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The Corrupted: Part Two
In 1951 the Festival of Britain marks a new golden age of hope and prosperity for the country. Things are certainly looking up for the criminal elite who run the East End.
For Jack, a draft-dodger with aspirations to be a champion boxer, there's easy money to be made for providing a bit of muscle. Meanwhile his sister Kath must keep secret the fact that she killed their father to protect her son, Brian, from the abuse she experienced as a child. Brian is so traumatised by witnessing this event that the complex union of violence and sexuality will shape his character for life.
As the years go by and disillusion sets in, successive Labour and Tory governments aren't able to stop the rot. Younger, nastier criminals like the Kray twins and the Richardson brothers begin to carve out their own criminal empires and crush all resistance. Brutalised and embittered by years of failure and imprisonment, Jack decides to make a stand.
The stage is set for one big war.
For Jack, a draft-dodger with aspirations to be a champion boxer, there's easy money to be made for providing a bit of muscle. Meanwhile his sister Kath must keep secret the fact that she killed their father to protect her son, Brian, from the abuse she experienced as a child. Brian is so traumatised by witnessing this event that the complex union of violence and sexuality will shape his character for life.
As the years go by and disillusion sets in, successive Labour and Tory governments aren't able to stop the rot. Younger, nastier criminals like the Kray twins and the Richardson brothers begin to carve out their own criminal empires and crush all resistance. Brutalised and embittered by years of failure and imprisonment, Jack decides to make a stand.
The stage is set for one big war.
366 pages, Kindle Edition
First published December 4, 2014
8 people are currently reading
20 people want to read
About the author
G.F. Newman
35 books13 followersGordon Frank Newman is an English television producer and writer. He is known for his two series Law and Order and The Nation's Health, each based on his books.
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
January 15, 2021
Book was good but not as good as the serialisation on BBC radio 4
May 17, 2017
It's not often I give up on a book, but I've stopped reading this half-way through. I have problems with the structure, the plotting and the writing. The only positive I can think of – and it's the reason that I read The Corrupted after hearing it on BBC Radio 4 – is the way that it brings real life characters and events into the sleazy London underworld.
Let's deal with structure first. It seems obvious to me that this was originally conceived as a screenplay and then adapted into a novel. The reader is subjected to a barrage of short scenes that rat-tat-tat at you like machine-gun fire. About a third of the way in I tired of this chopped narrative and it was only because I hate not finishing a book that I persisted.
The plot revolved around the tensions between Brian and his uncle Jack. This revealed itself in Brian's attempts to coerce criminal associates or corrupt policemen to 'off' Jack, either by 'taking him to the pig farm' or 'banging him up'. So many conversations; so many attempts; so many failures to act. Perlease, just get on and do it yourself, Brian. You've proved to be as much of a psychopath as your uncle.
In a lesser but equally annoying plotline, a succession of police officers drift in and out of the criminals' world. The same policeman will sometimes enforce the law or will randomly decide to turn a blind eye. The one consistently honourable officer is such a cliché of rectitude that he is not credible.
As far as the writing is concerned, so many sentences hit their points home with the insane force of Brian wielding his meat cleaver. We get 'show', we get 'tell' and we get 'tell' again, all in the same sentence. Then, in case the dumb reader has missed the point, GF Newman gives a character a piece of explanatory dialogue to hammer the point home.
I think this may be the first one-star review I've given and it may be uncharitable. But that's how this book made me feel.
Let's deal with structure first. It seems obvious to me that this was originally conceived as a screenplay and then adapted into a novel. The reader is subjected to a barrage of short scenes that rat-tat-tat at you like machine-gun fire. About a third of the way in I tired of this chopped narrative and it was only because I hate not finishing a book that I persisted.
The plot revolved around the tensions between Brian and his uncle Jack. This revealed itself in Brian's attempts to coerce criminal associates or corrupt policemen to 'off' Jack, either by 'taking him to the pig farm' or 'banging him up'. So many conversations; so many attempts; so many failures to act. Perlease, just get on and do it yourself, Brian. You've proved to be as much of a psychopath as your uncle.
In a lesser but equally annoying plotline, a succession of police officers drift in and out of the criminals' world. The same policeman will sometimes enforce the law or will randomly decide to turn a blind eye. The one consistently honourable officer is such a cliché of rectitude that he is not credible.
As far as the writing is concerned, so many sentences hit their points home with the insane force of Brian wielding his meat cleaver. We get 'show', we get 'tell' and we get 'tell' again, all in the same sentence. Then, in case the dumb reader has missed the point, GF Newman gives a character a piece of explanatory dialogue to hammer the point home.
I think this may be the first one-star review I've given and it may be uncharitable. But that's how this book made me feel.
October 16, 2018
Struggled to finish this. Found it a bit slow towards the end. Not as good as the serialisation on BBC Radio 4
August 15, 2023
Brians time on the Island
what a great Read!! can,t wait fot The Corrupted Part 3!give us all a clue when thr next instalment will be Mr Newman
what a great Read!! can,t wait fot The Corrupted Part 3!give us all a clue when thr next instalment will be Mr Newman
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews