Fatal does follow on from Jacqui’s last novel Toxic but it can be read as a standalone. This time her story starts in America before returning to Essex. Some of the old characters continue, the attitude and storytelling remains the same plus fresh challenges including a naive teenager called Alice Rose.
Fatal is a violent novel involving gangs of criminals who become hell bent on revenge. There is plenty of action along the way and the story moves along at a fast pace.
For such an adult novel, the inclusion of Alice Rose, a 16 year old naive God bothering girl is frustrating. This is NOT Harry Potter and this child clearly has no place among these violent adult criminals guarding their patch. Despite this, Jacqui does write a good story which is easy to follow. The plot of Fatal is NOT as involved as the plot in Toxic. But the dialogue between characters is still sharp, for example…
‘Enough. I know there’s a story of how that Jesus bloke chatted away happy as Larry with them leopards and accepted them for what they were.’
‘Lepers, not leopards. It’s not The Lion King, Lola.’
...I found Fatal is be a GOOD entertaining read and while it is in a very similar mode to Toxic, the reduced intricacies of the plot and the frustrations of Alice Rose being a part of the story, made this a 4 star read for me. I did not enjoy Fatal as much as I enjoyed Toxic. Looking at the ending, Alice Rose should clear off and her next novel should continue with the criminals of Essex enjoying their life of crime.
Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher Avon Books UK for giving me a copy of this book on the understanding that I provide an honest review.
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