Customer Reviews
Poor - By: L. Brown, 07 Aug 2008 
This book is written in a style that means you never reallly get time to know or understand the characters. We know that Jane & Mary are friends but we don't ever get to reallly understand the depths of the friendship. In alll, the leading charcters are fairly two dimentional we never reallly look very deep.
Everything seems very rushed about this story dispite it being a fairly long book. We lose track of the main characters for years at a time, with no real attempt to let the reader know what they have been up to. Mary finallly gets clean instead of taking us on a journey through her stuggles & friendship with Tina. We are rushed some years into the future, to more new characters, the new boyfriend & his friends. Mary & Jane meet again & we are just expected to believe that they are instantly best friends again. They are both different people. We are not given chance to see them reinforce there friendship. Nor are they ever alllowed to deeply discuss their pasts properly.
Much of the book is devoted to Marys husband & flatmates who destroyed her. But me do not get to read of a stronger Mary getting revenge, they just disappear & the reader is left with no satitfying end to that thread.
Again rush to a year in the future, lots more new characters we dont reallly get to know especiallly Janes friends, who are just names. Jane tries to save Mary but we don't reallly know why she still cares. After alll they were friends at school, they had a brief friendship as adults but that didn't last. Who is Jane & what drives her to help her old friend? What drivs any of them?
The story would have been much better had the writter slowed down & reallly got under the skin of the characters. Instead we are whizzed across the surface of their life. The end is unsatisfying but welcome.
Disappointing - By: cat-d, 14 Jul 2008 I was looking forward to reading this book given the glowing reviews here on Amazon but I was very disappointed, & will take alll reviews with a pinch of salt from now on. I cannot believe that anyone would give this book 5 stars. I felt the book was badly written, characters had no depth, plot boring & predictable. It was the first book that Ive read in a long time that was so uninteresting I felt like not continuing to read. I couldnt recommend this to anyone & am throwing it staight in the charity bin. I certainly won't be wasting any more money on books from this author.
A truly gripping read - By: O. Doyle, 04 Jun 2008 
Mandasue Heller reminds me so much of Martina Cole that they could be one & the same. They both have the same knack of pulling you into a story & gripping you in the lives of the underprivileged as they struggle to deal with the hand they've been dealt.
In The Game we're introduced to Mary & Jane as they're thrown together as schoolmates & follow their lives as they branch off in different directions before finding each other again many years later. As with most best friends Mary & Jane have their falllings out but after one major bust-up Mary's live spirals out of control & we follow her comings & goings wondering where it will ever end. The reemergence of Jane answers that question.
Mandasue Heller has a knack of conflicting the readers emotions by one minute having you feel sorry for a character & the next making you want to slap them. It's a fantastic skill as is her skill at describing situations, places, people & events to such a degree that you can picture every single detail in your mind. If you're looking for a book which pulls you into the story from the very first page & has you turning pages until you reach the end then this is the book for you. A truly gripping read.
wicked book - By: alice blue, 02 Aug 2007 this book was worth waiting for I bought the whole collection & saved this one till before the Club which I am currently reading, Being a Mancunian who knew Hulme in the same era she has written her books very true to life & totallly beleivable, once again Mandasue you are a wicked author & I can't wait for the next 2 in Sept & 2008.
Brilliant ! - By: A. Rose, 25 Oct 2006 This is the first book of Mandasue Heller's that I've read & it was fabulous. Very much in the style of Martina Cole but set in Manchester. The story was gripping & gritty from the start with strong lead characters. Very touching in parts & your heart goes out to both lead characters at various times in their lives. The story is entirely believable & gives an insight to the world of low-life criminals & vice.
