Or if it is, it's more like the kind of over-reach that happens when a snooker player uses a rest to get at an awkward ball, despite the fact that even a cursory regard for sporting ethics should render any such additional props cheating. Yes, as I have already mentioned, Frankie does punch above his weight on quite a few occasions but then he also screws up a near equal amount of times so, again balanced.

To calculate the overall star rating and percentage breakdown by star, we don’t use a simple average. They] were discussing the local lad, The Rocket, and whether he might win the Masters for a second time. I will at this point just mention that the majority of the negativity that I saw about the book was the amount of swearing. The James brothers are the sons of a now incarcerated East End gangster, very much of the old school, and the victim is the fiancée of the son of a rival gang leader.He'd pictured them together at meal times, or watching films in some echoing, flickering communal hall, or reading well-thumbed books in a dusty library – all fucking clichés of course, culled out of Shawshank, which he'd watched in the Odeon in Leicester Square only last year with Jack.

I don't know if Ronnie is planning a sequel or maybe even a series of this book but if he ever does do a follow up I look forward to reading it.

Decent characters with potential to be expanded on when the next one is released, and of course a nice setting of a Snooker Club to which our main character runs. Ronnie is interested in Buddhism, and was the first celebrity to endorse Jeremy Corbyn at the general election. Amidst this teeming underworld of brothels, gambling dens and, yes, snooker clubs, Frankie must try to say one step ahead of gangland undesirables and the smelly old bill. There followed a momentary surge in interest regarding Bruce's oeuvre, and I became both a respected literary critic and a fabulously wealthy man, resplendent with high status and clothed only in the garb of kings.

Frankie decides he’s going to try to figure out what happened, even if it kills him – and with some of the nutters who are around, it might do just that. There follows a Martina Cole-scented parade of ne'er-do-wells with filthy tongues and charming names. One presumes the elder Mr James would have preferred his lawyer end all missives with "fuck off you silly cunt" smeared in human shit, like a normal person. That style is replicated here in the first of a trilogy following cheeky snooker club owner Frankie James; with gangsters, police, family and murder.For example, the main character owns a struggling snooker club, and he keeps a cue under the bar in case there’s any trouble. Yes the dialogue is clunky and makes you think that everyone in London talks like they're in an early Guy Ritchie film. Overall as a gangland thriller almost, Frames does lack the punch of a Martina Cole or Jessie Keane novel but as an enjoyable thriller in its own right it is definitely a book that I can recommend and I am excited to read the sequel.

I was driving home from work one afternoon, listening to my favourite sports radio station and the hosts were about to interview Ronnie O'Sullivan. Frankie gets himself into lots of scrapes and some unfortunate situations as the story progresses and I actually believed in him as a character and wanted him to find those answers and come out on top. When this book debuted I was excited to read it, however for various reasons it sat on my shelf since 2017 until a few days ago when I got round to reading it. It stars Frankie James – like Barnes, an author surrogate for O'Sullivan himself – a smart, capable guy from a colourful background, who is jostled from his day job running a snooker club so he can investigate a murder for which his hapless younger brother has been implicated. I'd hoped that this character, like Ronnie, would be complex - all rock and roll swagger, but with self esteem issues, or even depression.Yes Frankie does become superman at times and I am not 100% that he would be that good at everything he does but I am willing to take one for the team and suck it up in the context of the story. Not the biggest fan of snooker myself, I stayed listening cos the show is entertaining whatever they talk about.