A brilliant read with a cast of unique characters and a superb twist. As expected, this is so well written and hugely gripping. Sprinkled with lies, deceit and a gritty wit - Jason is such an interesting lead. Highly recommend!

I absolutely loved this book! I found the story gripping and constantly thought about the characters and the plot when I wasn’t reading.

I found the characters to be well formed and believable, (we all know a Tracey!). This is a book for anyone who loves Martina Cole. This is my first introduction to Kimberley Chambers’s work but it will definitely not be my last.

What an amazing book.
This book was full of great characters, exquisite writing and narrative. There were so nice little twists and turns too.
A great read

I'd read other reviews of this book and was really looking forward to reading it. How disappointed I was - it was like East Enders on steroids - and not in a good way. Mel is a single mum who's dad is trying to look out for her - he hitches her up with Jason - a small time crook. Mel's best friend Tracy is always hanging around and causing trouble. The story follows Mel and Jason and their turbulent relationship over a number of years. I found all the characters annoying and unrealistic and the story was monotonous and repetitive and somewhat stereotyped - apart from the last ten minutes when there is quite a good twist in the plot. On balance, I wouldn't recommend this book.

I liked the way that the plot unfolded. The novel has plenty of twists and a veritable shoal of red herrings.
I loved this, the cast of characters, funny dialogue, twists and turns. Gritty, edgy and comical too, you can’t help turning the pages faster and faster to see how it all plays out.
There is an interesting conclusion which is worth waiting for.








Read for an honest review. Thank you to Netgalley and HarperCollins UK for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review.

Life Of Crime is easy to read, addictive and well-plotted. The characters are larger than life and the author evokes a real sense of the criminal underbelly in communities where deprivation is rife and people are surviving hand-to-mouth.

This is a really good modern thriller which I enjoyed very much. It is fast paced and full of action. Well worth reading.

Life of Crime – Kimberley Chambers

As always this Kimberley Chambers novel was a cracker, I read this so quickly I felt like I’d been holding my breath when I got to the end. There’s so much happening that I just had to keep turning the pages and galloping towards the end (I needed matchsticks the morning after I’d finished it) and was left with a book hangover. I’ve been reading Kimberley Chambers from the beginning and haven’t been disappointed yet. Happily I saw on twitter this morning that the author has signed a new three-book contract this is great news for us fans of gangland/family crime sagas.

In this novel we meet Jason Rampling a wee jack the lad who reminds me of Del Boy saying that he’s definitely not as loveable. Growing up on the Mardyke Eastate he and his sisters didn’t have the best of lives growing up. All he really wants is to give his children and siblings a better life than he/they had growing that and a mother figure. We also meet Melissa Brooks and Tracy Thompson friends forever, Melissa was the quiet one and Tracy was the loud one who attracted all the boys. When the three met at the market Tracy had her eye on Jason but it’s Melissa who catches his eye. Melissa’s father has a construction business which in reality is a cover for his other not so legal businesses.

I can’t say that I found many of the characters particularly likeable but there did seem to be a part of Jason that I felt for he was a man with issues who would shag anything with a pulse. I loved Jason’s nan who kept getting arrested for shoplifting, she gave some much needed light relief to the book. Tracy just came across as a fruit loop, I wanted to shake Melissa and tell her not to be such a wet lettuce and that all he saw when he looked at her was pound signs.

There’s a whole heap of backstabbing, skulduggery, violence and lets not forget the swearing (you could make a mint if there was a swear box 10p per swear word, enough for a decent bottle of plonk) within these pages but for some reason it seems to fit the story without making it seem offensive. If you lived in that life it would certainly make you take a friend (a cosh) to bed and sleep with one eye open.

I have to apologise to both the author and the publishers I read this book quite some time ago but due to ill health and a particularly bad memory I didn’t post my review much earlier.


Read for an honest review. Thank you Netgalley and HarperCollins UK. HarperFiction.

Life of Crime is a stand alone thriller after KC's other books and it is an excellent thriller based round Mel her husband Jason who is a bit of a chancer but deep down has a good heart.The story takes you along the years and the book is well written with characters you get to warm to (some more than others) and compared with her other books this is up there with the best of the bunch.A good 4 star read.

I have loved all of Kim's previous work, especially the Mitchell / Butler saga. I was dubious about this novel as i did know how it would match up to her other work

However i should not have been.

Kimberley delivers a great story

There are two main characters in the book, Jason and Melissa.

The book is packed with plenty of crime and twists throughout.

You've Done It Again Kimberley Chambers!!!!! Having read and loved all of Kimberley's books I was really looking forward to this one!!! And boy I wasn't disappointed!!!!
Jason Rampling was brought up, or dragged up on the roughest estate by a totally unfeeling, alcoholic mother. So he's determined to have a better life for himself no matter what! He meets and decides to marry Melissa, the daughter of a very well off builder!
But the start of and their whole marriage is anything BUT a bed of roses!! Jason is a ducker and diver spending his life trying to keep one step ahead of the law!! And Melissa spends her time spending the money!!
I tried to take my time and read this slowly to savour it and make it last as long as possible but unfortunately my greed for it meant I couldn't put it down!!
I would highly recommend it to everyone!!

Gritty & fast paced with the most deceitful characters. I really enjoyed this book like I have with the authors previous books.

Loved this book but this author is brilliant I have read all her books yet another must read can't wait for the next book

If you could get away with the perfect crime - would you?

HEAVEN HAS NO RAGE, LIKE LOVE TO HATRED TURNED.
NOR HELL A FURY, LIKE A WOMAN SCORNED.

Love this author and this was another amazing read, could not put this down. I find some of the books in this genre are a bit formulaic but KC always manages to pull out a twist (and this one did NOT disappoint!) I don't see coming, one of the best authors in this category - amazing!!

This was really badly written - awful dialogue, so may dreadful and unnecessary dialogue tags, and great lumps of background information just dumped on the page whenever a new character was introduced. It honestly read like a first draft.

Sometimes crime does pay, but at what price?
Some people are made for a life of crime
Dragged up on a council estate, Jason Rampling was determined to change his lot. Jason’s a chancer, shameless with his good looks and his gift for earning a few quid. Life is easy when the money rolls in.
Some people are ruined by it
Melissa thought she’d struck gold marrying Jason. Being on his arm meant she was finally a someone. But there’s no glamour in waiting for your husband to come home, or waiting for a knock on the door. Melissa made her bed the day she made her vows – will she lie in it without a fight?
Some would kill for it
After a stretch inside Jason wants to pull off just one last job, the biggest of all, it could solve all of their problems. But this is a game that could cost them everything . . .

I was lucky to reiceve this book from Netgallery for exchange for my review. I am a huge fan Kimberley Chambers and I wasn't disappointed.
I couldn't put the book down............ I can't wait for her next book. If you want a book that grabs you and enrols you in a book this is the book for you.

If you like Martina Cole, you are going to love this book. The storyline follows the truly gritty life of Jason and Melissa. Through the ups and downs of their marriage, prison and being sucked further in to the life of crime, this story is a true masterpiece. I was blown away by the ending, where the true underdog triumphs through patience, perseverance and being truly underestimated by everyone around them.

This book was one of those which I grew to like as it progressed.

Kimberley Chambers has created an interesting group of characters in this crime thriller. It is based around the shady side of life in the criminal fraternity.

In places the book touches on some distasteful aspects of life.

This book certainly has pace.

I liked the way that the plot unfolded. The novel has plenty of twists and a veritable shoal of red herrings.

There is an interesting conclusion which is worth waiting for.

I give my thanks to Netgalley and Harper Collins UK for a copy in exchange for this review.

What a truly cracking read this was!

Jason Rampling is determined to have a better life than the one he had as a child. His mother was completely lacking in maternal instincts - and hit the bottle at every opportunity, leaving her kids to drag themselves up in whichever way they could manage.

Jason is a ducker and a diver (think Del Boy in 'Only Fools and Horses') he's not inherently bad, but he's no angel either! When we meet him, he and his daughter Shay are living with his mother and three siblings in a high rise flat on one of the worst council estates in the area - this place really is the pits. He believes his only way out is to find himself a decent woman, someone who'll make a good wife, but also someone who's happy to treat Shay as her own. When he meets single mum Melissa, he thinks he's found the perfect person, she's not his usual type, but otherwise she fits the bill perfectly. There's an added bonus too - her father owns a very successful construction firm, and appears to be extremely wealthy.

Melissa, for her part, is grateful that someone is interested in her, but Melissa's father Johnny, isn’t so sure about Jason - he's done some checking up and discovers that Jason is a bit of a wheeler dealer, but more importantly, that he has a reputation as a womaniser. Johnny does give Jason and Melissa his blessing, but it comes with a warning, that if Jason ever hurts his daughter he'll make him pay for it!

I won't give anything away at all because this compelling novel deserves to be read and judged on its own merits, without any spoilers, but seriously it was just awesome! At the core of this novel is the relationship between Jason and Melissa. To some degree they need each other, and we get to know both of them equally well, but it’s Jason who remains the primary interest for the reader, and I now feel as if I'm leaving behind people that I’ve come to know really well, such is the author’s talent in literally giving them life.

The narrative was raw and gritty, there was some clever plotting, meticulous detail, and an all too credible cast of characters, many with a wry sense of humour, and let’s not forget some neat little twists along the way, and then perhaps you’ll see why this made for a truly terrific read!

* Thank you to HarperCollins UK for my ARC. I have given an honest unbiased review in exchange *