The Wronged: Another stunning effort from Kimberley Chambers

For a variety of reasons, not the least of which was my son’s wedding overseas. I am a month late in reviewing the latest tome to come from crimewriter Kimberley Chambers.

And in trying to review something from a friend you have to be honest in your assessment and not let loyalty cloud your judgement.

But after reading The Wronged partly in South America and partly back home in East London, and I have to say she has turned in another classic.

It’s another step into the world of the Butler family, following her last two books, The Trap and Payback.

Five years on, now in 1985, the Butlers get even to right the wrongs inflicted on them.

Vinny and Michael Butler are planning the downfall of all who’ve wronged them. The Butlers don’t forgive or forget, and they take their secrets to the grave.

More tragic events rip the family apart, loyalties are on a knife edge. Times are changing in the East End, and the brothers who have always stuck together are at each other’s throats. As the saying goes…you keep your friends close, and your enemies closer. But you keep your family right where you can see them.

Kimberley always had had the knack of local knowledge. Nearly every bit of East London and Essex gets a mention. The references of the timeline are spot on. The her talent shines through in The Wronged, and the pace of change is faster than ever before.

Just as you think you might guess what is about to happen, events take a different turn. She keeps you wanting more. There’s a tendency to laugh and scream at the characters. But throughout, the humour, often black, is still there.

The Butlers are men on a mission, implausible, impossible, but somehow eventually achievable.

To give the reader the feeling of hating but also liking the main characters at the same time really does take some achieving, but Kimberley has pulled it off again.

In the first few weeks of sale, Kimberley is already in the top ten hardback charts again, and the paperback version is out soon.

I am astounded at the high standard again that Kimberley has set herself and I know how much she anguished about getting this latest piece of fiction absolutely right.

It’s another brilliant effort from Kimberley, and she is already grafting hard for the next instalment of the Butlers for next Spring. Well done darlin’.

 The Wronged is published by Harper Collins Publishers

Hardback ISBN: 9780007521746