Review: Framed

Framed by Ronnie O'Sullivan
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Genre: Crime Fiction/Thriller
​Page Length: 352 Pages
Publication Date: 17 November 2016
Publisher: Orion

Stars:  4.5 out of 5

LINKS: Amazon (UK)

ABOUT FRAMED

​Frankie James is a young man with a lot on his shoulders. His mother disappeared when he was sixteen; his father's in jail for armed robbery; and he owes rent on the Soho snooker club he inherited to one of London's toughest gangsters.

And things are about to get a whole lot worse when Frankie's brother Jack is accused of killing a bride-to-be. He needs to find out who framed Jack and why; but that means entering the sordid world of bent coppers, ruthless mobsters and twisted killers.
But in the dog-eat-dog underworld of 1990s Soho, is he tough enough, and smart enough to come out on top?
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WHEN THE GAME IS MURDER, YOU CAN'T AFFORD TO LOSE. 

My Review:

I am a fan of thrillers and love the nostalgia of notorious gangsters à la The Krays. However, snooker champion Ronnie O’Sullivan’s debut novel Framed would have probably passed me by unread had it not been for Victoria Sadler’s rave review of Double Kiss (the follow-up to Framed, and second book of the Soho Nights trilogy). “Double Kiss by snooker legend Ronnie O’Sullivan may well be one of the best commercial crime novels I’ve read this year!” 

Set in the nineties, it is lovely to relive the Soho I remember, rather than 1960s gangland London before my time. Framed focusses on Frankie James, and the stitch-up of his little brother Jack. I finished it in a couple of leisurely days by the pool. It is a thoroughly decent thriller, the characters and dal and believable and the story had me guessing and changing my whodunits from chapter to chapter as the drama raced to a climax. I’ll definitely be back for the second instalment of the Soho Nights trilogy.