Zenka by Alison Brodie – Review.

About the Book

Devious, ruthless, and loyal.

Zenka is a capricious Hungarian with a dark past.

When cranky London mob boss, Jack Murray, saves her life she vows to become his guardian angel – whether he likes it or not. Happily, she now has easy access to pistols, knives and shotguns.

Jack discovers he has a son, Nicholas, a male nurse with a heart of gold. Problem is, Nicholas is a wimp.

Zenka takes charges. Using her feminine wiles and gangland contacts, she will make Nicholas into the sort of son any self-respecting crime boss would be proud of. And she succeeds!

Nicholas transforms from pussy cat to mad dog, falls in love with Zenka, and finds out where the bodies are buried – because he buries them. He’s learning fast that sometimes you have to kill, or be killed.

As his life becomes more terrifying, questions have to be asked:

How do you tell a mob boss you don’t want to be his son?

And is Zenka really who she says she is?

My Review

With thanks to the author for the copy received.

I first heard about Zenka when I read a couple of reviews and then the author made contact, asking me if I would like to read it. I am so pleased that I said I would because it was brilliant. I do read a lot of crime fiction but I don’t read much that contains gangland crime which is what I would have assumed this to be by the blurb. It does have gangsters in it but Zenka is so refreshing to read and most of the characters are so likeable I was just swept away.
Zenka is just one of the characters, sadly she doesn’t feature heavily. Most of the focus is on Nicholas, Jack and Trevor. Nicholas has a heart of gold and appears to be nothing at all like Jack who is adamant that he is his father. Trevor is angry over Jack’s refusal to consider that he may not be and with his decision to go straight. All of the characters showed both sides of their personalities, the hurt they had suffered in the past, the things they cared about and the lengths they would go to protect their interests. There were also a handful of other characters, all of who fit in well with the storyline.
I could have sat and read and enjoyed a book full of Zenka’s letters to Alina. I liked the way she wrote as she would speak with her broken English. I nearly choked when Nicholas was trying to impress her but had forgotten what was on his feet. The ending was a bit of surprise but it did work and it was nice to see everything tidied up with a happy ending.
Zenka was just what I needed to read and it was perfect timing. There is violence, but it has a comical slant to it and its mainly about a group of people whose life was about to change in a way they never thought possible.

I can’t wait to see what Alison Brodie writes next.