It was the dream of many; to get through the auditions and star on a new reality show aimed at helping young single people find love. The lucky few are brimming with excitement as they eye one another with a view to pairing up. They have no idea that one contestant is going to have a devastating impact on their lives. Their names will hit the headlines as they had hoped but it will be for all of the wrong reasons.
A casual hook up quickly turns sour when the woman concerned wants a lot more than the man is prepared to offer. She subjects him to a shocking campaign of harassment, which brings him to an all time low. The problems she continues to create, begin to overwhelm him and those around him. He is at risk of losing his business, and his friends. His family become involved in the fight to bring her to justice, but she knows the law like the back of her hand, and is careful to avoid arrest. With the police unable to charge her, it seems that she will never stop. He is considering playing her at her own game, and using underhand tactics, but someone close to him gets there first. He believes that he is finally safe from her, but after a brief period of normality, he discovers that she is on the warpath again, and this time she has a very dangerous accomplice.
A young woman trying to escape unwanted male attention on a late night train, gladly accepts a generous offer from a kind female passenger. It is her first time in London, and she is glad to be given a lift and somewhere safe to stay for the night. When she arrives at the woman's house, she immediately senses that she has made a mistake. She makes up her mind that she will leave first thing in the morning. When she wakes up the next morning, and finds she is locked in, she is terrified, but she could never guess at the unimaginable events, which are about to overtake her.
The meeting of two minds that think alike can be a good thing, unless they are both murderous. A young man and woman, each with their own agenda, become involved, and soon get caught up in a vicious power struggle. The fact that they are married doesn't stop either of them from plotting the other's downfall. They begin to mix in celebrity circles, and come to the attention of people from their past, who have blackmail in mind. The two of them resort to desperate measures to protect their reputation, unaware that they are treading on very dangerous ground.
When she is going through a bad time in her life, Andrea turns to her closes male friend Warren for comfort. She is surprised when he reveals that he is in love with her. Even though the feeling isn't mutual, she decides to enter into a relationship with him, and she does her utmost to make it work. When she bumps into her first love over two decades after she first met him, she realises that she must tell Warren that their relationship has to end. After initially being furiously angry at her announcement, Warren seems to accept the situation, and she doesn't even think about him anymore, until one day she arrives home and finds that her worst nightmare has come true.
Marie Barker is a notorious gangland figure, who has taken control of South East London, but it has come at a terrible cost. Her family have suffered personal losses, and are aware that the eyes of the gangland world are upon them, just waiting for them to break under the strain of their grief. They know that more than ever before, they must show their strength and deter any contenders. Her daughters have now joined the firm, and they are proving to be just as merciless as her. Times have changed, and the Barker women aren't the only females making a name for themselves. A newcomer has entered the arena with revenge on her mind. She has already shown that she will do whatever it takes to enhance her reputation, even if it means turning on her own family.
Lola Marsh is the daughter of a crime boss, and has been longing to join the firm. Her dad Kieran dismisses the possibility and tells her to concentrate on marriage and children instead. She feels belittled and is determined not to give up on her dream. When circumstances change and Kieran is absent, Lola grabs the opportunity to get what she's always wanted and is determined that nobody will stand in her way.
Lola is about to start running the Marsh firm, but she has no supporters. The men on the firm have already made it known that they disagree with her taking control, and she knows that without their respect she will be destined for failure. To gain this, she needs to show them that she is no pushover. With this in mind, she commits an atrocious act which has the men on the firm running scared, but when she betrays her own family she knows she has gone too far. With nobody to turn to, she wonders if it was worth sacrificing everything to reach her goal. She has not gained the contentment she expected, and she is not quite sure of how to move forward. Decisions need to be made about whether she should run from the life threatening situation she is faced with, or stay and fight a battle that she already feels she has lost.
Marie was strong willed and used to getting her own way. Tel was a hardened crime boss who believed that women should know their place. They were a very unlikely match, but what bound them together was their hunger for power, and their willingness to commit barbaric acts in order to reach their goal. Their marriage brought about many unwelcome changes in the London underworld. Rival gangland boss Pete Farrow, was stunned to hear that Marie was intent on becoming an active member of the Barker firm. He used intimidation tactics to show her that she didn't belong in the lifestyle, and only realised that he had underestimated her, when she retaliated by carrying out a number of astonishingly brutal attacks on his men. Her rise to prominence was swift, and together with her husband she swept through South East London, destroying anybody who got in her way . It was suddenly becoming very clear that the Barker firm's reign of terror had only just begun.
This book is an introduction to the fictional gangland series Invincible. Tel Barker starts out as a petty criminal, but he is intent on gaining recognition for much bigger things. He takes the first steps towards this when he seizes control of a small gangland firm. Knowing that he is likely to be underestimated due to his age and inexperience, he aims to raise his profile by matching his brutality to that of long-established bosses. After making a mistake that threatens his liberty, he knows that he will have to change his reckless ways, otherwise his days on the streets of South East London will be numbered.
