Zenka | Alison Brodie | Extract #Zenka #suspense #blackcomedy #crime #romance

GENRE: Suspense/black comedy/crime/romance

305 pages

Zenka is the latest novel by Alison Brodie and will be published in ebook on 6 November 2017.  Alison has provided an extract to give a flavour of the story, which is below, but first here’s a little about the book:

Ruthless, stubborn and loyal.

Zenka is a Hungarian pole-dancer with a dark past.

When cranky London mob boss, Jack Murray, saves her life she vows to become his guardian angel – whether he likes it or not. Happily, she now has easy access to pistols, knuckle-dusters and shotguns.

Jack learns he has a son, Nicholas, a community nurse with a heart of gold. Problem is, Nicholas is a wimp.

Zenka takes charge. Using her feminine wiles and gangland contacts, she aims to turn Nicholas into a son any self-respecting crime boss would be proud of. And she succeeds!

Nicholas transforms from pussycat to mad dog, falls in love with Zenka, and finds out where the bodies are buried – because he buries them. He’s learning fast that sometimes you have to kill, or be killed.

As his life becomes more terrifying, questions have to be asked:

How do you tell a crime boss you don’t want to be his son?

And is Zenka really who she says she is?

Chapter Thirty-Two

Zenka

My dearest Alina,

I am sad vithout Nicholas. Ven I am sad I play violin but the neighbours complain. The Manager of Men’s Room say I dance like vet kipper (I don’t know what that means and I don’t care).

I vas vith Jack at clinic this morning. He got results of paternity test. It is positive. Jack is so happy. He has started writing vill to leave everything to Nicholas.

Then something happened that shocked me to my bones.

I visit Billy in hospital. Ven I come out I see Nicholas in car park. He is dressed as Santa Claus. A man is laughing. Nicholas punches man in face and the man falls over! Everyone is screaming and shouting but Nicholas walks away like nothing happened.

I follow him. Outside the gate he goes up to young boys with tattoos and shouts, FUCK OFF! in their faces. And the boys are terrified.

Nicholas is holding visky bottle. But he does not drink alcohol! He does not swear. He does not hit people, not even at the Thai Boxing place I sent him.

Jack is right. Nicholas has become a monster.

What have ve done?

love Zenka

Merry Christmas to the family.

About the author:

Alison Brodie is a Scot, with French Huguenot ancestors on her mother’s side.
Alison Brodie is an international best-selling author. Her books having been published in hardback and paperback by Hodder & Stoughton (UK), Heyne (Germany) and Unieboek (Holland).
Alison has now gone “indie”. Here are some editorial reviews for her recent books:
BRAKE FAILURE: “Masterpiece of humor” –Midwest Book Review
THE DOUBLE: “Proof of her genius in writing fiction” -San Francisco Book Review.
ZENKA will be releasing on 6 Nov, 2017.

Author Links:  Website   |   Twitter   |   Facebook   |   Goodreads

Pre-order Links:  Amazon UK  |   Amazon US  |  Amazon Canada   |   Amazon Australia

Praise for Zenka

“A riveting read. Powerful. Spicy” -Midwest Book Review
5* “To say I loved this story would be a massive understatement” –Bloggers from Down Under
5* “Will warm your heart and chill your bones” –Tome Tender Blogspot
5* “Top of my list for best fiction this year” – Lauren Sapala, WriteCity
5* “You won’t be able to put this book down” –Laura Reading
5* “Brodie nails it again. Intelligent wit and outstanding writing” –Charlie Elliott, author of Life Unbothered