And Your Enemies Closer (Thirty Miles Trilogy Book Two) by Rob Parker (Audio Book)

 

And your Enemies Closer (Thirty Miles Trilogy Book Two).

Narrated by Warren Brown.

From the cover:

In the North West criminal underworld, a deal goes tragically wrong, resulting in war between the two main organised crime factions in the region. Shockwaves rock the 30-mile gap between Liverpool and Manchester - with retired detective Brendan Foley right in the middle of it all.

For Brendan, six months after his resignation, life is all different. His marriage is a mess, he’s working as a nightclub bouncer, his brother is still missing and he just can’t stop searching for the crime family that destroyed his life. And at last, he’s found them - and he’s got them bang to rights.

Iona Madison, his one-time partner and now successor as a DI in Warrington Police, is tasked with a body pulled from the River Mersey - a teen-age boy that went missing the previous year, which might bring her own conduct into question. Not only that, Brendan is feeding her information whether she likes it or not - and his unsanctioned activities are causing her headaches.

And now, there’s a price on his head. A million pounds, dead or alive.

And Your Enemies Closer is a serpentine race against time as Brendan and Iona must stay one step ahead of criminals at every corner, while trying to bring justice - in whatever form it takes, and whatever loyalties it might burn.

***********

It's six months since Brendan Foley's life went to hell in a hand-basket with the case of the Warrington 27 - the case that forced him to confront the truth about his own family, and made him long for retribution with every fibre of his being. 

Finding himself unable to continue as a DI with Warrington Police, Foley is on a crusade to bring down the Culpepper crime gang that derailed his life, but he must now put his considerable talents to use from the shadows. Working as a nightclub bouncer, he spends his waking hours consumed with his need for revenge, letting all other parts of his life slide, including his marriage and his responsibilities as a father.

When Foley's snooping takes him to a storage lock-up that holds a dead body and a shed load of drugs, he calls on his old partner Iona Madison, his replacement as DI, to help. Madison has enough troubles of her own to deal with as the body of a boy has just been dragged from the Mersey - a body linked to the Warrington 27 case, and one which connects herself, Foley and some of their old colleagues to some dealings none of them are proud of.

Madison has no choice but to get involved in Foley's troubles once more, whether she  likes it or not. His meddling has dropped them all in the middle of a war between two local organised crime gangs, and the Culpeppers are out for blood. Foley and his family have a price on their heads, and a million pounds is enough to strain the loyalty of many. Will they stay alive long enough to bring the guilty to justice?

I am a big Rob Parker fan, and have enjoyed every one of his books immensely. The first part of the Thirty Miles Trilogy, Far from the Tree, was a very accomplished piece of crime writing, blending gritty gangland thriller and police procedural together into one heck of a gripping tale. Book two, And your Enemies Closer, is every bit as good, albeit with the slightly different slant of a Brendan Foley who is now well and truly in loose cannon territory. 

Right from the word go, it's clear that Foley has been consumed by his need for a reckoning with the Culpepper family, and this is going to get him into scalding hot water - now without the added balm of his warrant card. This presents Parker with a great opportunity to let the gangland side of this story spiral deliciously out of control, delving into some really dark and menacing story-lines around power struggles in the criminal underworld that cast an intriguing light on the relationship between the cities of Liverpool and Manchester - and the thirty miles that lie betwixt them. The police procedural side takes much more of a back seat this time around, although is is great to see some old friends making an appearance, even if they are also being drawn inexorably into stepping more and more out of the bounds of good conduct to protect themselves. Parker plays up the spectre of past misdeeds that tie them all together nicely, with a little stomach churning sideline too. I feel I should add here that you really do need to have read, or listened to, book one, as the plotlines are tightly wound together.

This story grabs you be the proverbials and does not let go for an instant, with Warren Brown's dulcet tones pitched to perfection as the moment demands, just like in book one. The action speeds up a-pace, drawing all the threads together in a inventive climax, and there is a sequence of very clever twists along the way, which keeps things very spicy indeed - and the resulting fall-out promises mayhem in the concluding part of the trilogy. I cannot wait!

And Your Enemies Closer is available to buy now in audio format only, as an Audible Original - expected in print and ebook format later.

About the Author:

Rob Parker is a married father of three, who lives in Warrington, UK. The author of the Ben Bracken thrillers, Crook’s Hollow and the #1 Audible bestseller Far From The Tree enjoys a rural life, writing horrible things between school runs. Rob writes full time, attends various author events across the UK, and boxes regularly for charity.

He spends a lot of time in schools across the North, encouraging literacy, story-telling and creative-writing, and somehow squeezes in time to co-host the For Your Reconsideration film podcast, appear regularly on The Blood Brothers Crime Podcast, and is a member of the Northern Crime Syndicate.