Essex Boys (So This is Ecstasy?) by Bernard O'Mahoney

As readers, new and old, may be able to tell, I take a slighty unhealthy interest in gang activity and murders - from the Manson Family to the Rettendon Murders, the latter of which this book is related to.

In 1995, three prominent Essex drug dealers and gang members were found brutally murdered in a Range Rover parked near the end of a small country lane in Rettendon, Esssex. This book tells the story from O'Mahoney's point of view. It gives the reader an insight into how the firm worked, the drug dealing and related violence, the death of Leah Betts and how, after falling into the world of firms and drugs, deaths were inevitable.

Rather than being written by an outsider, this book was written by a man who has experienced it all, making it interesting, disturbing and leaving the reader wanting to know more. It tells from the day he was released from prison (imprisoned for 6 months on wounding with intent), how doorman in Essex would handle certain hecklers or drunkards and of reform after the firm became too much.

When reading O'Mahoney's tales, for use of a better word, I found myself wondering how the hell he managed to avoid hefty jail sentences and instead simply going home and returning to his job the day after driving a lorryload of stolen coffee beans. Or how he got away with beating certain rivals up. I also found myself sympathising with certain people in the book.

Rather than skip anything, Bernard, or Bernie to his friends, gives all the gory details, sparing none. When I picked this book up I wasn't sure what to expect seeing as this had been written by a former hardman, however, I found myself reading it almost whenever possible and into the early hours. What also made it a good read is that much like the film of the same name (but telling a completely different story, fictional) I recognised some of the described areas, including Chelmsford, the town of my birth, Basildon, my nan's home town and Southend, where my dad and stepmum currently reside.

Certain parts were a little tedious, but the whole things gets a 4/5 from me.