And Your Enemies Closer – Rob Parker

In the North West criminal underworld, a deal goes tragically wrong, resulting in war between the two main organised crime factions in the region. Shockwaves rock the 30-mile gap between Liverpool and Manchester – with retired detective Brendan Foley right in the middle of it all. 

For Brendan, six months after his resignation, life is all different. His marriage is a mess, he’s working as a nightclub bouncer, his brother is still missing and he just can’t stop searching for the crime family that destroyed his life. And at last, he’s found them – and he’s got them bang to rights.

Iona Madison, his one-time partner and now successor as a DI in Warrington Police, is tasked with a body pulled from the River Mersey – a teen-age boy that went missing the previous year, which might bring her own conduct into question. Not only that, Brendan is feeding her information whether she likes it or not – and his unsanctioned activities are causing her headaches.

And now, there’s a price on his head. A million pounds, dead or alive. 

And Your Enemies Closer is the follow-up to Rob Parker’s brilliant Far From The Tree, which I listened to on audiobook last year and loved. Warren Brown (DS Ripley from Luther) is back on narration duty once more, and does a superb job of capturing the many and varied characters in the book.

I was thrilled to discover Rob had written a second book in the series (now known to be a trilogy) and as soon as my new Audible credit arrived in January, I wasted no time in downloading it. Whilst book 1 kept me entertained on many long dogwalks, book 2 served as the backdrop for the daily college dropoff and pickup, meaning I got through it far more quickly than book 1.

And I’m glad I did! And Your Enemies Closer follows on six months after the events of the first book, and from the opening page (can it have a first page if it’s an audiobook?) I was hooked. I even found myself sat outside my house in the car for a couple of extra minutes’ listening time.

Brendan Foley has left the police and is working as a bouncer. His brother is missing and his home life is a mess. He’s still laser-focused on getting his own back on the crime family that ruined his life. What follows is a dive into the criminal underworlds of Liverpool and Manchester. Old criminals turn up with some new undesirables (and boy, are they undesirable) and the bodies start piling up. It’s up to Foley and his old colleague DI Madison of the Warrington police to bring them to rights. But it’s not easy when you’ve got a price on your head, as Foley is due to find out.

Parker has got a knack for creating compelling, flawed characters that half the time you’re rooting for, and the other half you’re wondering what on earth they’re doing. He’s also a dab hand at a dark, twisting plot and has some very creatively unpleasant ways for equally unpleasant people to get their just rewards.

Warren Brown’s narration is superb once more, bringing to life the ne’er-do-wells of the North-West and the people who try their best to stop them.

I can’t recommend these audiobooks enough. If you’ve got an Audible subscription, get them added to your list. And if you haven’t, you can get a free audiobook with their 30 day trial.

And Your Enemies Closer by Rob Parker is an Audible Original, and came as part of my own paid subscription.