Customer Reviews

Acid Row

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(12)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(6)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

A young girl, Amy, goes missing, around the same time it is revealed that a paedophile is living in the housing estate from which she disappeared. The people come out in force to protest at his presence. Slowly, the protests bud into riots, stretching the police force, breeding greater and greater acts of violence. The streets of "Bassindale Row" (dubbed "Acid Row" by its inhabitants) are thronged with angry citizens, some well-meaning, and some there just to further incite destruction. Events build to a crescendo, as the troubled housing estate is swept under the tide of a crowd whose slogan is "Saving Amy"...But, the rioters are unaware of the presence of Sophie Morrison, a young doctor called to the house of the "pervert" just before events erupted. Now she is trapped inside with a man she increasingly comes to believe is capable of great violence...

Minette Walters continues in the vein of her last book, bringing forth a novel once again full of deep social perception. This time, she writes about the events which recently swept Great Britain, with all the furore of exposing paedophiles, and the doubled-edged sword that doing so would unsheathe.

The first thirty pages or so are just typical Walters. Accurate psychology, deep prose, great characters, realism in the writing, etc. However, once the riots begin, the book gets swept away with the pace. It moves too quickly. Character development, which was building so brilliantly at first, is sacrificed, and several of the characters introduced later on in the story come across as cardboard and cliched. The excitement of the events just takes the book too quickly. It does make it a great pageturner, yes. And i am sure that fact will win it praise, but at the expense of plot and character development, I'm not certain it's worth it. Because her books are always pageturners ANYWAY.

So, the middle section of this book is underdeveloped. I think Walters probably got carried away. When a writer is penning an exciting plot, they are apt to get carried away. they rush it, eager to experience the action of the plot themselves. As such, the action and riots feel underdeveloped and shallow, and the book doesn't always "feel" like a Minette Walters novel.

While the deep accurate psychology of character is lost after the first thirty pages, something does redeem that. Instead of individual character psychology, we are treated this time to an accurate representation of mob psychology. This does make up, mostly, for the fact that the plot is mostly underdeveloped.

The ending is very good. A great climax, with a nice twist, but considering what we know of how events like these conspired in England, some may find it predictable from quite a way off. however, that certainly doesn't spoil the enjoyment.

The final chapter has been criticised for being too "happy ever after-ey". Yes, it does contain that quality, but i don't mind. I prefer to look at it as a display of hope, and the fact that sometimes, good does win out over evil, and the sometimes bad events spawn good things. It is rather uplifting, and a lovely way to finish off the book. Leaves you with good, happy feelings about what has happened.

This book is still incredibly enjoyable. I finished it in two days. It's a pageturner, and contains some likeable, if at times 2d, characters. The central section is underdeveloped after a brilliant initial 30 pages, and the writing gets swept away in the excitement. However, the explorations of mob psychology at times make up for that, and the ending shines through with hope. As ever, the prose is very good.

This is a recommended book, but perhaps not quite what we have come to expect from Walters.

A young girl, Amy, goes missing, around the same time it is revealed that a peadophile is living in the housing estate from which she disappeared. The people come out in force to protest at his presence. Slowly, the protests bud into riots, stretching the police force, breeding greater and greater acts of violence. The streets of "Bassindale Row" (dubbed "Acid Row" by its inhabitants) are thronged with angry citizens, some well-meaning, and some there just to further incite destruction. Events build to a crescendo, as the troubled housing estate is swept under the tide of a crowd whos slogan is "Saving Amy"...But, the rioters are unaware of the presence of Sophie Morrison, a young doctor called to the house of the "pervert" just before events erupted. Now she is trapped inside with a man she increasingly comes to believe is capable of great violence...

Minette Walters continues in the vein of her last book, bringing forth a novel once again full of deep social perception. This time, she writes about the events which recently swept Great Britain, with all the furore of exposing peadophiles, and the doubled-edged sword that doing so would unsheath.

The first thirty pages or so are just typical Walters. Accurate psychology, deep prose, great characters, realism in the writing, etc. However, once the riots begin, the book gets swept away with the pace. It moes too quickly. Character development, which was building so brilliantly at first, is sacrificed, and several of the characters introduced later on in the story come across as cardboard and cliched. The excitement of the events just takes the book too quickly. It does make it a great pageturner, yes. And i am sure that fact will win it praise, but at the expense of plot and character development, im not certainl it's worth it. Becuase her books are always pageturners ANYWAY.

So, the middle section of this book is underdeveloped. I think Walters probably got carried away. When a writer is penning an exciting plot, they are apt to get carried away. they rush it, eager to experience the action of the plot themselves. As such, the action and riots feel underdevloped and shallow, and the book doesnt always "feel" like a Minette Walters novel.

While the deep acurate psychology of character is lost after the first thirty pages, something does redeem that. Instead of individual character psychology, we are treated this time to an accurate representation of mob psychology. This does make up, mostly, for the fact that the plot is mostly underdeveloped.

The ending is very good. A great climax, with a nice twist, but considering what we know of how events like these conspired in England, some may find it predictable from quite a way off. however, that certainly doesn't spoil the enjoyment.

The final chapter has been criticised for being too "happy ever after-ey". Yes, it does contain that quality, but i don't mind. I prefer to look at it as a display of hope, and the fact that sometimes, good does win out over evil, and the sometimes bad events spawn good things. It is rather uplifting, and a lovely way to finish off the book. Leaves you with good, happy feelings about what has happened.

This book is still incredibly enjoyable. I finished it in two days. It's a pageturner, and contains some likeable, if at times 2d, characters. The central section is underdeveloped after a brilliant initial 30 pages, and the writing gets swept away in the excitement. However, the explorations of mob psychology at times make up for that, and the ending shines through with hope. As ever, the prose is very good.

This is a reccomended book, but perhaps not quite what we have come to expect from Walters.

("Fox Evil", her next book, looks set to be yet another full of social observancy (Soldier returns from Kosovo, only to find the community in which she lives has slid into hostility.) I have to say, i think two is enough. I would soon quite like her to return to the psychological mysteries which made her name, as enjoyable as these books are.)

Society breaks down in a housing project and a peaceful demonstration gets completely out of hand, as we follow the fate of a young woman doctor trapped inside a house with its inhabitants and a little girl who is missing.

While this was not exactly what I was expecting, once I got into it, I couldn't put it down. Walters is a master of character and suspense, which is a powerful combination that keeps the pages turning as if they had a mind of their own. There are multiple story lines, each as spellbinding as the last.

I do love Minette Walters other books, specifically Ice House, The Sculptress and Shape of Snakes. While this is not my favorite of the Walters book, I give it four out of five stars. If you haven't read any other of Walters' books, you may want to start with one of the other three, I just mentioned.

This thought-provoking book is a stark example of how a little bit of information, when it gets into the wrong hands, can be dangerously and tragically misused. Minette Walters has written another fine thriller , this time it's based around an enclosed, lower class community called Bassindale Row, known to the locals as Acid Row.

The problems in Acid Row start when rumours begin to circulate that a paedophile has been secretly housed in their midst. This rumour is neither confirmed nor denied, but is escalated to fact in the minds of the locals when a young girl, Amy Biddulph, goes missing. Things come to a head when a march is organised to protest the housing of the `nonce' and among the protestors are the inevitable troublemakers who are determined to see the day end in bloodshed. The situation is made even worse when the entrances to the community are barricaded, making it impossible for police or ambulances to gain access.

From the beginning of the riot, there are two stories running in parallel. There is the story of the riot outside the house of the alleged paedophile and there is also the investigation into Amy Biddulph's disappearance. Both of these stories highlight how people's perceptions can rule over how they act and react to a given circumstance.

While focussing on the riot, there were two important aspects highlighted. The first was from the point of view of the rioters outside the house and the rage that was barely held in check. The second was from inside the house where a young female doctor was trapped with the two men who were the real objects of the crowd's hatred. Even within the house, while their lives were in danger from the angry mob, yet another drama was being played out, significantly adding to the tension.

The only problem I had with the story was the very clichéd ending which has been done to death by just about every bad sit-com ever made. I just didn't feel that such a hard-hitting story dealing with real life problems deserved to finish with two of the characters sitting around reflecting on the events and going through the lessons that they had learnt from the experience. The story was well told enough to stand on it's own.

Take out the last chapter and I felt that Minette Walters has produced a captivating social comment that is all too true and accurate.

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.

Bassindale Estate, known as Acid Row by the people that live there, is a bleak, rundown council estate. Nobody living there works and most of the residents are single mothers or layabouts. Youth gangs control the streets, roaming at will wherever they please, doing whatever they want, often terrorizing the residents. And if all that isn't bad enough, Acid Row is a place the cops prefer to stay clear of.

Sophie Morrison is a young doctor who refuses to give up on the people in Acid Row. They are her patients, her friends and she goes out of her way to lend them a helping hand whenever she gets the chance. Unfortunately for Sophie, trouble is brewing.

When Melanie Patterson, who is a young mother, hears that the authorities have moved a convicted pedophile onto the estate, word spreads and the residents are furious and determined to find out where this man is living. Then a young child goes missing and suspicion immediately falls on two men who have recently moved next door to Melanie. Deciding to take matters into their own hands, the residents hold a protest march around the estate to demand these men be moved out.

Sophie is finishing a house call, when she gets called to see a man in the throws of an asthma attack. She helps the man, then is prevented from leaving. One of these men is the suspected pedophile and they decide to hold her as insurance against the protesters, who are now outside their door.

Sophie suffers horribly as she fights for her life inside the house, while the crowd outside is drinking and getting violent. Firebombs are thrown and the crowd starts crying for blood.

This book has a great ending with a nice twist and it's a good suspenseful read, though it's a thriller, not the mystery I expected. However, that made no difference, because it's such a powerful story.

This is the second book I have read by Minette Walters, and I think it is even better than the other book I have read. At the same time as the author is presenting an exciting story, she explains a lot about how people live and think. She shows how dangerous it is when information is spread in the wrong way. A slip of the tongue and a social worker tells a worried mum that a pedophile has moved into the neighbourhood. She does not say who, but the mother has her suspicions. The trouble starts when innocent people get tangeled up in the drama, and when people who are more interested in causing mayhem than to shelter the children, get involved.

Having read several of her books and finding them a good mix of mystery and psychology, I can tell you this book does not stand up. The premise of the story is good, but the result, at best, is a book suitable for a quick read on the beach. Neither the characters or the psychological implications are as well developed (early childhood abuse has been done to death), and the main characters really aren't that likable. Worse, the book becomes more and more unbelievable as it goes on. She kept digging herself deeper and deeper into un-reality. Are we really supposed to believe that the angry mob was outside the house that whole time and nobody ever thought to go around back and enter through the rear door like Jimmy and the army guy did? The Ice House and The Breaker are both much more recommended.

Minette Walters has long been one of my favorite authors and I have never graded her lower than four stars. This is a strange novel in several senses: (1) The structure, like several other of her books, alternates between pseudo-documentary and story, (2) There is no hero or even leading character - just a host of interesting people with intertwinigng lives, (3) the action occurs over an extremely short time frame and (2) the resolution is rather weak and indeed, logically a letdown.

Once again, we are given a cast of interesting, realistic people caught in situations both gritty and pitiful. The best thing about Walters's characters is their dialogue - they talk like people in real life and not in books. There are two plotlines. The first concerns the disappearance of a young girl in a bad part of town - Acid Row. Investigations leades to ominous revelations. The second concerns Melanie, a welfare mom trying to overcome a host of issues. A social worker, frustrated at her sloth and bad habits, blurts out (illegally) that a pedophile is in the neighbothood and her daughter is in danger.

Melanie and her mom organize a march that quickly turns deadly as criminals, dopeheads and binge drinkers unite to "get the perverts". Another social worker, a doctor, happens to be at the house targeted by the crowd and discovers that the father and son have dark secrets that put her own life in danger. All the while, the police continue their investigation of the background of all those who had contact with the girl and discover a bag of terrible secrets. Walters excels at showing that just beneath the surface of citility and social calm lies an almost animal instinct and sometimes, like a beast of prey, we smell blook and it excites us.

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.