Crossing the Whitewash: A UK Gangland Thriller: Boxer Boys, Book 1 By Nick Rippington

TBBManiacKim
Feb 22, 2017
2 min read

Arnie Dolan stops a gang from stealing Gary Marshall’s bicycle and a seemingly unbreakable bond of friendship forms between the boys over a period of time. However events take over with one ending up in jail and the other far away from home and all the people he loves. This is the story of the beginnings of the Boxer Boys gang and the unraveling of the events which resulted in each of these characters being exiled.

The story flows seamlessly from one event to the next, moving quickly from chapter to chapter and yet keeping the reader in suspense to the very (and unexpected, I must say!) end. The characters have been cleverly crafted with some facets only being revealed towards the end of the tale. I am in no way a sports fan, but this did not impede my enjoyment of the story in the least. There were few gory details relating to the crimes and yet I was left with the knowledge that life for some of these characters was in fact brutal. Overall, this was a brilliant story although it is unlikely that I will listen to it again as I have been left feeling very sorry for Arnie and am not sure I would want to experience this again for this character.

Although the elements of the cover relate intimately to the story, this cover would not cause me to pull it off the shelf for a further look into what the story is about.

I was a little concerned in the beginning with the monotony of Samuel J Haskell’s voice but that soon changed as the characters began to develop. The range of accents and differentiation between the characters is brilliantly performed. If not for the narration, I would have lost many of the nuances of the story as I would probably have skimmed pages just to get to the end in my excitement to discover how all the threads would come together. The editing of this audio version was well done with only a change in the volume towards the end of the story being noticeable.

I highly recommend this book to any who love a good mystery / thriller containing characters who may just break your heart.

Review Rating Writer: 5/5

Review Rating Narrator: 5/5

Genre: Mystery / Thriller

More Information:

Release Date:06/06/2016

Published by: Cabrilon Books

Narrated by: Samuel J Haskell

Length: 9 hrs and 53 mins (Unabridged Audiobook)