Stephen Leather (http://www.stephenleather.com/) has been entertaining us for nearly 20 years with his novels of crime, imprisonment, military service, and terrorism. He’s certainly tapped into the zeitgeist because our daily news is saturated with crime, war, terrorism, death and destruction. Every night brings further gory detail about the bloodbath in The Middle East. The appetite for it cannot be sated.
Should your taste run to gangster crime, there’s a new dish for your delectation in Penalties. The summary is as follows. Premier League footballer Gabe Savage is on the way to one of the most important matches of his life when he gets a phone call from his wife. She has been kidnapped along with their young son. And the message from her captors is brutal: ‘If your team wins, your family dies.’
With the kick-off only hours away, there is only one person Gabe can turn to – his brother Ray, a vicious London gangster. But a dark family secret means that he hasn’t spoken to Ray for years. Can Ray help? Will the ultimate penalty have to be paid? Will that Leather ball get its last kicking? Degrade your mind by finding out, and enjoy that degradation. Revel in the sordid world of Leather.
Enquire at your local library or consult https://www.amazon.co.uk/Takedown-Stephen-Leather/dp/1473605520/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1481722881&sr=8-1&keywords=takedown+leather for further bibliographic detail.
383 pages in CreateSpace Independent
First published 2016
ISBN 978-1539644286
Stephen Leather