Review: Fearless Girl by Emma Tallon

Wednesday 11 March 2020
Title: Fearless Girl
Author: Emma Tallon
Publisher: Bookouture
Publication Date: 14th April 2020
Pages: 305
Source: NetGalley
Rating: 5/5
Purchase: Amazon
It’s been three years since Freddie Tyler was sent to prison, now he’s back on the streets of London and about to find out that everything has changed.

As Freddie enters his West End club for the first time in years, he finds ex-girlfriend Anna Davis sitting behind his desk, confidently leading his team of men. Anna used to hate the world he lived in, but she has now become a big part of it. And she’s not about to give up running the family business easily.

Anna shows a toughness Freddie has never witnessed in her before when she tells him about her new enterprise, smuggling stolen diamonds through London’s Hatton Garden. And alarm bells start ringing when Freddie meets Anna’s new partner. Cold and ruthless, Roman Gains isn’t someone Freddie trusts around the club and particularly not around Anna.

Whilst tensions flare between Anna and Freddie, a new Russian firm enters their world, determined to bring the Tylers down. And when they take out one of his best men, Freddie has to take drastic action to wrestle control from Anna. But she has other ideas. And when Roman becomes Anna’s closest ally, Freddie finally reaches breaking point. Could this be the fall of the Tyler empire and the last time Freddie and Anna are on the same side?


Of all the gangland series currently being written, Emma Tallon’s series featuring Anna and Freddie is by far one of my favourites. It’s a favourite for many reasons but two of the main ones are the characters and their development. It really is fantastic to look back at these characters when we first met them in Runaway Girl and compare them to where they are here in Fearless Girl. None more so than Anna who is just a joy to read about. Emma Tallon is a brilliant storyteller and each and every one of her books I have read has had me enthralled. I don’t know how successful her books are in terms of sales, but they are equally as good as the gangland series that make the Sunday Times Top 10 every year and should be read by everyone who loves this genre.

I particularly liked how instead of dragging things out we literally jump forward to Freddie and Paul being released from prison, into a world that is so different to the one they left behind. Not least because Anna is now running the show and is virtually unrecognisable to Freddie in some ways, but in others she is still the person he left behind; the love of his life. It was such a fascinating dynamic to witness this power play between these two characters, characters we have followed and seen fall in love together and build a life together, only for it to then be torn apart. As Freddie learns what’s happened while he’s been behind bars, so too do we the readers, and it makes for truly gripping reading. I loved this line: ‘She was the first enemy he had ever come across who he didn’t know how to fight.’ With danger from all corners and, in Freddie’s eyes now possibly from within, Emma keeps the reader on their toes with some rollercoaster-worthy twists and turns.

I have always had a fear that this series could become repetitive, oftentimes in this genre with the series books it’s often the case of a new enemy comes along, the main characters beat them and come out on top and then at the end of the book another new enemy is teased. And actually that is not dissimilar to what happens in these books but for me, the realism of these characters and the gripping stories that Emma tells have stopped it from coming across as repetitive. The relationships in the series, not just between Anna and Freddie but in the friendships with Tanya and all of the other characters are what keep me eagerly turning the pages and wanting to know what happens next. After six books these are characters I feel that I know, and characters that I don’t want to stop reading about for a long time to come. These characters don't feel like cardboard cutouts of what characters in this genre should be, but actual real characters with unique personalities.

Emma does a fantastic job of truly immersing the reader into these stories. They are vivid reads with characters with feelings that are palpable. There are some scenes in this book that had me feeling like I was in the room with the characters, sharing their hurt and pain, most of them scenes being between Anna and Freddie because their relationship makes for some truly intense reading that almost makes you want to look away but there’s never a chance of that happening because I couldn’t read quick enough to see how things would unfold. I have always enjoyed this series because of the realism and believability of its characters and as fantastic as the stories always are, for me it’s these characters that shine through and make me want to keep reading.

Emma Tallon is a real talent and is one of the best authors writing in this genre today. She is a must read author for me, one of those authors who I will immediately drop everything (even the book I'm currently reading) for once I've got my hands on her latest book. This series is easily one of the best gangland series out there and for those that are yet to read these books, I can’t recommend them enough. And for those who are about to pick up Fearless Girl and continue this series, Emma does not disappoint with this latest instalment. I cannot wait for the next one. Also, be sure to read the Author’s Note when you have finished the story. I’ll say no more other than that. Now the agonising wait for the next book begins.

1 comment:

  1. You make this book sound irresistible Shaun - I find some gangland fiction derivative, but this one sounds great! I'll look out for it.

    ReplyDelete

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