I really enjoyed this, and didn't realise it was part of a series but it didn't make it any less enjoyable. A young boy is stabbed to death in the street, and there's a witness who might threaten the gang members and officers investigated them. I'll be looking for the other books by this author next. Highly recommended and I'm grateful.to netgalley for the advanced copy.

Loved this - had read the others in the series but think this was probably the best. The underlying theme of gang and knife crime in London is, sadly, all too topical and there's a sense of dread and doom right from the start, as the writer unfolds, with us, the background and later culmination of the opening events of the book. Highly recommended.

Strong characters, strong stories. This book gets going from the very start. It gives us the reader a taste of gangland culture and life.
This book portrays the effects being in a gang has on families,young people Tec.
A must read.
Thank you to both NetGalley and Atlanta Books for my eARC of this book in exchange for my honest unbiased review

Following the death of a low level gang member, information about the witness and friend Ryan, mount up and several police operations come together to catch both the killer and the gang members.

I liked the fact that there are some strong female characters in this book, I empathised with Lizzie, juggling an all consuming career with chaotic hours and a young child. The complicated relationship with her colleague Kieran, also her son's father, makes the unfolding story interesting. But he is unsumpathetic, cunning and sly.

I enjoyed the book but sometimes found it lost my attention.

This is one of those complex police procedural novels (suffering sometimes from a feeling of episodic fragments) where we follow lives of police women (mostly) and emotional engagements with their colleagues and families ..I found point of view regarding young. criminal who witnesses a crime (gang killing of his friend) and yet wobbles on edge of seeking protection from gang friends or legitimate authorities. It's authentic but I wonder if the sympathies of the narrator don't get in way of good story .. but then that traction is part of what we are asked to explore. The police women's lives are complicated by children and personal sexual preferences in very real way although it dips into cartoon land, or easy melodramatic emblems ..but really thoughtful, and challenging read .. I'll be looking out for more to see how this writer develops.

Gallowstree Lane

I enjoy getting into the nitty gritty of a crime procedural from time to time. There’s something about reading about the details of an investigation that consumes you fully.

I have not read the other books in the series (there are two I believe), so the characters were new to me. I found the characters generally readable and likeable. I did find Lizzie’s role as a working mother difficult to believe at times. The pressures of her job were evident, but having been on the receiving end of having to deal with ill children in childcare, some of it didn’t ring true. And, reading this book, it was hard to believe that Lizzie and Kieran had ever even liked each other, let alone had an affair!

The style of writing, hopping from one officer to another, is effectively used here. The author is brave to challenge our perceptions of the characters by clearly stating that the main narrators just don’t like each other. Rather than sticking with one narrator, this style enables you to be a bit more critical of the narrators, and this encourages you to think more critically about the situations they find themselves in.

The details of the criminal underworld were realistic and well thought out. I really felt for Ryan - wrong kid, wrong place, wrong time. The author was clearly using her experience as a police officer to inform her creation of these characters. A tragic end for some of these young people caught up in worlds too big and serious for them to navigate.

So all in all, I really enjoyed this book. I will be going back to read the others at some point and I will be very interested to reflect on the characters and how they are formed from the beginning.

I was part way through Gallowstree Lane when it dawned on me that this was probably the latest book in a series. I did some research and yes, this is book number three. It didn’t matter though, the book stood alone. I was only disappointed that I hasn’t had the chance to read any of the other books before I found this one.
Gallowstree Lane is good. Kate London is an ex-police officer, and her knowledge shows. Her compassion was also evident, and I really felt for the young gang members in the book. So sad, and a reality for so many young people in our inner cities. The book had me gripped and I invested in the main characters, police officers Lizzie and Sarah.
If you like crime novels I would recommend this. (Maybe even read the first two books first - I bet they are good too!)
Thanks for the opportunity to read this book #NetGalley #GallowstreeLane

This is more than just a great book, it is a work of art. Like a Picasso painting of a face from multiple angles. This book looks at Modern day crime in an inner city through multiple characters eyes, petty juvenile criminals, street drug dealers and the different parts of the Police Force trying to help them and catch them at the same time. It also looks at drug addiction and the consequences for users and what they are willing to do for their next hit. The Police also want to catch the supplier on the next rung of the ladder who is quick to groom his helpers too. I liked that there is no one central character and really positive strong women represented too. The male Police Inspector is a classic Alpha male type, chauvinistic but not overly so and still has best intentions too and just doesn't see anything wrong with what he is doing. As the plot continues you become more and more invested into all their stories too, willing them to do the right thing both Police and juveniles and watching as the impetuousness of youth sends them spiralling into life changing decisions without thinking through the long term consequences. This story is bang up to date about the devastating cuts the Police have had to endure and the reality of what "more with less" means in real terms. Juveniles can walk around towns and cities all night with weapons on them and not expect to get stopped, which they could never have done before. It also shows inside knowledge of Policing with the way things are compartmentalised and each boss defending their area with blinkers on. It is Highly recommended and hard to put down.

Fast paced cop thriller with a plot that as well as being current is an all too timely reminder of what is really happening in the streets of London today. Great story and believable characters.

This book definitely gives a good flavour of gangland life. There is also a focus on the human side of those involved and it shows how easy it is for young people in particular to end up with this lifestyle. The parallel story running alongiside about the police and their own private lives and demons was also illuminating. Very good character development which held my interest throughout.

A well written novel about life in London and with gangs and the impact of everything you do.

Kept me enthralled through out, couldn't fault it!

A very modern crime story set in London. The characters vary from likable to loathsome and combinations of both, but are easy to understand and the main characters have plenty of background. A gripping plot, well considered events which all tie into the main story and a gritty sense of reality make this a great read. The use of language throughout sets the tone and mood beautifully and describes the culture among teenagers well. I thoroughly enjoyed it

I found this book quite gripping , it shows how things can get out of hand if the drug dealing Kingpins are looked up to by the younger people on the fringes wanting to get to the top by proving themselves to get more trust from above . The young lad at the heart of this story had lost his father ,who had been murdered , and also lost his best friend who was stabbed . He was out for revenge , but also a bit of a lost soul who was manipulated by his fathers best friend .His mother tried to keep them apart but it was too late .A bit of a sad story but very true of things today .

A very current and relevant story line with well developed characters. An enjoyable read that would adapt very well into a TV drama.

Did not realise this was a follow on, so struggled a bit to get into the characters.
Thought the plot was well written and executed
The ending was a surprise did not expect that
Will be reading the previous two in the series.

Thank you netgalley, Corvus and Kate London for allowing me to read and review this book.

I have not read the previous two books in the series and therefore its main characters were new to me. This is an up-to-date look at both gang culture and murder in a modern British city (in this case London) and the Police investigations where an undercover operation and a separate murder investigation overlap especially as the officers involved in both are known to each other not only professionally but personally.
The story is told through the eyes of three of those officers together with Ryan, a young foot soldier in one of the gangs who witnesses the death of his best friend and becomes an important link between the two investigations.
Writing from the background of 'Ex-job' doesn't always convert onto good reading. This book does. Read and enjoy.
Thank you NetGalley.

Excellent, I thoroughly enjoyed this book from start to finish. The book starts with the stabbing/murder of a drugs mule and whilst trying to find the culprit they stumble into an undercover operation that's been going for 2 years trying to gather enough evidence to convict the major players in the game and not just the pawns. There are a lot of different characters in the book but they are all required as this is what it would be like with the Metropolitan Police force. This was my introduction to Kate London and it certainly won't be my last. I would highly recommend this book to Mystery/thriller readers.

To begin, a disclaimer that I didn't realise this was part of a series before I started reading it, so I was slightly thrown off by some of the backstory that didn't make sense, but ultimately it can really be read as a stand-alone story.

Gallowstree Lane follows a web of people involved in a gang in London, and a team of police who are planning a bust to take down the leaders of the gang who are moving weapons. Where the book really shined was in the descriptions of police procedure and the complexities of gang politics. However, the use of so many main characters in the book threw me off, because some of them only get one or two passages from their POV and then they're not returned to again, and there probably would have been more intrigue if their experiences of events was concealed - Lexi, for example.

Also, it was only afterwards when I revisited the description for this book that I saw Kieran is implied as the main character, which didn't come through in the book at all - I thought Sarah and Lizzie were meant to be the main characters. I checked the previous two books on Amazon where it's more obvious that Sarah and Lizzie are the main characters from the description, so I don't know why this was overlooked in the description for Gallowstree Lane. The description also doesn't accurately portray the structure of the novel by positioning Ryan and Kieran in opposition to each other, when really they couldn't care less about each other for the majority of the plot. Also, I'm glad that Kieran wasn't the main character of the book because frankly he's one of the most irritating and condescending characters I've ever come across, with a huge ego, and I wish Lizzie had just told him to piss off in the beginning of the novel and been done with it, but I guess it's an accurate portrayal of manipulation that she was unable to do that.

I just want to give a shout-out to Elaine who was a great character, and Sarah who in my opinion was the only character there with an actual moral code. I would definitely consider reading further books entirely from her POV and her clashes with police procedure and corruption. Also, the fact that her and Kieran clashed so strongly in terms of ideals and ethics makes the last chapter in the book ring very falsely in my opinion.

Overall I did enjoy reading this book and it's far better than the last few crime novels I've read, so I would recommend it

Thanks to Netgalley and Atlantic Books for an advance copy in exchange for an unbiased review.

Didn’t like the story, maybe I wasn’t in the mood, the writer is talented at characterisation, but the plot is thin!

The themes are very relevant and this will find an audience, it just wasn’t me!!

This is the first of Kate London’s “Collins and Griffiths - The Metropolitan Series” books I have read. I will definitely be reading the first two now. Although this novel can be read without having read the previous 2 I’m sure that if I had, this might have received 5 stars from me. It took me a while to entangle the personal relationships, but once I did I was hooked. The well written, riveting story is definitely one for our times, covering knife crime, drugs and gangs and if built into an unforgettable ending.
I’d like to thank the author, publisher and netgalley for providing me with this advance digital copy in exchange for an honest and unbiased review.