Possibly the final book in the series? It drew me in from the first page and there was certainly plenty of action. Book 6 is more about Noah, rather than Marnie but still very descriptive and well written. Plenty tension and a little twist at the end. A good solid read.My thanks to Net Galley for my ARC. Reviews on Goodreads and Facebook.

This is the 6th book in the DI Marnie Rome series and was a reasonably enjoyable read for those who have read the earlier novels.
The plot concerned the gang related deaths of several teenagers living in a not so nice part of London. There was even a tower block in the story which reminded the reader of Grenfell Tower- the escalating knife crime amongst young people in London is reflected in the knife and gun crime described in the book. This made the book itself bang up to date and relevant.
However one of the deceased is a 13 year old girl from Muswell Hill who does not seem to fit the pattern. She is white and middle class so how can she be part of this gang and knife culture?
Marnie and Noah investigate although Noah is still grieving over the murder in prison of his younger brother and sees his ghost throughout the novel, constantly speaking to him as if he is still alive. This distracts him from the case and at several points he has to take some time out.
This ghostly element is an interesting way to describe the grief Noah is feeling although I found it disconcerting at times.
In my opinion Never Be Broken is not quite as compelling as the earlier books. I also found some of the characters such as the gangsters and the two fathers rather two dimensional.
I enjoyed the book but it is probably not the best in the series. I almost felt it had been written to get a message across and the plot was of secondary importance.
Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for my arc in exchange for an honest review.

I always enjoy a Marnie Rome adventure and this book was no exception. Action packed and tension filled to the end plus the usual surprising twist.

A series well worth reading

This is the first in the series that I have read about DI Rome & co and while this does work as a stand alone book, I felt I was missing parts of the back story in some places. This has only encouraged me to read the others now and didn't overly distract from the story.
Very good book, had me engaged in the story from the beginning, You just have to keep reading as you need to know where this is going. Really felt for Noah all throughout this book, and the writer had me emotionally invested in him right from the start.
Thanks to Net Galley for an early copy of this in exchange for an honest review.

I thought I had read all the previous books but had only read the first. A good read which shows how bad things are getting with knife crime in London and gang culture also. I was looking for a decent mystery but found it was mostly focused on one characters journey with grief and so was a little let down, but it was still a good book and reminds me to revisit this series of books #NetGalley #NeverBeBrokenDiMarnieRome6

Kids are dying on the streets of London. But when the focus moves from the sink estates to white, middle-class targets, the pressure is on to end it

Really enjoyed this series but this instalment along with the previous book just aren't up to their usual standard. On their own they're ok books but as a series they're on a decline. The stuff with Noah and his dead brother's ghost was too much.

I really enjoyed Never Be Broken , another great instalment in the Marnie Rose series. This one looks at gang culture and starts with a drive by shooting of a young girl with affluent parents. They initially think the shooting is a mistaken identity or not linked to the other deaths given the influential parents of the child .

The book starts with a mangled car and blood belonging to Noah Jake, you are then taken back 48 hours and wondering all the way through what has happened to Noah. We know from earlier books that he is still grieving for his brother and a lot of the story is take up with conversations he is having with him. But I was continually thinking of the car crash and what would happen to Noah later in the book

Another blisteringly fast paced instalment in this well established series. This book picks up exactly where the previous one concluded with Marnie and Noah still fighting their own demons while dealing with a complex new case.

A very enjoyable read! I was very interested in getting my hands on this one after I read the blurb and I am pleased to say that I was not let down.

The story is written very well and the characters are interesting and jump off the page. I would recommend this read!

Never Be Broken is the 6th outing for Marnie Rome and what a great read it is.
Many topical themes are explored in this episode, London's spiralling gang problem,people trafficking,gun crime, suicide ,racism and the "county lines" exploitation of vulnerable young people by criminals.
DS Noah Jake features prominently in this book and without spoiling anything Ms Rome uses a literal device that could well have made the book ridiculous if she hadn't played it so well. Basically Jake is on the verge of burn out after a tragedy close to home and his obsession with the pictures of young murder victims on the office wall has him taking things personally. and acting rashly.. When a young white girl is shot in a drive by shooting it seems to some ,that there are more efforts being made to catch her killer than the others. Unlike the other pictures on the wall 13 year-old Raphaela Belsham is white and from an influential family. Right or not this is one of several "issues" that Sarah Hilary raises in her book so food for thought in places as well as a cracking read.
One thing I enjoyed about the book was that Hilary showed that while sometimes things ,and people,are not all they might seem,sometimes they are,just as in real life. Often in a crime thriller you can work out the biggest baddie quite easily as it's the person who appears to Mr Nice Guy who turns out to be the villain and the main characters are always right and find things lesser mortals in uniform have missed. This is far more realistic with Rome and co going down the odd dead end and characters being just as good or bad as their first impression. There are surprises of course,just that unlike too many other thriller authors Sarah Hilary avoids the "twist in every paragraph" thing that I find deeply irritating.
Aside from Noah Jake's travails there's a resolution of Rome's relationship with her Step-Brother ......or is it as the ending left me thinking there might be more to come.
Possibly the best book in an excellent series,big thanks to Sarah Hilary, Headline Books and Netgally for the ARC in return for an unbiased review.

This book will have you at page 1, so brilliantly written, i,m not going to give anything away, this is a must read book draws you in and does not let go till the end, hope there will be another DI Marnie Rome book.

Sarah Hilary can always be relied upon to write a cracking crime thriller but this one goes that extra mile. It was heartbreaking and raw. Visceral even. The tragedy of knife crime was brought home and I have to admit, it was hard to read at times as you recognise a lot from the news each day.

I was touched to read that it was inspired by the death of a real boy, killed when he was only seventeen and he wasn't a member of a gang. I think we all jump to conclusions when we read about crimes like this, and Sarah's book looks at how media and society react to it depending on if the teenager in question is from a rich or poor background, black or white and in a gang or not etc.

Heartbreaking to read. A bit less Marnie than usual? It read and felt a little different to the others in the series, as if the story took over? Still a great read though.

I would like to thank Netgalley and Headline for an advance copy of Nerver Be Broken, the sixth novel to feature Mer detectives DI Marnie Rome and DS Noah Jake.

When teenager Raphaela Belsham is gunned down in a drive by shooting Marnie’s team are sent to investigate. There are other children’s deaths being investigated but Raffa as she is known is different, white with affluent well connected parents. Noah, still grieving for his brother, Sol, takes all the deaths to heart and is determined to make a difference.

I thoroughly enjoyed Never Be Broken which takes a tough, uncompromising look at the contemporary gang culture in London. It is an uncomfortable read both with the situation and the emotion involved in Noah’s grieving process but despite knowing little about either subject it all rings true with the writing strong enough to create that sense of discomfort.

The novel opens with a damaged car and Noah’s jacket then switches back to two days previously before becoming a more linear narrative. That opening had me hooked with its myriad potential outcomes and worry. It’s really well done. As I said I know nothing about gang culture and their actions so some of the novel passed me by - is it superficial to decry the violence without a full understanding of the causes? Ms Hillary does her best to explain but a novel can only give a glimpse. Again what she does is excellent but she chooses to concentrate more on the adults caught up in the periphery and their weaknesses. What does come over loud and clear is the public’s reluctance to talk to the police.

Noah Jakes’s grief is visceral in the novel. He talks to his dead brother all the time, imagining him with him and while he is clear that it is mind creating Sol it seems a bit supernatural in the authentic dialogue and attitude. I wish I were a bit smarter to really get to grips with this as it is fascinating. It seems to me that Sol is voicing what Noah really thinks while the logical Noah is trying to take a more PC line. The only thing a bit strange in this (apart from seeing your dead brother and telling no one) is that he is allowed to keep working when a blind man could see he’s not fit.

Never Be Broken is a good read which I have no hesitation in recommending.

With thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for the book in exchange for an honest review.
This is Book 6 in the D I Marnie Rome series and I have read all of the books in the series. When Sol was killed at the end of Book 5, Come and Find Me and I had the opportunity to read Book 6, I was intrigued as to how Sarah Hilary would handle his death and how the series would move on. Noah’s brother’s death was handled with extreme sensitivity, as were all the other knife crimes and deaths of youngsters caught up in the London death toll, which is happening even now. The storyline was memorising and so very sad and I read it all in one read. Once you start to read the characters and the storyline are so mesmerising that you don’t want to stop until the book is finished.
Highly recommended.

I have read all the previous DI Marnie Rome series and enjoyed them. This was no different and I loved the story particularly the setting of London city council estates. You could read this as a stand-alone but it would be better understood as the follow on in the series.
There are children dying on the streets of London and no one seems to care until a girl on the upper class side is murdered. How is her death linked to the occupants of a working class tower block?
The story unfolded at a fast pace and you are carried along with it.
Thanks to Headline and NetGalley for an ARC
#NeverBeBrokenDiMarnieRome6 #NetGalley