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Crack House
- The Incredible True Story of the Man Who Took On London's Crack Gangs and Won
- Narrated by: Damian Lynch
- Length: 7 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged Audiobook
- Categories: Biographies & Memoirs, True Crime
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Straight shooter
- By W G Anderson on 13-11-20
Summary
Crack House takes the listener into the dark heart of our cities' most violent and terrifying places, showing how the war on drugs can only be won by constant and forceful vigilance. The bastard offspring of cocaine, crack first entered the UK in the early 1990s. By the end of the decade, Britain's inner cities were in the midst of a crack epidemic, with users being responsible for a massive proportion of crime. Communities, especially in London, were crying out for help, but there were only two specialist units in the whole of the capital.
One of them, Haringey Drugs Squad, embarked on a war on crack, aiming to shut down all 100 crack houses in their borough in one year. Amazingly, they did it. Even more amazingly, in the subsequent 12 months all black-on-black killings in Haringey ceased, and burglaries and muggings fell massively.
In Crack House, Harry Keeble describes in heart-stopping fashion the raids and arrests, as well as the beatings, stabbings, and shootings he witnessed as leader of the Haringey Drugs Squad and their war on drugs.
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What listeners say about Crack House
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall
- chris
- 16-06-12
Addictive as the drug itself
I work in a Drug and Alcohol rehab, so I was not too shocked at the awful stories about the adicts in this book (sad though they are), what shocks and pulls you in is the gritty and honest way the book has been written, the trully disturbing politics surrounding the whole official approach to tackling the issue (ignorance and disinterest) and the determination of this one copper to sort it out no matter what!
Shocking
Scandleous
&
Horridly true
And it still goes on
If you have read this far... then it is a must-read, unputdownable, supprisingly addictive book.
Roll on the movie....
Much better than I ever expected it could be.
12 people found this helpful
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Overall
- David
- 04-05-12
Truly shocking
I like this book for several reasons;
- Glimpse inside war on drugs. Politics, means, methods.
- Filled with anecdotes - true I suppose.
- Horrific & informative regarding cracks addictiveness.
- Good pace & flow, never boring.
- Good narration.
- Suitable length.
9 people found this helpful
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- Dawn
- 18-12-19
Disappointed with the matter of fact reporting
I was disappointed with the matter of fact reporting style around police killings of innocent people such as Joy Gardener. I'm not sure if this was the authors intent and i understand that there will be casualties but if i was a family member i would have been very upset as this lady didn't just casualty die. Having worked in Haringay I could identify with some of the places mentioned and the devastation that crack dealers cause however most of those mentioned are small fish in a much larger sea.They were & are disposable minions who have a very small piece of the ugly pie call the drug industry and I would have been happier hearing about investigations into those higher up those not on the street level those who really run the business's. As a society we leave the rich alone and criminalise the poor & disadvantaged pretending that they are the problem are they really Mr Keeble?
8 people found this helpful
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Overall
- Hayley
- 23-10-11
Fascinating - loved every minute of it
This has to be one of the best audio books I've ever listened to.
Although fact, it reads like fiction. I was fascinated to hear about this sub-culture that exists under our noses. The human character is portrayed in it's extreme - dogged determination from all angles.
Brilliantly narrated. One of the few books that excels in this format - far more enjoyable listening to it than having read it myself.
6 people found this helpful
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- Lee
- 08-06-15
The frightening reality of crack
Superb book, extreme bravery.
Gives a great insight to the worlds drug problems...
However chapters do not correspond which can be a pain
4 people found this helpful
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Overall
- Adrian Shaw
- 05-11-11
Way better than I thought it would be. Excellent b
Started listening and literally could not stop. This is an excellent, entertaining, gritty and worthwhile listen. Great narrator and fascinating story. I hope its apocalyptic message does not eventuate ...
4 people found this helpful
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Overall
- Jason
- 22-04-13
Crack House
This was brilliant, and sad on the murkier side of Britain and drugs. Will stay with you a while this one.Don't let the tough cockney reader put you off. This is a must listen
3 people found this helpful
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Overall
- davidfallon
- 13-02-12
More..................
Amazing account from the front lines of the crack war just in one borough !
i grew up in and around areas with theses scumy people, places and details... all which comes to life. very well delivered from a view that we dont often hear from. Once started it was very hard to stop the audio, full of sad, funny, frustrating, horrible, disgusting tales. the audioit has all the human emotions kicking around in it. if you have ever been mugged in north london,....well read this to see what it had funded...........
3 people found this helpful
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- Sigrin
- 27-06-21
Shocking and true
There was so much in this book that I found so hard to stomach. It is truly shocking and I almost can not believe it, but it is real.
The depravity that a crack hooked person will go to get their next fix is truly unbelievable.
The fact that the crack house whores often under 16 could not remember when they lost their virginity but could remember their first hit of crack and forever chased that first high.
Harry Keeble is a truly remarkable policeman. His fight to eradicate all the crack houses in Haringay and Tottenham is phenomenal..... But why have I not heard of him before this book?
This man needs to be put forward in the honour list as an OBE.
It is people like this that need to be recognised for their outstanding work.
2 people found this helpful
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- S W.
- 25-05-21
Accents that bad it puts you off
Truly horrendous attempt at regional accents.
Interesting story if not hammed up a bit.
Do not ever book Damian to do a geordie accent
1 person found this helpful
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- Nick
- 29-07-17
This book is hot, steamy mess.
I gave up after 3 hours of listening. It's a bunch of micro-stories that barely follow the loose plot and jump around from minute to minute. It's very hard to follow along.
1 person found this helpful
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- Lisa YHZ
- 28-06-15
Entertaining and enlightening
Fascinating glimpse into the fight by a few good cops against the ever-rising tide of drug merchants in a north London borough. The drug squad's success in the face of bureaucratic and institutional apathy, and downright ineptitude, is, I think, a testament to their dedication and the author's leadership... or at least that's how the story reads. I've queued up his next book "Baby X" to see where he goes from here. Damian Lynch is fast becoming one of my favourite narrators.
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- S. Perry
- 22-06-13
An Entertaining Story About a Disturbing Subject
What about Damian Lynch’s performance did you like?
I think the narration of a book is critical to how much you enjoy it, and Damian Lynch did a fantastic job. His accent and tone gave this a gritty "cop" atmosphere that really matched well with the story. He was very easy to listen to, and gave the story credibility - I could easily believe that he was the major character telling the story; he should be commended for his performance.
Any additional comments?
This was a really entertaining audiobook. The story was very interesting - telling the tale of a police unit that shut down crack houses in a borough of London. The narration was excellent, and the story easily absorbing. The author easily conveyed the horrendous impact of crack - in terms of contributing to violent crime, and the human degradation. If I had one criticism it would be in the pace and lack of detail in how they went about identifying and crashing the houses; while there was good description about the houses and the overall story of shutting down the houses, the recounting of some of the raids seemed almost too easy - which clearly it wouldn't have been. But as an entertaining story, this was very enjoyable.