Rating: 
Summary: Already read the recommended John Brady books
Review: (Hi guys--just checking this out since it's here now.) But, I wanted to tell you "thank you" for the John Brady recommendations. However, I've already read them. They are pefect for long wet/rainy/cloudy/windy weekends.
Rating:
Summary: Already read the recommended John Brady books
Review: (Hi guys--just checking this out since it's here now.) But, I wanted to tell you "thank you" for the John Brady recommendations. However, I've already read them. They are pefect for long wet/rainy/cloudy/windy weekends.
Rating: 
Summary: An atmospheric psychological thriller
Review: An established star in the firmament of dark psychological suspense, British author Walters has won numerous awards ('The Ice House,' 'The Sculptress,' 'The Scold's Bridle'). This 1996 thriller opens with Jinx Kingsley, fashion photographer and only daughter of self-made millionaire Adam Kingsley, hospitalized and amnesiac after a horrific car accident. A suicide attempt is suspected, particularly since she was earlier found unconscious in her garage with the car running - apparently despondent because her fiance had absconded with her best friend.
Only Jinx didn't like her fiance all that well. She was on the verge of breaking up with him herself, even claims she had done so, although the accident came after a week at her parents', making wedding plans. Then two bodies, a man and woman, are discovered. And police discover Jinx's first husand was murdered.
Meanwhile Jinx's father has had her moved to a sanitarium where she is having a strong effect on her doctor, Alan Protheroe. By turns prickly, manipulative and vulnerable, Jinx becomes a suspect. As does her father, a forceful, unseen presence whose ruthlessness is legend.
Walters keeps the sands of perception shifting. In common with the other characters, the reader's view of Jinx is ambiguous. Her memory returns (or seems to) in painful flashes as the police piece together a skewed picture of greed, betrayal and sexual obsession. An aura of mystery and menace shrouds Jinx's dysfunctional family, suspicion corroding the bonds between them. Walter's writing is literate, character driven and atmospheric, making comparisons - and favorable ones at that - with Ruth Rendell inevitable.
Rating:
Summary: Definitely worth reading.
Review: Hints and clues abound, but the ending still carries some surprises. Characterization is uneven and it's hard to come away saying "I cared about x or y" -- but it's a complex psychological thriller and worth reading. One more-serious cavil: Walters plays fast and loose with her (mis)use of the term "existentialist." I leave it to more erudite readers to critique this if they will. I just stuck it in the "jargon" box and went on to enjoy the story.
Rating:
Summary: Totally engrossing
Review: I found this to be an engrossing book, filled with all the necessary ingredients to make up a really good thriller-murder mystery.There have been 3 hideous murders, the first one 10 years previously and the other 2 committed in exactly the same fashion.All 3 victime were closely connected to Jinx Kingsley, daughter of a former crime boss, now become respectable and very wealthy.Jinx has a stepmother and 2 half brothers, all of whom are very undesirable types and who are involved in a number of shady dealings.Jinx is thought to have attempted suicide and is a suspect in the ghastly murders. A deranged and dangerous murderer is on the loose and the police are sure that everything points to her and her family. I did think that the final solution could have been reached a few chapters earlier,but all in all, it was a good and absorbing read.
Rating:
Summary: Minette is a Master
Review: I have read all of Minette Walter's books and I am constantly surprised. With each book her writing gets stronger and the plots get even more interesting.She truly is a master of suspense. I find that I can't put her books down. Walters was able to take the amnesia plot and weave it in a way that makes it seem as if it were a new plot twist. While Minette does not use repeating characters in her novels she never seems to have a problem getting her reader immediately feeling involved with the characters or the story. I highly recommend reading all of her books.
Rating:
Summary: A Suspenseful Read
Review: I have read several books by Minette Walters and rate this as one of her best. The main character, Jinx Kingsley, has amnesia after a car accident and we are left wondering (as Jinx is)about her involvement in some pretty gruesome murders. A great concept, well handled by the author to create a suspenseful read. The characters are interesting and the pace is good. The only reason I have not given it a five star rating is that I felt that the ending was a bit too happy and optimistic - out of character for some of the personalities in the story. If you have read and enjoyed any of Minette Walters' books before, then you will not be disappointed with The Echo. If you have not read one of her books, this is a good first read. If you like The Echo, then try The Ice House and the Sculptress as well.
Rating:
Summary: Gripping, but occasionally uneven
Review: Jinx awakens in the hospital and is told that she tried to kill herself after being jilted by her fiance for her best friend. She's suffering from short-term amnesia around the event, but is certain that that couldn't be true-- she had been dissatisfied with her relationship herself. Why would she try to kill herself over a relationship she would have been relieved to have ended? The question becomes more than academic when the pair turn up murdered, and the question is how much Jinx really remembers... The book kept me reading, and fascinated. Jinx was a strongly drawn character and conflicted enough that you buy the fact that people have doubts about her innocence. The ending was unfortunately disappointing for being overly convoluted. It may not live up to the standard of The Scold's Bridal, but it's a well-written book.
Rating: 
Summary: Way too long and repetitive
Review: The story revolves around Jane `Jinx' Kingsley, the daughter of a millionaire businessman and, until very recently, fiancée to another well-to-do gentleman. She has just been involved in a car accident, which looks very much like an attempted suicide. To top things off she's suffering amnesia as a result of the accident and can't explain the events leading up to the crash. It's the all-important amnesia that is the key to this mystery/thriller as the police are desperate to piece together events leading up to the accident. They want to know whether Jinx was so distraught over the break-up with her fiancé that she tried to kill herself, or was there some other motive at work. They become even more desperate to get inside Jinx's mind when a couple of bodies are discovered dumped in suspicious circumstances. From this point we are taken on a somewhat surreal journey through Jinx's life as police, and Jinx herself for that matter, try to work out what actually happened. Had she attempted suicide or was it staged by her to look as though someone tried to murder her. Or was it something more sinister, a murder attempt made to look like suicide. Minette Walters has written a very interesting story of intrigue providing us with plenty of possible scenarios and suspects. As readers, we are displayed with a picture at the start of the book that is very incomplete and blurry. As the story continues, the picture is gradually filled in and starts to become sharper and easy to understand. It was very well done by the author. Another aspect of the book I found particularly interesting was the character of Adam Kingsley, Jinx's father. He never actually made an appearance in the book, yet his presence is almost overbearing thanks to the regular references to him. By keeping him at a distance to us he seemed much more menacing. Although I thought this was quite a good story, it tended to ramble on a little in the middle and so, fell flat, before it was gathered up again for a strong ending.
Rating: 
Summary: Very good - - but predictable
Review: This is the first book I have read by Walters, and I was impressed by her ability to weave a creative story line and suspenseful plot. My disappointment in the book was the use of the same old sterotypes which gave away the villian of the story. A good number of the characters fell into those same old sterotypes of people that you see in movies and read in books, but hardly ever (if at all) meet in real life. I found myself catagorizing each as they came into the story and half way into the book, I suspected, to my chagrin, that she was going to play one sterotype to the end. I kept hoping that she would turn from the course, but as each clue was dropped, it became obvious who the murderer was well before the end of the book. My only suspense at that point, was hoping beyond hope that there would be an Agatha Christie type plot twist which showed me I was wrong, but it was not to be. I liked the ending though, as it restored some of the unpredictablity that had left the story earlier, and gave you a chance mull over the various possibilities. Overall though, the story was well written and sometimes fun. The author played fair in leaving clues that, in the absence of sterotypes, would have left me going back and saying it should have been obvious, and I found myself liking even hard to like characters. If you're looking for a good mystery, try Agatha Christie first, but then give Minette Walters a chance, but start with another one of her books.
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