Reviews

From her first book to her most recent, Minette has consistently impressed her critics as well as her fans.

We've collected a sample of these great reviews. For reviews of Minettes's more recent books, please click the appropriate links. Of course, if you haven't read one of her books, we encourage you to do so and then form  your own opinion!

FOX EVIL    

Elizabeth Buchan, Daily Mail, 15/11/02: ‘Minette Walters patrols the darkest areas of the human heart. Her writing demonstrates an acute grip on psychological truth at the point where violence meets domestic gothic, plus an unrivalled capacity to conjure up evil and terror that almost punches you in the face… At heart an old-fashioned murder mystery, Fox Evil has a tightly constructed narrative and is fleshed out with beautifully drawn characters, but its language, sensibility and setting shine a disturbing light on who we are now.’

Limited Edition (Bucks), 01/11/02: ‘Minette Walters is one of Britain’s most exciting crime writers. Fox Evil is a characteristically dark and compelling new psychological thriller… An uncomfortable and disturbing read as always — not for the faint hearted.’

Naomi Wright, Dorset Echo, 09/11/02: ‘Once again, one of Britain’s best-loved crime writers Minette Walters has put pen to paper to conjure up a story with just the right mixture of intrigue, suspense, murder and mayhem in her latest novel, Fox Evil… keeps the readers gripped’.

Kati Nicholl, Daily Express, 07/12/02: ‘From the very first chapter… Minette Walters succeeds, as always, in creating a chilling, claustrophobic world where death comes almost as a relief from the sense of focused evil she builds with consummate authority… a deliciously complicated psychological thriller with more twists and turns than a rat-run… Fox Evil is brilliantly atmospheric, and the character of Wolfie, in particular, is superbly and compellingly drawn’.

Mike Ripley, Birmingham Post, 23/11/02: ‘Fox Evil is a tightly plotted psychological thriller, packed with rounded characters and sub-themes including the debate on foxhunting. It also excels as an examination of the creeping evil of jealousy and of the guilt felt by survivors… All in all, a richly textured novel that could be one of the best things Walters has done. Which is saying something.’

Barry Forshaw, www.amazon.co.uk: ‘Fox Evil has the kind of penetrating psychological insight that we have come to regard as her (Walters’) particular speciality.’

Lesley McDowell, The Scotsman, 14/12/02: ‘Walters’s topicality… adds admirably to the tension. Like all the best crime thrillers, this tale rattles along, picking up speed as it goes, carrying the reader irresistibly along with it, with a few diversions from the path just to keep you on your toes… yet another addition to her (Walters’) list of absorbing, sophisticatedly written thrillers.’

Jan Lee, Oxford Times, 13/02/03: ‘Walters starts at a gentle pace… Then, inexorably, she accumulates one frightening and telling detail after the next until all the motives and mysteries of the Lockyer-Fox family… are laid bare… Minette Walters skilfully weaves current social problems into old-fashioned murder, adultery, drinking and incest in a complicated and gripping mystery.’

Grainne Costello, Nottingham Evening Post, 01/03/03: ‘Fox Evil is as strong as any of her earlier novels… As usual, Walters manages a large cast of characters and several plot strands that move together as the story progresses.’

Myles McWeeney, Irish Independent, 08/02/03: ‘…this intelligent, intricate and literate suspense novel hums with passion and exposes the dark side of the urban-rural divide’.

Sue Leonard, Irish Examiner, 30/11/02: ‘Fox Evil, is a wonderfully complex psychological thriller, with numerous twists.’

Kate Wilson, Newbury Weekly News, 09/01/03: ‘Minette Walters excels in exposing us to the menace that hides behind the façade of normal life and ‘Fox Evil’ is no exception… A disturbingly frightening and in places violent thriller… this is a truly gripping read.’

Marcel Berlins, The Times (Play), 21/12/02: ‘Walters, perhaps more than any other crime writer today, possesses the gift of conveying tension and menace in the most humdrum scenes… Walters’s world is dark and ambiguous; Fox Evil is the work of a writer at the peak of her confidence and supreme ability.’

Jane Jakeman, Independent (Magazine), 14/12/02: ‘Walters produces her usual brilliant sleight-of-hand, always gripping, the conclusions never anticipated’

Susanna Yager, Sunday Telegraph (Review), 08/12/02: ‘Minette Walters is on her best form in her gripping new novel, Fox Evil.’

Birmingham Evening Post, 07/12/02: ‘One of Minette’s strengths is developing compelling, complex but likeable characters and she does not disappoint with this latest offering.’

Sarah Crompton, The Telegraph, 29/12/02: ‘(Fox Evil) has all the Walters hallmarks: intricate plotting, vivid description, pseudo-real reportage. It also contains what I most value in her books - strong characters behaving intelligently… The suspense is terrific’.

ACID ROW    (TOP)

(No 1 bestseller / Shortlisted for Crime Writers Association Macallan gold dagger for fiction)

Good Book Guide, 01/09/02: ‘Walters keeps the cutting-edge aspects of her narratives to the fore, cleverly wrong-footing the reader at every turn. Her most authoritative and compelling novel to date.’

Good Book Guide, 01/11/02: ‘…tough and stylish thriller.’

Mail on Sunday, 08/09/02: 4* ‘This gripping novel seems astonishingly prescient in the light of recent events… Acid Row is a first-rate thriller that will keep you hooked until the final twist. It’s also a thought provoking and very modern tale, raising awkward questions about the nature of justice.’

Bob Williams, Driffield Post, 23/08/02 and Bridlington Gazette & Herald, 20/08/02: ‘By combining elements of psychological thrillers with traditional mysteries Minette Walters succeeds in writing bestsellers which also receive critical acclaim… Minette Walters cleverly wrong-foots the reader at every turn and this excellent writer maintains the tension of her most compelling novel to date.’

Diana Brazier, Telegraph & Argus (Bradford), 10/08/02: ‘Martin Amis said that literature originally featured the Gods, had now descended to the middle-class and had nowhere else to go. Walters proves him wrong… This book should be sent to all government ministers.’

Hot Stars, 10/08/02: ‘A gripping, dark thriller.’

The Daily Telegraph, 27/07/02: ‘A gripping thriller inspired by the News of the World’s campaign to publish a register of sex offenders.’

Choice, August 02: ‘An electrifying and suspenseful tale.’

Sainsbury’s Magazine, August 02: ‘In Minette Walters’ eighth novel, Acid Row… the celebrated crime writer takes on the most incendiary of subjects — paedophilia — and combines it with the hottest day of summer on a deprived housing estate in south-west England, to devastating effect… Clever characterisation and a complex web of suspense makes this an utterly gripping read.’

Vic Buckner, Crime Time, 01/04/02: ‘Walters keeps the cutting-edge aspects of her narratives to the fore, cleverly wrong-footing the reader at every turn: although we think we have decided how we feel about the endangered paedophile and the vigilantes, she never allows these aspects to overwhelm the nagging, disturbing power of her narrative. At heart, Acid Row is still a mystery… This is probably Walters’ most authoritative and compelling novel to date.’

Felicity Warner, Sunday Express, 02/12/01: ‘Acid Row evokes haunting reminders of last year’s "name and shame" riots. And despite the harrowing subject, the book is a gripping and exciting read, covering events at a galloping pace, as they spiral into a full-blown riot in vintage thriller style.’

Philip Oakes, Literary Review, 01/12/01: ‘Vivid, tearaway action, with plot development and suspense skilfully orchestrated.’

Marcel Berlins, The Times (Play supplement), 24/11/01: ‘The build-up to the riot is brilliantly assembled. Walters understands the dynamic of a mob in action. She knows how rumours spread… She has a feel, too, for the insidious way in which normally pleasant, benign people — especially the young — can find themselves absorbed into an outpouring of mass hysteria. The riot itself — which takes up much of the book — is described with equally compelling realism… Walters masterfully weaves the disparate human stories into the action and in so doing pinpoints areas of social stress and depression far more convincingly and movingly than any official report or policeman’s speech.’

Sarah Crompton, Daily Telegraph, 15/12/01: ‘Acid Row contains an astonishing description of a riot… You know roughly what is going to happen from the first page… But it is to Walters’s credit that these announcements make you all the more eager to find out what happened and how and why… What raises Acid Row above pure reportage is the wide range of characters… who march across its pages with all the vitality and complicated rough edges of reality… The same humane intelligence enables Walters to twist and turn her plot in ways that haul the reader through the pages — and yet remain psychologically satisfying. It’s a breathtaking achievement.’

Paul Allen, Nuneaton Evening Telegraph, 12/01/02: ‘It all sounds so awful… But the writing is so skilful that you accept the subject matter and go straight to the characters caught up in this grim parody of recent real-life events… A marvellously readable account of human behaviour at its very worst and its very best.’

Allan Laing, Glasgow Herald, 29/12/01: ‘Minette Walters surely confirms her position as Britain’s finest contemporary crime writer, male or female, with Acid Row… her eighth novel and by far the best she has written. If there was a better crime novel written this year then I’ve yet to find it. Walters has never gone in for straightforward whodunits; her books are always too clever for that. Here… she weaves a taut and sometimes harrowing tale… The second strand of Walters’ gripping story is the anatomy of a riot. And here the author really excels, creating a frightening but all too vivid picture of chaos on a poverty-stricken housing scheme.’

Sentinel Sunday, 23/12/01: ‘Another terrifyingly gripping novel’.

Geoffrey Wansell, Daily Mail, 14/12/01: ‘Walters’ eighth novel crackles like a police radio in the midst of the tumult. This is no reflective police procedural… This is crime at the front line — fresh as today’s headlines… Walters commands her plot with the assurance of a veteran storyteller. Interwoven into the narrative are police command messages and ambulance service reports, underlying the authenticity of events — which unfold at a pace that almost takes the breath away.’

Susanna Yager, The Sunday Telegraph (Review), 18/11/01: ‘The story is skilfully structured and there are some exciting passages, with an underlying edge of anger in the writing.’

Alison Ferst, Evening Gazette, 16/11/01: ‘As ever Minette Walters has her finger on the pulse of reality as she hits a topical note with her latest novel… Rapid-fire short chapters make this fast moving and pacy… The villains become unlikely heroes and the elderly display their Dunkirk spirit while the feckless stand firm against the mob which proves that turning stereotypes on their head can still be a good yarn.’

Daily Echo (Dorset), 17/11/01: ‘Dorset’s queen-of-crime author’s eighth novel plumbing deep psychological waters… Grabs you where the chiller hurts.’

The List (Glasgow & Edinburgh), 15/11/01: ‘With her last couple of novels, the prolific Minette Walters has graduated from eerie ‘Big House’ whodunits to grittier works… Typically, the careful plot construction is the novel’s strength… the novel (has) the urgency and excitement of a 70s disaster movie.’

Maxim Jakubowski, The Guardian, 01/12/01: ‘Treading uncomfortable psychological waters, Minette Walters’ Acid Row… brings evil worryingly close to home… Walters turns the screw with relentless precision; her world of dereliction is also a portrait of a neglected Britain that sparks much recognition. Disturbing and courageous.’

Mike Ripley, Birmingham Post, 24/11/01: ‘a blistering thriller which cranks up the tension level to near breaking point.’

The Independent (Friday Review), 09/11/01: ‘Acid Row… interweaves two stories… in prose that is spare yet highly charged and that tweaks the prejudices of its (inevitably middle-class) readers.’

Joanna Knudson (ed), www.newswatch.co.uk, 26/10/01: ‘Classic Walters, chilling, compelling and up-put-downable!’

Deborah Penn (ed), Kentish Gazette & Medway Messenger, 07&08/03/02: ‘This is crime at the front line crackling with action like a police radio, tragically topical… Events unfold at a breathtaking pace.’

THE SHAPE OF SNAKES    (TOP)

Harriet Waugh, Spectator, 08/12/01: ‘In The Shape of Snakes… the novel expands into… complex labyrinths. In consequence, the whodunit element turns out to be a serious surprise.’

Peter Guttridge, Observer, 29/10/00: ‘The Shape of Snakes, is, quite simply, a tour de force… it succeeds magnificently at almost every level… this is a superb, compelling exploration of guilt and revenge.’

Maxim Jakubowski, Guardian, 28/10/00: ‘First-person narrative and documents combine in a complex psychological story with hidden depths.’

The Observer, 17/12/00: 'This psychological thriller combines compassion and a strong social conscience with a ruthless ability to create unease, suspense and, sometimes, horror.'

Jane Jakeman, The Independent, 16/12/00: ‘Dropping the sensational imagery of her previous books, Walters shows that crime fiction can really investigate profound questions, and the terrible truth of the old saying, "stone dead hath no fellow".’

The Journal (Newcastle upon Tyne), 07/08/01: ‘Ann Butts’s passing could have gone largely unnoticed — and yet here are nearly 450 pages of brilliant fiction spun out of a lonely, fictional death.’

Choice, August 01: ‘Once again, the author has produced a triumphant, twisting psychological tale.’

Sunday Mercury (Birmingham), 05/08/01: ‘If you pack THE SHAPE OF SNAKES… as your holiday paperback, you’ll be so absorbed you won’t care if it rains or shines… As Walters skilfully unwraps the layers of her story, we are slowly let into a world of betrayal, deceit, violence, obsession, cruelty and long-suppressed crimes. Not many books live up to the ""unputdownable" tag but this one does, right to the very last word of its emotional climax.’

Maggie Hartford, Oxford Times, 03/08/01: ‘If you are looking for a classy thriller you can’t do better than this… Walter (sic) is on top form as she integrates racism, mental illness and dysfunctional relationships into a compelling page turner.’

Rachel Simhon, Daily Telegraph, 17/11/01: ‘The Shape of Snakes… is a meticulous observation of the psychological impulses that lead to murder, and compel someone to spend 20 years uncovering the truth. It is intriguingly peppered throughout with facsimile documents and letters — and the sad and humane ending made me cry.’

Books Magazine, Autumn 01: ‘(a) mesmerising tale’.

Marion McMullen, Coventry Evening Telegraph & Nuneaton Evening Telegraph, 29/09/01: ‘A classy murder mystery from a classy writer.’

Simon Shaw, Mail on Sunday, 09/09/01: ‘Minette Walters’s latest bestseller is a powerful literary thriller which paints a disturbing picture of bigotry and mendacity in the suburban English soul.’

Saubhik Chakrabarti, The Sunday Statesman, 26/08/01: ‘Ms Walters never loses sight of her genre’s first and foremost requirement — keep the suspense. Who murdered Annie is a question always present in this highly unusual — for this genre — non-linear and sometimes formidably complex narrative. The answer will surprise the most demanding mystery aficionados. They should unhesitatingly buy this book.’

Fiona Moutford, Daily Telegraph, 01/09/01: ‘(The Shape of Snakes is) one of the books most likely to have entertained holidaymakers this summer’.

Sainsbury’s Magazine, 01/08/01: ‘Another tour de force from the brilliant Minette Walters… An absorbing, horrific and deeply moving tale that twists and turns to the very last page.’

Kentish Times (Swanley & District and Bromley & Beckenham), 17/08/01: (Book of the Week) ‘Master thriller writer Minette Walters brings her characteristic meticulous style to bear in The Shape of Snakes… another compelling and constantly surprising tale.’

Wayne Burrows, Big Issue in the North, 27/08-02/09/01: ‘Walters’ often disturbing novel tells a story as timely as it is effective.’

THE BREAKER    (TOP)

People Magazine, May 99: ‘A worthy rival to P.D. James and Ruth Rendell. With her insightful psychology and intriguing contemporary characters--no tea-sipping Vicars here, thank you very much-- Walters gives the English village mystery a fine new spin.’

Los Angeles Times, July 00: ‘Minette Walters knows the cruel kinkiness that can lurk behind the most sedate of facades.’

Marilyn Stasio, The New York Times Book Review, July 00: ‘(A) tantalizing English whodunit that hinges on the aberrant nature of a crime and the deviant psychology of the people most likely to have committed it...’

San Diego Union, July 00: ‘A virtuoso of psychological suspense.’
Jeri Wright, www.MysteryReader.com, July 00: ‘This is a dark, complex, and somehow intimate mystery... an engrossing read.’

THE ECHO    (TOP)

Val McDermid, www.twbooks.co.uk (TWUK Crime and Mystery Fiction Database, originally in Manchester Evening News): ‘In many ways the most thoughtful of Minette Walters' bestsellers… As different from its predecessors as they are from each other, this is another sure-fire hit for Walters.’

Publisher’s Weekly, March 98: ‘Sinuous plotting and an ability to bring a large cast of characters quickly to life put Walters's… fifth suspense novel in the same ballpark as the work of Ruth Rendell… a superior storyteller who plumbs psychological depths with an acuity that here, as before, will have readers enthralled.’

Library Journal, March 98: ‘More well-crafted psychological suspense from a master.’

Kirkus Reviews, March 98: ‘Walters… who's spent too long in Ruth Rendell's shadow, bids fair to break out of the pack with this teasing, impassioned puzzle, which shows her growing and broadening her range with a vitality as alarming as her characters.’

THE DARK ROOM    (TOP)

www.twbooks.co.uk (TWUK Crime and Mystery Fiction Database), 12/95: ‘Grabs the reader with a shocking and grisly prologue and simply doesn't let go for a tense 397 pages of nailbiting suspense. Walters is a pathologist of the perverse desires that drive us to unimaginable places, writing with real empathy and pity and turning ambiguity into an art form. This is contemporary crime writing at its absolute peak.’

Michele Leber, Library Journal, March 97: ‘Award-winning author Walters has another hit in this riveting, intricately woven tale of murder, jealousy, and sexual obsession… Walters sets a new standard for British mysteries, with her fine characterizations and intelligent prose; she has a winner here.’

Emily Melton, Booklist, March 97: ‘Walters is masterful at tantalizing the reader with odd clues, subtle nuances, obscure hints, and titillating glimpses into the characters' checkered pasts, and she uses rapier-sharp, psyche-probing character analyses and a tightly constructed plot to further lure her readers.’

THE SCOLD'S BRIDLE    (TOP)

www.malicebooks.com: ‘considerably more violent and enormously well written which, for my money, is the best combination possible.’

www.mysterylovers.com, October 1995: ‘Minette Walters’s first two books… are a hard act to follow but this talented newcomer proves that three is a charm with the outstanding The Scold’s Bridle… A clever and subtle mystery… Another top-notch performance.’

THE SCULPTRESS    (TOP)

Good Book Guide, 01/10/02: ‘Spirited writing.’

www.twbooks.co.uk (TWUK Crime and Mystery Fiction Database), 03/03/03: ‘…what seems straightforward at the beginning of the story turns into a clever and complex plot full of twists and turns and with surprises all the way. The ending is masterly in its ambiguity, leaving the reader with a sense of cold unease… a thoroughly satisfying read.’

JM, www.mysteryguide.com, 06/07/99: ‘Walters expertly doles out clues in increments to twist and turn the plot in unexpected directions and at a steadily escalating pace… it deals intelligently with the relationship of women's identity to their physicality, challenging the reader to understand a totally unglamorous and even repulsive person… imaginative, well-written, and entertaining’.

Emily Melton, BookList, September 94: ‘Walters mesmerizes her readers with a sleek, exciting tale whose slick veneer disguises a sinister, menacing evil. Stunning in its intensity, this powerful novel should establish Walters as one of today's more intelligent writers of psychological suspense.’

Kirkus Reviews, September 94: ‘Walters brings a shivery mastery to the old-fashioned British whodunit, with plotting as twisted as the characters' secrets.’

THE ICE HOUSE    (TOP)

Hilary Bonner, The Independent (The Information), 28/06/03: ‘…possibly one of the most successful first novels ever.’

Kirkus Reviews, August 93: ‘Unholy passions seethe inches beneath a proper surface: a brutal, literate debut–especially welcome to fans of Ruth Rendell.’

‘Startingly, compulsively readable.’ – Colin Dexter
‘An original first mystery, with some unusual insights into the friendship and loyalties between women.’ – Sarah Caudwell