Never Go Back: an utterly gripping gangland crime thriller from the bestselling author for 2023

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We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused. Diamond Butcher is a formidable woman who has survived so much trauma in her life both in her earlier years in England after her fathers untimely death and then in her time spent in Paris.

This is not so much a gangland thriller as we have come to expect and is set in the era just after the first world war. In my opinion this is the best book to date written by Jessie Keane and I really hope there is a sequel as I’d love to read more about Diamond. Briefly, born into the Butcher family who rule the streets around Soho her life is disrupted when her father is killed in a fight with the local Wolfe gang and her family’s lives are brutally changed with the arrival of her uncle. Fleeing to France to find a friend of her mothers she assumes a new identity and becomes a nude model for an artist. This brings her into the seedy world of Paris in the 1920s and her life is not easy. Following a murder she is forced to leave Paris and return to her family in London becoming a feared gangland queen. There she meets again the handsome Earl, Richard Beaumont and ignites a love affair doomed by the differences in class. But then she meets Richard Beaumont, the youngest son of a wealthy aristocratic family, and the prospect of a different life unfolds. Diamond Butcher is a beautiful girl and the daughter of Warren Butcher the head of the Wolfe gang who run the streets of Soho. Her mother is Frenchie a woman that her father met whilst in Paris and they fell in love. Diamond also has two brothers Archie and Owen who is a bit simple after an accident at birth. Eventually, after suffering the death of both parents, her brother Aiden and miscarrying her baby, Diamond's life starts on its upward spiral and it looks like her life is changing for a more settled future.This felt like a huge family saga, a cross between Peaky Blinders, Eastenders and Downton Abbey! It’s tough and gritty, but very addictive and I stopped reading anything else so I could finish this. I think this is the core of this book; because Diamond Butcher, our main character, has to leave her family bounds to become something different and disconnect but it will not be as easy as she expects. When Warren is murdered, Victor Diamond’s Uncle worms the way into the family’s life and takes over the family firm and physically abuses Diamond to do his bidding. She fears for her life so much she flees and goes to Paris. But when she gets there the city is not the beautiful one that her mother has portrayed in her stories. It is hard graft, and she meets all sorts of different characters along the way.

The oldest and only girl in a family of London thieves, reinvented as Diamond Dupree, the latest Paris ‘it girl’ - the lover of an aristocrat, fearless and beautiful she is so compelling and a great female character. I really loved her, she was the personification of her name. I never have to read the blurb on books by Jessie Keane I have confidence that I am going to love it her narrative is superb and her characters are always relatable. beautiful and feisty, she’s gonna need to be tough, as her life spirals out of control, following a fight with her brutal uncle, Diamond escapes to Paris leaving her two brothers behind.Warren and Frenchie have 3 children, Diamond, Aldenham and Owen. They meet in Paris and Warren has his finger in many pies until Gustav Wolfe takes what he has. They return to England and build a new little empire until Wolfe takes it all again as well as Warren's life. Diamond hates the Wolfe family and wants revenge including Gustavs son Torro. Warren's brother decides to take over the firm as well as the household using his bully boy and controlling ways. Diamond flees to Paris and reinvents herself as Diamond Dupree doing whatever she has to do to survive however trouble seems to follow her. For fans of Martina Cole and Kimberley Chambers, as well as viewers of Peaky Blinders , this is historical crime fiction at its most compelling. The story starts with us meeting Diamond Butcher, who is raised by her loving mum and dad, along with her two brothers, during the early part of the last century. Her dad is head of a gang who are in a bitter feud with the rival Wolfe gang. When Diamond’s dad Warren is murdered, his brother Victor takes over the empty place left in both the gang and his home. Victor is worse than evil and forces Diamond to take part in some of his vile plots to extort anyone he can. My first read by this author and it won’t be my last. This is historical crime drama at its strongest. A fabulous protagonist in the guise of Diamond Butcher, who reinvents herself as Diamond Dupree, and set in London and Paris in the early twentieth century, covering the period before and after WW1.