The Broken by Casey Kelleher.

Nancy Byrne is just 20 years old when her father Jimmy Byrne is murdered. He was a leading light in the London criminal underworld and now Nancy steps up to the plate to continue the family business involving drugs and sex.

The Broken is a gritty tale of criminal life with a large portion of violence woven into the story. This story is told from many points of view but each character has a dodgy moral code.

I did not like any of the characters in this book. They all had a dodgy side to them, were happy to be involved with illegal activity and also to take the law into their own hands.

I did not like how very early on in this novel you were told who murdered Jimmy Byrne. So the story revolved about how Nancy dealt with the family business after her father’s death.

The violence was extreme and the treatment of Reece was very graphic indeed. I can very easily imagine the pain he went through and the poor quality of life the assault put him into.

I did not think the plot was great but more of a “bad day at the office” scenario. I found the whole story quite miserable and there seemed no hope for any of the characters as they continued to be nasty to each other.

I was really looking forward to reading The Broken because I have read Casey’s earlier novel The Promise, which I thought was brilliant and got the top score of 5 stars from me. However I was disappointed with The Broken and did not think it was a thrilling or thought provoking read. I took nothing away from this novel and had it been a television series, I would have given up within the first episode, like I have with The Split, starring Nicola Walker. I thought The Broken was a POOR 2 star read and if Casey continues with Nancy Byrne into another novel, count me out.

There was a very small bit of gay sex which was okay but Casey really fails with her tiny bit of hetrosexual sex. It was so short and brief that it will not even raise your pulse, never mind those muscles further down. I can’t see why Casey bothered to write the scene as it was such a throwaway paragraph…

It all happened so quickly, so passionately. Seconds later, they were merely two bodies writhing as one. Entwined together. Jack could feel Nancy’s nails digging into his back, tearing down his skin as she moved beneath him. An arch of her back, and then a long, trembling shudder. Jack came then too, before collapsing on top of her.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher Bookouture for giving me a copy of this book on the understanding that I provide an honest review.