Gallowstree Lane: 'An authentic depiction of gang life and police politics' From the author of ITV's The Tower

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The author does insist at the end of the book that this is a work of fiction but given her previous career in the police I feel fairly sure that experience has fuelled her imagination significantly. I won’t say more but he and others caught up in this life come across as very real and complex characters rather than one dimensional stereotypes. The description also doesn't accurately portray the structure of the novel by positioning Ryan and Kieran in opposition to each other, when really they couldn't care less about each other for the majority of the plot.

At somewhere, about sixty per cent in all the disparate strands began to come together and I found I just had to keep reading. Aside from allowing a peak into the dark, gritty sides and corners of policing and gang disputes in London, it is also populated with characters that talk, think and feel in ways that are so real that you just get drawn to them regardless of which side of the law they're on - or that this is the third book in a series, for that matter. As Sarah’s investigation threatens to jeopardise Operation Perseus and alert Shakiel Oliver to the interests of the undercover police, tensions between departments and distinct investigations threatens to muddy the waters as the competing egos of the detectives fight to prioritise their cases. He is surrounded by adults who are all claiming to know what’s best for him, what is the right thing to do.And then I was suddenly filled with worry and dread with a touch of irony, because wasn't I just hating hard on this guy some chapters back? His pain over the death of Spencer is raw and well expressed but it’s not the turning point this reader naively hoped it would be, instead it is the impetus for a series of poor decisions. This is a gritty crime procedural novel that’s investigating the murder of a teenage boy with gang connections. The way that Kate London alternates chapters between the police force investigation into the man who lured these boys into this lifestyle as runners and the effect on the community of Spencer’s loss, is brilliant.

And Loretta, Ryan’s mother, who can see her son’s life being destroyed by the same thing that took her husband.Yes, the slang, used in everyday communication between London’s youth, that was what hooked me on this book. Yes, I know they do it but it makes me irrationally angry so seeing either (or both) term cropping up every few pages grated.

I liked the way the book shows the impact of the role on officers’ personal lives, whether that’s the long shifts, the unsocial hours or the traumatic scenes that linger long in the memory.Rival London gangs and casual fatal knifings is very much a story of today, but it doesn’t mean that I want to read a fictional account of it as well as listen to it on news items. Also, it was only afterwards when I revisited the description for this book that I saw Kieran is implied as the main character, which didn't come through in the book at all - I thought Sarah and Lizzie were meant to be the main characters. Like all police officers, she started in uniform, working for two years on a response team, and then moved into the CID. I found the plot convincing and very relevant, given the current soaring level of knife crime in London.