Good Friday by Lynda La Plante @LaPlanteLynda @BonnierZaffre #BookReview #BookSpotlight @midaspr

 

• Thriller
• Crime
• Fiction

|Synopsis|

BEFORE PRIME SUSPECT THERE WAS TENNISON.

Every legend has a beginning . . . 

During 1974 and 1975 the IRA subjected London to a terrifying bombing campaign. In one day alone, they planted seven bombs at locations across central London. Some were defused – some were not.

Jane Tennison is now a fully-fledged detective. On the way to court one morning, Jane passes through Covent Garden Underground station and is caught up in a bomb blast that leaves several people dead, and many horribly injured. Jane is a key witness, but is adamant that she can’t identify the bomber. When a photograph appears in the newspapers, showing Jane assisting the injured at the scene, it puts her and her family at risk from IRA retaliation.

‘Good Friday’ is the eagerly awaited date of the annual formal CID dinner, due to take place at St Ermin’s Hotel. Hundreds of detectives and their wives will be there. It’s the perfect target. As Jane arrives for the evening, she realises that she recognises the parking attendant as the bomber from Covent Garden. Can she convince her senior officers in time, or will another bomb destroy London’s entire detective force?

|Author|

Lynda La Plante was born in Liverpool. She trained for the stage at RADA and worked with the National Theatre and RDC before becoming a television actress. She then turned to writing – and made her breakthrough with the phenomenally successful TV series WIDOWS.

Her novels have all been international bestsellers. Her original script for the much-acclaimed PRIME SUSPECT won awards from BAFTA, Emmys, British Broadcasting and Royal Television Society as well as the 1993 Edgar Allan Poe Writer’s Award.

Since 1993 Lynda has spearheaded La Plante Productions. In that time the company has produced a stunning slate of innovative dramas with proven success and enduring international appeal.

Based on Lynda’s best selling series of Anna Travis novels, Above Suspicion, Silent Scream, Deadly Intent and Silent Scream have all adapted into TV scripts and received impressive viewing figures.

Lynda has been made honorary fellow of the British Film Institute and was awarded the BAFTA Dennis Potter Writer’s Award 2000.

On 14th June 2008 Lynda was awarded a CBE in the Queen’s Birthday Honours List (Writer and Producer for services to Literature, Drama and to Charity).

On 3rd October 2009, Lynda was honoured at the Cologne Conference International Film and Television Festival with the prestigious TV Spielfilm Award for her television adaptation of her novel, Above Suspicion.

Books penned by Lynda La Plante include: The Legacy, The Talisman, Bella Mafia, Entwined, Cold Shoulder, Cold Blood, Cold Heart, Sleeping Cruelty, Royal Flush, Above Suspicion, The Red Dahlia, Clean Cut, Deadly Intent and Silent Scream, Blind Fury (this entered the UK Sunday Times Bestsellers List at number 1 having sold 9,500 copies in its first two weeks), Blood Line, Backlash, Wrongful Death, and Twisted, which have all been international best-sellers.

In Feb 2012 Lynda’s chilling tale of THE LITTLE ONE was published in conjunction with Quick Reads through Simon & Schuster UK.

Lynda’s latest book, Tennison, was published on 24th September 2015 and is the prequel the highly acclaimed Prime Suspect. The story charts Jane Tennison’s entry into the police force as a 22 year old Probationary Officer at Hackney Police Station in 1973.

Lynda La Plante is published in the UK by Simon & Schuster.
Lynda La Plante is published in the US by HarperCollins Publishers.

Please visit http://www.lyndalaplante.com for further information.

|Review| 

Jane Tennison is struggling to find her place in a male dominated world. Recently she has been promoted to Detective Constable in the Metropolitan police but her duties are mundane and way beneath what she is capable of. She takes the plunge and lets her feelings known to her superior who agrees her transfer to a specialist anti-theft section.

Jane has to rise above the machoism and sexism she experiences on a daily basis within her squad. She is the only female detective within the DIP Squad, an anti-pickpocketing specialist unit. However, despite many a blunder, Jane begins to prove her worth to her male colleagues.

Set in 1973 the plot centres around the IRA bombing campaign of this era. Jane witnesses an IRA bomber detonating a bomb whilst travelling on the underground. She thus becomes a target and the plot unfolds around the risks she has to take, the friendships and acquaintances she makes and the risks to her life these relationships put her under.

The story line is intricate and fast paced and Tennison’s character is one of determination and vulnerability. Her colleagues in the DIP Squad become part of her story, a part of her survival. Their characters unfold as the plot develops adding depth and intrigue to the storyline often making you change your opinion from hating them one minute to loving them the next.

Apart from being a gripping good read, the story gives an insight into how IRA cells operate, how IRA sympathisers support their bombing campaigns and the bravery of police officers, especially bomb disposal officers in keeping civilians safe.

This isn’t a who dunnit story line but who and how do we stop it happening again.

I could not put this book down. I was always a fan of The Prime Suspect TV series and the way Lynda La Plante has written a series about the early career of its main character and heroine Jane Tennison is very clever and very readable.

Good Friday, has a clever plot, lots of depths to its characters and its description of life in the early 70’s makes its un -put -down able novel and will appeal to fans of crime fiction, psychological thrillers and true crime alike.

Five Star Review

By Allison Brady for Love Books Group

|Buy Link|

 

| Publishers Information |

Bonnier Zaffre

Website: http://www.bonnierzaffre.co.uk/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/BonnierZaffre

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