Betrayal, family loyalties, secrets: not all gangsters live in the east end.
Two families run this part of Manchester: the Johnsons and the Bennetts. With the head of the Johnson family banged up, the Bennetts have made their move. But power comes at a price…
Now Charlie Johnson is out of prison and he wants his empire back. But the Bennetts have had a taste of the money and the control. Charlie’s sons want to strike now and destroy their rivals but Charlie wants to wait. He has a personal score to settle.
Charlie’s wife Janey hates that her controlling husband is home from prison and is hatching a plan to leave him, but she knows he won’t let her go easily – not with the secrets she carries. She needs allies – and through her daughter and her passionate affairs, she may have found the way out she needs.
But for all of them, getting what they want will mean risking everything.
Lust, power, revenge: the gripping new gangland thriller from Karen Woods – the writer to show you the dark side of Manchester.
Two women – one too innocent, one who knows too much. They have secrets, but none as lethal as those they uncover when they get caught up in turf wars between two strip club owners on the back streets of Manchester.
Elsa Bradshaw is 18. Despite a tough start – never knowing her father, and barely seeing her mother who’d rather be chasing men – she’s grown up with her grandmother’s values and a desire to build a better life. But will falling for local bad boy, Clayton, change all that?
Pamela Maylett seems to have everything – as wife of local lap-dancing club owner, Jordan, she’s got money, influence and plenty of life’s little luxuries. But is her beautiful home also her prison? She knows her husband is surrounded by women at work – after all, she was dancing when she met him. But Jordan won’t let his wife back on the stage and Pamela misses the lights, the lust and the power.
When Elsa crosses paths with Pamela, she is grateful to be taken under her wing, and shown a world she never realised was out there. Elsa has a lot to learn – about the clubs, about what she wants, and most importantly, what she’ll do to get it.
As the men that own the local clubs start a turf war, it’s time for the women to step up…
From the backstreets of Manchester comes a new pulse-pounding gangland saga.
You’ve got to fight for everything when you start with nothing
Susan Knight has a good life. So she turns a blind eye to the gambling winnings her husband Donny puts through the books at her salon. After all, he needs some way to unwind. At work, he is headteacher at Second Chance, an alternative provision school for kids who have nowhere else to go.
Being the headteacher gives Donny respect, money, and charm. But respect can be lost, money can be stolen and charm can only go so far.
The kids at the school all have a story to tell – as do the staff. Drugs, debt, violence and threat are part of their everyday lives. Donny’s got this far by never playing by the rules. But to keep winning, you have to keep chancing it all. To stay at the top means risking everything.
Susan knows Donny walks a fine line – but if he stumbles too far on the wrong side of the tracks can she stand by him? And for Donny, if he loses Susan, he knows he might be pulled back into the life that’s been waiting for him all this time…
When rebellious teenager Misty Sullivan falls pregnant to a local wannabe gangster, she soon becomes a prisoner in her own home. Despite the betrayal of her best friend, she eventually recovers her self-belief and plots revenge on her abusive boyfriend with spectacular consequences.
This gripping tale sees the impressive debut of Karen Woods in the first of a series of novels based on characters living on a Manchester council estate. Themes of social deprivation, self-empowerment, lust, greed and envy come to the fore in this authentic tale of modern life.
The unexplained death of Kendal Wilson's mother hangs over her family like a dark, brooding cloud while the identity of her father remains a mystery her mother Mary took to her grave. Yet the secrets of Mary's death lie in a hidden diary she left behind.
Unable to read or write, Kendal becomes trapped in a relationship with violent local gangster Scott while the discovery of the diary leads her on a journey of self-discovery with dramatic consequences.
When her gangster boyfriend Tim is sent down, Susie Jones' life is thrown into turmoil. Left to run his criminal empire, Susie finds solace in new acquaintances made in Strangeways Visitors' Centre... with unforeseen consequences.
