks he can have exactly what he wants.

Cathy loses people close to her including her friend Joey (Desrae’s partner) and her husband, his son, Tommy through murder and almost loses the innocence of her daughter (who turns out to be Eamonn’s though Tommy always believed she was his) as she is kidnapped and nearly used in some brutal child sex rape video.

Eventually, Eamonn gets Cathy unknowingly involved in trafficking plutonium as he hides it in her case as she returns from one of her state-side visits to see him. Cathy is attacked and left for dead, unrecognisable from her injuries and in a coma for months.

The only person who sticks by her and shows his true love for her is Richard Gates, who despite being many years her senior has always harboured a love for her.

Meanwhile Eamonn is killed in America. At the end of the book Cathy wakes up – still with a long road for recovery ahead of her – but she has the love of Richard.

It is a pretty frightening book if this is really how brutal the criminal underworld was in the 60s – 80s. No one has an iota of loyalty and the gangs think they can throw away human life just like that. People are just disposed of if they get in the way, step out of line, or actually for no reason at all.

The love story itself shows how deep love can run, even when one side is not deserving of the love. It’s a heartbreaking book but also tinged with optimism, hope and strength of character.

[Mallory · Rating 4 out of 5]

As children Cathy Connor and Eamonn Docherty only had each other to lean on while trying to survive the crime infested London East End. After living in constant threat and danger as a prostitute’s daughter, Cathy is soon put into the care system which she finds even more dangerous and has no choice but to runaway to Soho – the sex centre of the city. Meanwhile, Eamonn creates a name for himself as a heartless gangster and soon has to run away from his own crimes to New York where his reputation only gets worse. Their paths will soon cross again but this time there is no running away.

The sheer honesty and brutality of this story are what make it influential to me. Cole paints such a vivid picture of what it is like it live in the violent underworld of London in the sixties – a time when neither the care system nor the police could be trusted. It is a challenging story that forces you to be on the side of some of the worst villains and makes you question your own morals in the face of danger. The personal back story Cole tells of each character help you to really get inside of their heads and root for them even against your better judgement. “The Runaway” makes the reader see how important a good upbringing and a loving family are, and how some people can find the strength to overcome even the most horrific circumstances and still find it in them to love.

[Barbra · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the fifth book by this author that I have read and I have enjoyed everyone of them. Her books are probably for the English audience unless you know a lot of English slang expressions but if you can get by these then they are a good, fast read. They can be quite graphic and the language is very raw. I enjoy them as they remind me of my childhood as I grew up in the areas described in the books.

Back Cover Blurb:
When Cathy Connor and Eamonn Docherty are thrown together as children in the sleazy streets of London's East End their fate is sealed.
Cathy's miserable life as a prostitute's child changes forever when she is forced into care. The terrifying ordeal that follows leaves her with no choice....Entering the twilight world of London's Soho as a runaway, she is rescued by Desrae, who teaches her how to survive in the violent heart of London's criminal underworld. Meanwhile, Eamonn, who fled to America with his father, has gained a reputation as one of the most ruthless villains in New York.
It's only a matter of time before their paths cross and, when they do, Cathy's an equal match for Eamonn. She's beautiful, clever and tough. And nothing's going to make her run away again....

[Susan · Rating 5 out of 5]

My rating for this Martina Cole story went from a 4-star (at the beginning), down to a 3-star (because the middle felt very long-winded and the story wasn't moving quickly enough for me). I was pleasantly surprised when I found my former 4-star rating returning (for the last quarter of the book). before becoming a resounding 5-star by the end. Yes, it really was that much of a rollercoaster read!

This story is a difficult one to stomach at times - it includes horrific violence, and some startling statements concerning terrorist and gangster organisations which really got me thinking about some things in a different light. I agree with another reviewer who says that The Runaway isn't for the 'faint hearted', but then again I imagine that all of Martina Cole's books are gritty and hard-hitting.

The Runaway is the best Martina Cole story I have read thus far, and one of those library books that I now wish I owned.

[Omie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Could not recommend this book enough, actually any book by this author. Once I started reading, I could not put this book down and it seemed to end far to quickly for me! Martina Cole is a world class author, and writes with such passion and manages to leave the reader emotional. I am only 14 years old so I originally thought this book would be to old for my age, but I loved every single minute of it. Another one to reccommed i 'Hard Girls.'

[Vai Lolohea · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very good read - found this book to be a major "page-turner". It is quite a long book, but it gives excellent background development on main player/characters. I found myself becoming attached to many of the characters, and it evoked many emotions throughout the entire book. Not a book for all, but definitely a book I would recommend for those who like a gritty read.

[Heather · Rating 4 out of 5]

i couldn't put this book down...once you start it, the pages are constantly turning. it has it all..love, hate, violence, revenge, pathos...one of the best Martina Cole books.

[Louise Jennings · Rating 5 out of 5]

Such an amazing book I love it. Couldn't put it Down recommend it to anyone!!!

[Bev · Rating 5 out of 5]

Couldn't out it down

[Chuk's Book Reviews · Rating 3 out of 5]

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2.5 Stars

Feelings about the book:
- This was a very weird re-read for me. This was my favourite book of all time as a teenager, I loved it. And I was very apprehensive about reading it again because I knew the score would go down. In my heart, I knew it. I just didn’t know by how much. Lesson learned - hold on to nostalgia.

- This re-read has put me off re-reading some of my treasured books. There are a bunch of Martina Cole and Jeffrey Archer books that I should re-read but I don’t think I will anymore. My rating of this re-read hurt.

Premise/Plot:
- This book follows two main characters: Cathy and Eammon. They are step siblings with crazy, messed up parents. Cathy’s mum is a prostitute who actually likes her job. And Eammon’s dad is basically a low life living off her. At the beginning of the book, we follow this makeshift family as they live in poverty in East London.

- As the story develops the primarily shifts to Soho and New York. We follow the lives of these kids and adults as they are separated and live two very different lives that are apart yet intertwined.

Themes:
- Underclass lifestyle, betrayal, growing up around violence, moral compromise, Abuse, neglect, trauma, exploitation, coercive control, crime as survival, poverty and cycles of harm

Characters:
- Tragedy - in every sense of the word. It makes the story what it is though

- The characterisation in general was pretty good

Pros:
- I liked he gritty, East London setting. As an Eastender it was realistic and I felt a sense of comfort reading it.

- Very bleak tone as it highlights numerous social issues

Cons:
- The pacing and writing style was just not there tbh, but I’m struggling to determine if its Cole or my adult literary taste

- I felt guilty at times with this book, because most of the time I didn’t want to pick it up when it was time to read. I used to be on the bus home from Walthamstow just eagerly anticipating going back home to read this book. But that was well over a decade ago… how times have changed. I played football back then, so I never took books out of the house. Because it would get muddy with all my football stuff.

- This book spans 30 odd years and the time jumps were well done for the most part. However, that means that some plotlines weren't fully explored

Quotes:
‘Her big, fighting, drinking, whoring, common-law husband was a mystery to her. Which, she admitted in soberer moments, was his chief attraction.’

‘You never refused an order in this house, even when it sounded like a request. If you wanted to get through the night, you jumped when they told you to jump, simple as that.’

‘She slept with men and you slept with her, knowing that. I think more of her than I do of you.’

‘Unlike most whores, who sold themselves for their children, Madge was the one in a million who actually liked what she did; revealed in it even. Now she would let her child take the consequences of her own lifestyle without a second’s thought.’

‘Working-class girls were born women.’

‘She was learning, finally, what life was all about, and though it hurt it was also comforting.’

‘He understood his son’s need for respect – it was the driving force behind most men.’

‘They had taken something beautiful, something wonderful, and destroyed each other with it.’

[Dorottya · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5ish

It is such a guilty pleasure book. I have to commend the author for writing in such an engaging way. The story is gripping, the writing style is easy to suck you in, you want to what happens next... I mean, I read this 500+ page long novel in one sitting.

I also loved the drag queen representation. I am a huge fan of performing arts in general, and I support drag art 100%... and it is so nice to see such positive representation in an "older" novel (I know, older in this case is relative, but talking about drag culture has become hip and common in the past few years, as far as I know), and to see how gently and preciously Cole writes about the drag queens in the novel... also, I read a translation, so I could just guess about the original language, but when it came to the narration, I did not find any derogatory term for them, but only when it was said by someone probably less educated in a dialogue, and that makes so much sense. I would not have minded seeing more of the everyday life of the bar.

On the other hand, this one was such a soap opera. So over the top, so exaggerated, so tacky at times. It was a typical criminal / mafia love story, just done a little bit better on the writing front than all these cheap novels coming out these days. Too much blood, too much violence, and really problematic views on love, attraction, sex and loyalty... some of which were sort of questioned at the end, but too little, too late. There was this overarching notion that true love is this devouring, destructive, all-consuming feeling where you love the person just because of some attraction, no matter what they do and no matter how badly they treat you or who else they have a relationship with... which I don't agree with at all. I also found it strange how some of these characters were supposed to love each other to the moon and back, but they somehow "cheated" on them with hundreds of people and betrayed them or cut them off for the pettiest things. There was almost no character growth in any of the characters, but especially not in the male lead, even though the story covers 30 years.

Also, this novel had quite a few really bad tropes that are so common in this genre, like:
- almost everyone meeting the main heroine or the main hero either fall in love with them or want to have sex with instantly
- the main heroine felt like a wet dream rather than an actual realized person - like this wonder woman, who we supposed to see as angelic and virtuous and so much more elegant and classy than all the other women, but at the same time swears like a sailor... the whole characterization felt like a rouse to see the main heroine as unique rather than creating a believable personality... sort of like a "for men's magazine" take on a strong-willed woman, which was kind of offputting
- putting in every shocking thing under the planet just for the shock factor / when the author felt the plot was slowing down... you know "we have had rape, sex trafficking, homophobic attacks, pedophilia, mafia standoffs, drug abuse... how about we add non-consentual incest and mention zoophilia as a bonus?"... it did not feel shocking in the end, just so uninspired and self-serving.

I also felt that the plot got too convoluted for my taste towards the end.

[Caroline · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the best Martina Cole book I've read yet! The characters are strong and unforgettable. The story line is a well woven tale. The language is often quite colourful. However, the events that occur between the covers are full of tragedy and happiness.
Cathy and Eamonn grow up together in London's Bethnal Green. Though not related by blood, they're related by circumstance. Cathy's mother Madge iunder the protection of s a dock dolly (prostitute) living with Eamonn's father, also called Eamonn. The two Eamonn's move out when the father finds himself somewhere better to live with a woman with money and a clean house. Madge has a succession of men in her life, which is par for the course. Her last long term partner is killed and Madge takes the blame, going to prison for many years. Cathy is taken into the "care" of the authorities and sent to a school, and eventually goes on the run.
Cathy ends up in Soho under the protection of Desrae, a transvestite, and her lover, Joey. They look after the young girl, who grows up and goes into business with Desrae and some other "girls".
Young Eamonn becomes a villain, eventually running part of gangland London. He then goes to New York on business and does very well for himself, going into business with the IRA, mafia, the Chinese and the Russians.
Cathy and Eamonn are like two halves of the same coin, not complete unless together. They both live their lives in London and New York, with their respective families, only meeting up again after several years apart. They realise that, despite their separation, they loved each other. Only, for Cathy, the love was true.
Cathy has another protector in the shape of policeman Richard Gates. He is always there for her, which is just as well, as Cathy is attacked for something she unknowingly smuggles back to London for Eamonn. She is beaten and left for dead, but Gates finds her and never leaves her side.
Will Cathy and Eamonn survive their separate yet similar lifestyles? It's touch and go, but they're both strong characters, backed up by other memorable people.
There's so much detail and so many twists and turns in this book between the covers. My review can't do them all justice. Find out more by reading the book. You won't be disappointed!

[Naomi · Rating 5 out of 5]

I went off Martina Cole for a little while, however I picked this one up and have been riveted.

This story, it’s so dark! And really the HEA isn’t all that happy if you ask me.

*spoilers* and *trigger warnings*

So it starts with Cathy. A little girl who lives with her mum, her mums fella, and his son who’s only a couple of years older than her.

Cathy and Eamonn are close, they have to be what with her mum being a dock-worker and his dad being a useless ‘ponce’. We follow poor Cathy on her journey of misery, which culminates in her murdering one of her mums clients as he’s beating her mum senseless.
She’s nine, I think. What a start to the book. Luckily a nice policeman makes her mum see sense and take the fall. Unluckily, a dodgy social worker sticks her in a horrendous house for wayward girls simply because she ‘doesn’t like the look of her’. Nice right?
She makes her escape and then thankfully things start looking up!

Regarding the plot, I found it really hard to understand why Cathy always kept going back to Eamonn. He did horrible things to her and yet she kept letting him back into her life over the years. At one point I was almost ‘well, you get what you deserve’ but Cathy is just too likeable to hate for her choice of bloke. And she did NOT get what she deserves, holy wow, traumatic reading. Eamonn really did tuck her up good and proper. His ending? Too tame. He needed to suffer more for his actions.

Moving on from that, the *trigger warning!* pedophile ring in the Childress home… where was the justice?! It played a major role in how Cathy got where she was, and it was just so disgusting! But we never hear if they get busted and go down for what they have been doing. For me, I want this to be resolved, and it’s a shame that it never was.

Every bit of this book is dark and traumatic, but it’s real, despite its fiction. If you can stomach that sort of content it’s definitely worth a read.

[tinalouisereadsbooks · Rating 3 out of 5]

When Cathy Connor and Eamonn Docherty are thrown together as children in the East End their fate is sealed. Cathy’s miserable life as a prostitute’s child changes forever when she’s forced into care. The ordeal that follows leaves her with no choice but to run away to Soho, and she learns to survive in the violent heart of London’s underworld. Meanwhile, Eamonn, who fled to New York, has gained a reputation as a ruthless villain. But when their paths cross again, Cathy’s an equal match for Eamonn - and nothing's going to make her run away this time ...


As always with Martina Cole you know what you are going to get. Her books are very gritty, and show the underworld of East End London.

This book however has all of that plus a strong romantic connection between Cathy and Eamonn. This relationship to me was very much like Cathy and Heathcliffe in Wuthering Hieghts. It may sound strange to compare Martian Cole with Emliy Bronte, but take away the setting and time period and the characters are very much a like. Both Cathy and Eamonn love each other and have been raised together just like Cathy and Heathcliffe. As time goes on they are apart but always ineach others minds, hearts and souls. Thrown together again in the future is it going to work out ?

A very gritty, violent book, maybe a little over long but an Ok read. Not one of Martina Cole’s best but if you are a fan you won’t be disappointed.

Looking forward to the tv adaptation next week.