Get Some

by Daniel Birch

Anybody who has read Danny Birch's groundbreaking first novel, 'Clipped', will be expecting a fast-paced, sharply-written, emotionally charged gangster thriller, written in Danny's inimitably catchy, witty and streetwise style. If so, prepare yourself for 'Get Some', a gangster revenge thriller that fizzes and crackles off the page like few others. It is the tale of two childhood friends, Tommy and Joey, and of how they stand by each other in traumatic times. Tommy's trauma is to be betrayed by an army colleague to a militant group in Iraq and to be subjected to routine and gruesome torture. Pity his betrayer should Tommy manage to escape. And Joey's trauma? Ah, for that, you have to read this book.

Genres: Thriller, Fiction, Mystery Thriller, Suspense, Mystery, Ebooks

280 pages, Paperback

First published March 30, 2010

Reviews

[Louise Wilson · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5 stars rounded down to 2

Childhood friends, Tommy and Joey stand by each other through traumatic times. Tommy's trauma is to be betrayed by an army colleague to a militant group in Iraq and be subjected to a routine and gruesome torture. Pity his betrayer should Tommy manage to escape. Joey's trauma - well, you need to read the book to find that out.

This book showed more potential. The chapters start off by being told in the first person, then it swaps to third person without ant warning. At times it could be difficult to follow and the ending felt rushed.

#KindleFreeBook

[Neil · Rating 1 out of 5]

Another author who I was unfamiliar with, so I thought that I would broaden my horizons and give this book a go. I have to say that I found the style of writing very confusing, with different parts written from the viewpoint of different people, but without warning. I don't know if it was proofread at all, but it all seemed clumsily cobbled together, bits written in the first person, other bits in the third person and typos abounding.
Initially the storyline started out well enough, with troops involved in a retaliatory mission against a supposed Iraqi strongpoint. One of the soldiers is betrayed and handed over to irregular Iraqi forces, and he then undergoes various tortures. Against all odds he manages to escape, with thoughts of vengeance on his mind. That's where the book started to go downhill for me, as it became set amongst the rival gangster groups of Hull. There seemed to be an over usage of bad language, which was also slightly off putting, coupled with various unlikely occurrences. It didn't really seem true to life.

[Andretta Schellinger · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting pov

This was. Good story but what was weird for me was the pov changes. It changed from 1st to 3rd and from person to person. Mostly in 1st.

[Robert Weiss · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good story

The story line was interesting and captivating, the hard part was translating English English into American English. Otherwise a very nice read.

[Erth · Rating 4 out of 5]

now i am hooked. This was such a great, easy and creative book. i was hooked after the first page.

The characters were easy to fall in love with and follow, along with the story. the author made the mental visions so easy and vivid of the surroundings and the characters actions felt so real.

i would highly recommend this author and this book.

[Chris McClinch · Rating 1 out of 5]

I read this book because 1) it was free for the Kindle, and 2) the author was billed as the Nick Hornby of the London Gangster novel. Aside from the fact that they're both British, I can't think of much that Hornby and Birch have in common. This book was poorly written and incompetently edited, switching from first person to third and back again mid-chapter, ommitting punctuation, confusing your with you're, and betraying a profound failure to do the research on military matters. I plunged through it because it was short and I wanted a break from the other book I'm reading right now, but I wouldn't recommend this book to anyone, nor would I read another by this author.

[Laura · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is tough to rate, because the subject matter is interesting but the writing & editing of this book were rather poor. In each chapter, the opening paragraphs are first person and then switch to third person. Character names are incorrect at points, too. I'm not sure if these issues are the same in the print version of the book but that's how it was on my e-reader.

While the topic was great and there was quite a lot of action to carry the plot, I found myself detached because of the problems above... I was really looking forward to this read and hoped for better quality.

[Danielle West · Rating 1 out of 5]

If I could give this book less than one star I would. It would have been pretty great if the author could have decided to write in either first or third person. It made the book really confusing at first and terribly annoying later. Usually when I read a free e-book that is poorly edited I think, "Well, you get what you pay for." This book...it wasn't even worth free.

[Heather · Rating 4 out of 5]

Let me start by saying that I enjoyed the plot of this book. It was difficult to follow at times when the author shifted from 1st to 3rd person frequently among most of the characters. I felt the end was a but rushed and could have been drawn out a bit more but overall it was a good read. I will definitely read his other book after reading this one.

[Tim Roux · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm a big fan of Danny Birch and this is a great book, better even than his 'Clipped'.

This tale of persecution and revenge has excellent female characters too.

It just fires along. You could even say it rocks.

[Jay · Rating 4 out of 5]

Once I figured out how to really read this book, since everything was wrote in first person from 3-4 different characters, I really enjoyed it. I will look to read more by Daniel Birch.

[Susan Hayash · Rating 1 out of 5]

Horrible, just horrible.

[Jack · Rating 2 out of 5]

I actually liked the demotic style, but the characters were not well rounded and the plot was weak.

[Sue · Rating 3 out of 5]

Hard to read at first, but a good free book for the kindle.

[David Highton · Rating 1 out of 5]

not a bad storyline, but very weird writing - multiple characters in both first and third person in the same piece of narrative

[Kary · Rating 4 out of 5]

good story, i love books written in "English"; still have to look twice when a word is spelled with an "s" instead of a "z" need to figure out why we do things so different. Story moved well.

[Brenda · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was an okay story. Needed better editing. The names of people would be wrong for who was talking or who they were meaning.