Rating: 
Summary: What is irresistible about these books
Review: Walters' books remind me a bit of Shakespeare's tragedies if we had come in on the story near the end. We work backwards to find out how they have gotten to this wretched point -- and we usually do meet them at rock bottom -- and then we watch them rise up just a little to grab one more time at their humanity before succombing to their ultimate fate.Walters fascinates me because she starts with a cast of characters who appear to be generally awful people, or jerks. They aren't people we like, nor do we want to like them. And then she unfolds their stories for us, and forces us -- and her other characters -- to look behind the veneer at the more complete individual. Especially when we don't want to. Barry is a good example in this book. While we are sympathetic with his emotional crippling due to life circumstances, we still dislike him. At the same time, Barry is human, and believable, and so we find ourselves drawn, if a bit squeamishly, into his misshapen life. I place Walters with Elizabeth George, J. Wallis Martin, and Ruth Rendell as writers who write dark, psychological mysteries (and to some degree Laurie King's Kate Martinelli stuff fits here too.) They are neither light, nor comfortable, but they do satisfy on a deeper level.
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