‘London Large: Blood on the Streets’ by G & R Robson

London Large: Blood on the Streets

Top cop DI Harry Hawkins finds himself stuck in the middle of on an international gang war in central London, but his past and the media conspire to get in the way of catching the bad guys. With a possible conspiracy in the offing and a level of violence he hasn’t seen since the Falklands, Harry faces a seemingly impossible task. Will his old-school ways bring him the justice and revenge he desires?

This is the first in the London Large series, written by Gary and Roy Robson. I bought the paperback version of the book simply because I liked the cover, and a quick read of the opening pages led me to believe it would be an entertaining read. I liked the protagonist a lot in the beginning, but quickly found him getting on my nerves. That old nugget of crime capers, the generic old-school, unstable detective, has worn thin over the years and the Robson brothers don’t bring anything new to the pot. On top of that, the text is littered with errors and has enough clichés to burn the bridges of several bad novels. And given that this first book has a few hundred reviews (many of which highlight these same issues), I’m surprised the authors haven’t done something about it by now.

Having said this, I loved the unified cover designs for the books and the characters (apart from Harry), were an interesting lot. With a bit of editing and character development, this could be a cracking series.