Tales from the Longcroft 2 / Darren Sant

Reviewed by: Keith Nixon

Genre: Crime

Approximate word count: 15-20,000 words

Availability    

Kindle  US: YES  UK: YES  Nook: NO  Smashwords: NO  Paper: NO

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Author:

Darren Sant’s childhood was spent living between two large housing estates. The locations and characters provided the inspiration for Sant’s stories.

To learn more about the author visit his website.

Description:

An interlinked series of short stories about the less than law-abiding residents of the Longcroft Estate.

Appraisal:

Tales from the Longcroft 2 is an another group of stories that has a degree of overlap and follow on from part one.

First is a prologue where a girl’s body is discovered, she’d overdosed on drugs.

Then the scene switches to Ken Hargreaves, a bent copper, but someone is watching him. The scene then moves to Ernest Wilson, a Second World War veteran about to bury his grand-daughter.

Ernest ultimately confronts the local hard man and drug dealer Mark Wilson. His organization supplied the gear that killed his grand-daughter. There’s also a reference to Shona Cullen and Andy Rowan, whose tale was told in the first volume. This is a neat stand-alone story that gives some more information and a degree of closure to the story. Personally, as I liked these characters so much, I would have liked to have seen more.

Devil Gate Drive is about local alcoholic, Pete. The narrative is split between the now and the past in a series of flashbacks, explaining why Pete is what he is. It’s a somewhat sad, but inevitable, story about how unforeseen events catch up with a person and irrevocably alter them.

Open All Hours has a degree of similarity to the story Community Spirit which was in the first volume. An Asian family takes over a corner shop. The children struggle to fit into the local school and they’re subjected to racial abuse. However the community steps forward to protect its own in this timely story.

This is another good series of stories that flesh out the characters living on the Longcroft Estate. The first half of the book is stronger than the second half, in my opinion, perhaps because I’d have liked to have seen more of the Cullen’s. But, strong story telling with compelling characters.

FYI:

Some swearing.

Format/Typo Issues:

None.

Rating: **** Four Stars