Today it's my turn on the BlogTour East of England by Eamonn Griffin. It's a clever tongue in cheek nod to the old gangster regimes, but with a small countryside flair to it.
About the Author
Eamonn Griffin was born and raised in Lincolnshire, though these days he lives in north-east Wales.
He's worked as a stonemason, a strawberry picker, in plastics factories (everything from packing those little bags for loose change you get from banks to production planning via transport manager via fork-lift driving), in agricultural and industrial laboratories, in a computer games shop, and latterly in further and higher education.
He’s taught and lectured in subjects as diverse as leisure and tourism, uniformed public services, English Studies, creative writing, film studies, TV and film production, and media theory. He doesn’t do any of that anymore. Instead he writes fulltime, either as a freelancer, or else on fiction. Eamonn has a PhD in creative writing with the University of Lancaster, specialising in historical fiction, having previously completed both an MA in popular film and a BSc in sociology and politics via the Open University. He really likes biltong, and has recently returned to learning to play piano, something he abandoned when he was about seven and has regretted since.
Follow @eamonngriffin @Unbound_Digital, Visit campsite.bio/eamonngriffin or eamonngriffinwriting.com
Buy East of England
About the book
Dan Matlock is out of jail. He’s got a choice. Stay or leave. Go back to where it all went wrong, or just get out of the county. Disappear. Start again as someone else. But it’s not as simple as that.
There’s the matter of the man he killed. It wasn’t murder, but even so. You tell that to the family. Especially when that family is the Mintons, who own half of what’s profitable and two thirds of what’s crooked between the Wolds and the coast. Who could have got to Matlock as easy as you like in prison, but who haven’t touched him. Not yet.
Like Matlock found out in prison, there’s no getting away from yourself. So what’s the point in not facing up to other people? It’s time to go home.
I had no idea it was this dangerous on the other side of the Humber. The next time I use the Humber bridge I will make sure to venture into the den of iniquity braced with my hardman persona and a cosh.
I'll admit that the title in no way prepares the reader for the well written plot. It's as if the author wants the reader to make assumptions based on the bland almost blasé words used to describe such an nondescript part of England. In comparison to other parts of the country it's become a little bit like the forgotten land in between the hard-nosed North and the laid-back South. The first being not far from Scotland and the latter close to London, and keeper of the gates to the mainland.
I digress.
Dan Matlock has just been released from prison after being convicted for manslaughter. To be completely fair he wasn't trying to kill anyone and even if he might have thought about it for a minute, well he ended up taking out the wrong man instead. He knows exactly what he is going do, as he heads straight back into the lions den to face the consequences for killing one of their lion cubs.
For some strange reason he never expected the Minton's to have been planning their own version of the Hunger Games to get revenge. Well, perhaps more tea break than hunger and fight club rather than games, and uhh definitely a tad more English ruffy-tuffy- style. It's up to Matlock to outsmart them, save his loved ones and somehow equal the score between the two families.
Griffin takes the London gangster feel of the 60s and infuses the Lincolnshire area with the old eye for an eye justice system. It's my word is my bond, and you have to pay off your debt, kind of mentality in this crime thriller with a noirish feel to it.
I enjoyed it, in fact I think Griffin has a talent for spinning a yarn. It's a clever tongue in cheek nod to the old gangster regimes, but with a small countryside flair to it.
Buy East of England at Amazon Uk or go to Goodreads for any other retailer.
Publisher: Unbound Digital; pub date 24 Jan. 2019
Buy at Books Ect, at Foyles, Google Play, Hive, Waterstones,
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