Life on Mars: A Fistful of Knuckles

Life on Mars #2

by Tom Graham

Time to leap into the Cortina as Sam Tyler and Gene Hunt roar back into action in a brand new installment of Life on Mars. Sam Tyler and Gene Hunt plunge into the boxing underworld - and this time, the gloves are off! The travelling fair has rolled into town, but it has brought with it more than just dodgem cars and candy floss. A young boxer is found brutally murdered, and as Sam Tyler and Gene Hunt delve deeper into the case, it leads them behind the gaudy lights and painted caravans of the fairground, into the shadowy underbelly of bare-knuckle brawlers and bloody illegal fights. But Sam is coping with more than just police work. He is still being plagued by The Test Card Girl with horrifying visions of the terrible doom that awaits both he and Annie. What is this monstrous presence that is pursuing them? Can Sam find a way of defeating this remorseless evil - or are their fates sealed?

Genres: Fiction

324 pages, Paperback

First published December 1, 2012

About the author

Multiple authors with the same name, this author is entered with 1 space.

Tom Graham left school at 14 without qualifications. He is a smoker, and says that writing the Life on Mars novels is the nearest thing he's had to a regular job since he got banned from driving. He part-owns a greyhound called Arthur and his ambition is to get fruity with Raquel Welch (to be clear about it, that's Tom's ambition, not Arthur's).

Reviews

[Alex · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.75

[Katie Be · Rating 3 out of 5]

Gene Hunt, my beloved

[Donna · Rating 5 out of 5]

I wasn't sure to make of these continuations of the great Life on Mars BBC series. I'm always ready for more Gene Hunt though with Gene, he's much more the Gene Genie when strutting around the screen than captured by the written word. The author does a good job though. And I'm also becoming more intrigued by Sam and Annie's fate and why and how they will make the decision fans of both series know they make.

[Cathy Drolet · Rating 5 out of 5]

Tom Graham's writing has the power to draw me right back into Life on Mars. These books are like four more episodes of the series.

[Chelsea Cahill · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another great installment in the series! Definitely on the darker side, but I enjoy the strength of the relationships involved. On to the next one!

[Lizzy (∩｀-´)⊃━☆ﾟ.*･｡ﾟ · Rating 3 out of 5]

Better than the first one, still weird at parts

More gay wrestlers pls.

[Doug · Rating 3 out of 5]

So here we go round the Grahamburry bush again! Before the first book, there was the question, "How is he going to continue a story that definitely ended in the TV series? How will he continue a story where the main subplot ("Am I mad, in a coma, or back in time?") has been resolved satisfactorily. (In my opinion, it was resolved one way in Life on Mars, and another way in the sequel series. But that's fine - even if we disagree, we are probably both satisfied at this point)

In novel 1, we found out, so we don't have that baggage as we go into novel 2. This story took a theme of the series - the relationship between maleness and being macho - and put it front and center. Gene was less cartoony in this novel, Chris was moreso, and I think Graham finally got Ray perfect. Sam and Annie's relationship continued to grow - some will be annoyed at how inconsistent it is - weird leaps forward and back ... but that is true to the series. Similarly, nobody has a right to complain about a few real contrived stretches of circumstance... that is also true to the series. (And I would argue, explained in the series)

One flaw for me. Annie's Secret is made into a big deal in this book. Oh! What is it? Well, it was foreshadowed in book 1, so blatantly, that to me at least, it is not a mystery at all. Especially if we remember that this book is just as much a prequel to Ashes to Ashes as a sequel to Life on Mars. In short, it is completely obvious what Annie's Secret is going to turn out to be, so any attempt to make it all Mysterious is wasted.

Aside from that, I like the role of the Test Card girl in this book. Sam has to decide to continue with his policy of ignoring her, or actually trying to find out what information she has to tell him.

I liked this book better than the previous one. We had some really good villains, a who-dunit, good characterization, and of course Sam and Gene being Sam and Gene, which is always a good thing.

[Maureen · Rating 2 out of 5]

This adventure is less uneven than the first but again, falls down when characterizing Annie and if I read the word 'intoned' one more time I was going to break my poor kindle. I was left feeling like more needed to go into the metaphorical meaning of 73. Still- a solid effort. 2.5 stars.

[Cathy · Rating 3 out of 5]

I didn't think this was as good as the first one, but hey! You can't knock the Gene Genie. There was more of Chris and Ray in this which I liked too!