Framed

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Having said that, I've read less authentic crime thrillers and some of the interplay between the characters is actually done with a bit of heart and, dare I say it, panache.

All i can say is i am glad i read this,it is a story that keeps you guessing and one that makes you want things to turn out right, brotherly love is where it's at. My interest was piqued so much that as soon as I got in, I had a squiz at the reviews and, seeing them as mostly positive, duly downloaded it. If I didn’t know that Ronnie’s name was attached to it and I’d read it, I think it could have passed as any old mass market paperback. I’m a total fan anyway, so I was ready to like this book; but I really do think that it’s right up there in the genre. Ronnie takes us to 1990s Soho where Frankie James sees his brother Jack arrested for the supposed murder of the fiancée of the son of one of London’s most feared faces.And things are about to get a whole lot worse when Frankie’s brother Jack is accused of killing a bride-to-be. It's a sad fact that, although the always-contactable world in which we live is great for accessing cat memes, or telling your MP to go fuck herself because you're sad about the new Ghostbusters movie, it's utter death for any suspenseful thriller, and winding the clock back to before mobiles exist is a fairly common trope for avoiding such complications.

There’s a particular scene where Frankie is trying to interrogate someone, Ronnie goes on to say that Jack, Frankie’s brother, had asked he question - impossible given where Jack is! Suffice to say, no plot development throughout the entirety of this book disabuses me of this suspicion. I'd hoped that this character, like Ronnie, would be complex - all rock and roll swagger, but with self esteem issues, or even depression.His mother disappeared when he was sixteen; his father's in jail for armed robbery; and he owes rent on his Soho snooker club to one of London's toughest gangsters.

I have been a big fan of Ronnie O'Sullivan for many years as a snooker player, if he keeps producing books like this then I will become a fan of Ronnie as an author too. Fast paced and full of grit, this is the first crime novel from the UK’s most charismatic sporting genius. But aside from a couple of throw-away scenes in which the hero plays a couple frames to kill some time, and a passing reference to getting "The Rocket" to play in a proposed tournament, there's virtually no snooker content at all. But you can't help being pulled in because it's such good fun and you want to see where he slips up. Not the biggest fan of the writing style, lots of repetition with the sentences, but an easy read with a clear plot.There is a wit and verve to Frankie's character that's just a shade above the lowest common denominator, and the depictions of his brother Jack as a queasily aimless stooge can be genuinely well drafted. His first novel takes us into the London underworld where we meet Frankie - and his brother who gets framed for murder. Yes also, there were a few cliched moments to be had but, again, mostly in context and totally forgivable.