#BlogTour- ‘Gallowstree Lane’ by Kate London

About The Book….

”Please don’t let me die. Please don’t.”

The final words of teenager Spencer Cardoso as he bleeds out on a London street, his life cut short in a single moment of rage.

When a teenage boy steps out of the shadows of Gallowstree Lane and asks a passer-by for help, it’s already too late. His life is bleeding out on the London street.
The murder threatens to derail Operation Perseus, a cover police investigation into the Eardsley Bluds, an organised criminal network. Detective Kieran Shaw can’t and won’t allow that to happen. But fifteen-year-old Ryan has other ideas. He’s witnessed the death of his best friend, and now he wants someone to pay…
As loyalties collide, a chain of events is triggered that threatens everyone with a connection to Gallowstree Lane.

The death of Spencer, in the arms of an offduty paramedic, in the Gallowstree Lane area of London, is as unflinching and hard hitting as you’d expect it to be-the violence and unecessary nature of this boy’s death spills from the page as does the blood from his femoral artery. It cries out for the senselessness of the gangland violence and absolutely does not glorify it. The unending tragedy of boys without solid male role models and the easy way they slip into gang culture is detailed by the forensically trained eye of an ex police officer turned author and rings with authenticity.

This area, Gallowstree Lane, is a space that is unwelcoming,with a history of justice being met out with death, and represents an area of London that should be one thing-a park and open space-but has become another, a no go area, a site for gang based violence between the Bluds and the Soldiers where tit for tat revenge becomes deadly for one boy in the right place at the wrong time.

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. The perspective of his best friend, Ryan, who is obviously deeply traumatised by seeing his friend stabbed but has to maintain his face, at only 15 years old, is heartbreaking.

She writes knowingly and sensitively and this comes through on every page-I was particularly struck by the dynamics between the 2 female leads,DI  Sarah Collins and DC Lizzie Griffiths, and that there is a gay character who seamlessly fits into the narrative. It was simply put, no fuss and no banner waving , she is a DS who has a girlfriend and that was all. I genuinely hope that this is adequately conveyed, as I really appreciate the inclusion without it being overplayed, it’s totally natural and perfect.

‘Gallowstree Lane’ is a police procedural which tackles a very real and prevalent issue without undermining it, and using it as a platform.It is saying that gangland violence is real, it happens and there is no honour in dying for a cause like Spencer did. It happens way too often, is morally unacceptable and these children are being preyed upon and used until they ultimately it is too late.

The investigation into Spencer’s death and it’s ensuing effects are played out across a timeframe for what you imagine is real life police work amidst interdepartmental wrangling-it then races towards a climatic showdown between those responsible and those searching to bring justice in death to a boy who was so ill served any in his short life.

It is the third in the series but you can absolutely read this without reading the others , as a stand alone novel, but I will definitely be seeking out the other 2 in the series.

My thanks once more to Anne Cater of Random Things for my turn on the Blog Tour, Corvus Books and Kate London for this gripping story.

About The Author

Kate London graduated from Cambridge University and moved to Paris where she trained in theatre. In 2006 Kate joined the Metropolitan Police Service. She finished her career working as part of a Major Investigation Team on SC&O1 – the Metropolitan Police Service’s Homicide Command. She resigned from the MPS in August 2014. Her debut novel ‘Post Mortem’ was published by Corvus in 2015.

Twitter @kate_katelondon

Facebook –Author Page