Acid Row

Rating:
Summary: Not her best work....
Review: ACID ROW by Minette Walters is a fast-paced but dreary novel sans character development, a vexing deficiency for one who prefers the psychological aspects of crime which can only be presented from a personal perspective. Walters strength in her earlier novels, including THE ICE HOUSE and THE SCULPTRESS, lay in her ability to portray the thought processes of the main characters with a good deal of verisimilitude, even while hiding pertinent information in plain sight. In addition, her historical focus in other books has allowed me to understand the careful reconstruction of events by a main protagonist.

Walters' narrative in ACID ROW rotates among three "protagonists" - a female doctor named Sophie, an ex-con called Jimmy, and Inspector Tyler of the police. None of these "main" characters is adequately developed, although Walters provides a good deal of superfluous information about each of them. All of them talk too much, particularly the female doctor. In addition to the poorly developed main players, Walters has included a cast of secondary and tertiary characters who only add to the diffuseness of the narrative. In the end, I found that I did not care what happened to a single one of the characters.

The two story lines-one involving the disappearance of a 10-year old child, the other a neighborhood mob reaction to a newly resident sex-offender ex-con-have some tangential connections. Both involve too many perverts of one sort or another, and Walters spends far too much time "making excuses" for their demented behavior. One clue to Walter's obtuseness on the subject of sexual predators is voiced by a character who suggests teen age pregnancies are the result of young female seducers. Excuse me?? Research shows that most teenage girls become pregnant by a much older man. Too frequently, the male is a relative. Get real Walters. Save your sympathy for the real victims.

Rating:
Summary: very disappointing
Review: I have read of all Minette Walters' books and having read the blurb of this one, was really looking forward to it. I think the theme is a terrific one. However, this was not like her usual style at all. The writing was heavy and ponderous and I particularly did not like how much time and energy she wasted on the thoughts of the paedophile and his father when they had the young doctor as a hostage and prisoner. The book was so "busy"with all the runnings around of the crowd during the fire that it generated an uneasy feeling in me. The action snapped back and forth at an alarming rate. Not at all a pleasure to read. Hope she goes back to her previous style in her next book. She used to be able to create very good psychological thrillers.

Rating:
Summary: A mish-mash of characters and events
Review: I picked this book up on a lark. I finished reading it the next day. While it falls into the crime genre, it is neither a detective novel, nor a courtroom/legal story. It kept me on the edge. After finishing this, I felt that I had found a new author (to me) that I would truly enjoy reading. Sadly, none of the other three I have read since this has been as exciting. Nevertheless, this one was so good that I recommended it to several people, something I rarely do.

Rating:
Summary: Possibly her best yet
Review: I've read all of Minette Walters' books, and this may be her best. It's a break from the overwhelming bleakness of her recent books-- there are actually sympathetic, even heroic, characters. Her books are usually studies in pessemism, but there's an optimistic note running through this book that's quite unexpected-- and, in that last chapter, maybe a little overdone.

Rating:
Summary: WHO wrote this?
Review: If your looking for a book with lots of coarse language, disturbing violence, and a unresolved, unsatisfying ending, this book is for you. I've read all of Minette Walters previous books and enjoyed them all. This one is so dark and depressing and different from all previous that I wish I would have left it on the shelf. If I want to feel that way, all I have to do is turn on the news. There were parts that held my attention, therefore the 3 stars, if not for that, it would have been 0.

Rating:
Summary: One of the finest by a modern master of suspense
Review: Minette Walters has put together a body of work over the last ten years that has rarely been equaled. THE ICE HOUSE is considered one of the 100 favorite mysteries of the century by the Independent Mystery Booksellers Association. Books like THE SCULPTRESS are unforgettable in the power of the depiction of the title character. She now comes out with one of her best novels in years.
Bassindale Estates is a decrepit housing project in England. A sign off the road was vandalized and reads "Welcome to Assi d Row" Hence, the title of the book. Acid Row is "A place of deprivation where literacy was poor, drugs endemic and fights commonplace." Into this volatile mix is placed a pedophile. After a young girl disappears, angry residents hear of this and they organize a protest. Unfortunately, the protest quickly turns into mob rule with the possibility of violence and rioting just under the surface. By juxtaposing points of view, the reader is given access to all parts of this event. Sophie Morrison, a young physician from the local health clinic is unknowingly enters the apartment of the pedophile and is placed into the center of the maelstrom. The local police are helpless and must solicit aid from local residents. The individuals who try to help must become surprising heroes. While this event escalates, the police continue to work the case of the missing child.
Minette Walters examines the psyche of an unruly mob. Once she sets the stage for the confrontation, she does not let go of the thread of suspense. She ensures the reader's unwavering attention by use of a gripping narrative and skillful characterizations. There are several times that Ms. Walters loses some focus but these times are rare. ACID ROW is an excellent example of why Minette Walters is considered a modern master of the genre. This is a very worthy nominee of the CWA Gold Dagger Awards.

Rating:
Summary: Anatomy of a riot...
Review: She's back!!! I thought "Shape of Snakes" was a good book, but I hadn't much passion for the characters. In "Acid Row", the characters are even harder to love (exceedingly so), and yet we do. If I only had a phrase to describe this book, it would be "Anatomy of a Riot" because that is exactly what it is. But before you say "ugh", please give this some consideration. It is so carefully plotted and so meticulously described in terms of sequence and motivation...this alone should be enough, but then Walters layers on the most memorable characters. So why should we care about a riot in a tenement involving people who bear no resemblance to us or our friends? Because that's the fallacy...they are not so removed from us and their frustration is palpable. And they are driven by so many of the same fears and desires. They are no more or less than shadowy reflections of ourselves.

Rating:
Summary: A Thinking Woman's Thriller
Review: Yes, this book is a change of pace for Walters, and yes---it isn't her absolute best work, but it clearly shows that that at least one woman writer can create a good action thriller while making cogent observations on how the conventional wisdom can be dead wrong.

Frankly I enjoy it when a writer I like tries something new. The setup forbodes a depressing turn of events that could only get worse-- however fairly early on, she introduces the three heroes and tells you enough to really like them. Her ability to describe action scenes are as good or better than any male in the genre. She has shown she isn't a one trick pony, and I congratulate her ability to enlarge her audience. This being said, the book almost reads as an outline for a mini-series, and would serve well as a script for such.

Others may object to her ability to turn pedophiles in real characters, rather than just paint the bad guys with a broad brush and have done with them. Some readers are only happy when their writers live up to typecasting. Walters' common sense and refusal to indulge in by the numbers characterization challenges the reader to confront their own prejudices about people different from themselves.

I hope this book finds success outside of the genre and brings a whole new audience to this exceptional writer.