The Hanging Club by Tony Parsons

"Once again, a great book"

Description from Goodreads:

“A band of vigilante executioners roam London's hot summer nights, abducting evil men and hanging them by the neck until dead.

SENTENCED TO DEATH

- The gang member who's abused vulnerable girls.

- The wealthy drunk driver who's mowed down a child.

- The hate preacher calling for the murder of British soldiers.

As the bodies pile up and riots explode across the sweltering city, DC Max Wolfe hunts a gang of killers who many believe to be heroes.

And discovers that the lust for revenge starts very close to home …”

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I admit to being a bit of a fan of Tony Parsons having previously read and enjoyed “The Slaughter Man” so I was more than pleased when I was accepted to review The Hanging Club by the publisher RandomHouse UK Cornerstone via NetGalley and for which I am grateful as, yet again, Mr Parsons has written a great book.

This is the third in the DC Max Wolfe series and although this is part of a series, I don’t feel you have to have read the others to enjoy this as a standalone. The story is gripping and scarily plausible. The writing style is such that it’s easy to pick up and very hard to put down. The characters are complex and interesting with Max being even more so given that he is a single father. The glimpses of his relationship with his young daughter are touching and a relief from the horrors he has to face investigating the brutal and very public vigilante murders.

The story is set in present day London but also has glimpses into the historical London. I found this fascinating and added to my overall enjoyment of the book.

This book is not only a compulsive read, it also makes you think about justice and your own personal ethics and morals. I’m sure a lot of us have been dismayed at a particular sentence for a heinous crime but would you take the law into your own hands? What must it be like for the Police, lawyers and judges being stuck in the middle? What of the families and friends of those on both sides? Yes, this book gets you asking those questions and gets you thinking a bit and I, for one, would definitely recommend it and Tony Parsons as a great British author.

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Author/publisher website - click here

Author twitter - TonyParsonsUK

I also found an interesting website devoted to the main character DC Max Wolfe - http://dcmaxwolfe.com/ - where you can explore a little bit more about Max.