Book number 13 is Family Betrayal

Book number 13 is Family Betrayal by Kitty Neale, published by AVON, a division of Harper Collins Publishers Ltd and available in paperback from amazon

Set on the mean streets of 1960s South London. The Drapers rule the streets of South London. Everyone's afraid of them -- and that's just the way they like it.

When tempers flare and a family feud spirals out of control, tragedy strikes, leaving eldest son -Danny, in charge. He has shocking plans for the family business and Petula his sister and the baby of the family. She becomes the scapegoat for the Draper's dirty dealings.

The Draper family's are close knit, Infamous for their family loyalty. There are five brothers and one sister who they protect venomously. The mother, the stall wart of the family. Tries to keep everything running smoothly protecting her boy's when needed. Nursing one who suffers with chest problems when needed. She does her best to keep them all well fed even though money and food is scarce. She worships her family until tragedy strikes and then she has to deal with the fall out, which threatens to destroy her once close knit family,

To tell you too much of this story would spoil it, as it has lots of drama for the family it has lots of tears and love in equal measure. As well the twists and turns that will have you hooked from beginning to end.

You will feel for the daughter -Petula, I know I did; and her brothers for being so under the thumb of their domineering father. How they try to break away from his tight hold he has over them striving to make a break not only from the family but out in to the big wide world and to make a life of their own. Can they leave their mother on her own, a woman who has given everything for her family?

Book number 12 - Along Came a Spider

Book number 12 is Along Came a Spider by James Patterson, It's published by Harper Collins and is available from amazon in paperback and hardback and for the first time that I've found its available on the amazon kindle (which is US only at the moment) and audiobook

Along came a spider is the first of the Alex Cross series by James Patterson so as you can probably guess its been out a while, (1993) Like many books its been made in to a movie, which starred Morgan Freeman as Detective Alex Cross, Until recently I'd not seen the film, but I had read the book, and I've got to say the book is MUCH MUCH better than the film, there are plot lines in the book that have been ignored in the film, as well as characters that have vanished or lost whole significance to the underlying story, If you've seen the film and thought "Ive seen it, I'll give it a miss" your right you do know the overall story but don't miss out on the rest of it, pick it up and have a read.

Now then, now that's out the way I've got to say I'm hooked on the Alex Cross series of books, this book in particular is the one that I got hooked on first of all to the point I couldn't put it down, since then I've read almost all the Alex Cross series, (which I'll be posting about at a later date)

Much like the Film, Detective Alex Cross, is chasing after a serial killer called Gary Sonji,

Considering how long the book has been out, it'd be easy for me to give away what happens, which I'm hopefully not going to do, what I will say though is that this book, feels much faster paced than the film, and you don't get stuck in the minutia of the story. Instead the book sticks to the who's and the why's of the story and keeps you hooked rather than spelling out the tedious paperwork that the police have to do. Because of this you get hoisted by the scruff of the neck and thrown through the book!.

Over the whole of the Alex Cross series, the characters develop and change growing with the story, saying that though you don't have to start with the 1st one and work through, you can just pick up any and really enjoy it, there are thing's in some of the other books that are linked to this book which is only really a reference nothing that you'd have to know going in to the book's as everything you need to know is generally flashed over to make sure your up to speed, What I'm going all around the houses' to say is that the books stand on their own merit and can be read alone or in the series without the feeling that you've missed out on something


Now I'm not going to sit here and tell you its a "must read", or "you don't know what your missing", Because the truth is its a big dumb action film of book. Reading it is very satisfying and enjoyable, its like a big mac for your brain, you know you should be feeding your brain on cress, tomato and boiled potato style books to keep it in shape, but sometimes stuffing your self with some thing like this is just what the Dr ordered... Dr Alex Cross that is.