Black Widow By Jessie Keane

Black Widow by Chris Brookmyre was such an enjoyable read that I immediately started reading another novel with the same title written by Jessie Keane. Black Widow by Jessie Keane is a follow up to her highly-rated Dirty Game which I have not read.

Black Widow by Jessie Keane

Annie Carter is living in Majorca, Spain, with her daughter Layla and husband, Max, enjoying life as a happily married woman. Max’s brother Jonjo comes to visit them with his blonde girlfriend Jeanette. They are all enjoying the sun by the pool when they come under attack. Annie is knocked out and when she comes round, she finds her daughter and husband are gone, Jonjo dead and Jeanette in hysterics. It’s not long before she gets the demands. They want money or she’ll be getting her little girl back in pieces.

Max is head of the Carter family, a London gang involved in clubs and crime. Annie heads back to the East End of London, putting up with her good friend Dolly who runs a brothel. Dolly’s brothel is right in the midst of the territory of the Delaney gang, the arch rival of the Carter family.

Not knowing where Max has stashed his funds, Annie faces a huge hurdle trying to raise the ransom demanded by Layla’s kidnappers. She tries to mobilise the Carter gang but being a woman, she faces obstacles. She needs to gain respect from the boys but by closing some of the Carter clubs, she is not endearing herself to the boys.

In desperation, Annie turns to Constantine Barolli, a business associate of Max and head of the Barolli family with links to the Mafia.  She has to save her daughter at all costs. But is she willing to pay the price demanded by Constantine?

The novel is quite engrossing and I managed to finish it within a day despite its length of 552 pages.  With this novel, I have managed to  finish 5 books this month. I think I should have no problem achieving my target of 12 books for this month.