Walters is one foxy writer (Fox Evil - Minette Walters)

Member Name: sandrabarber

Product:	Fox Evil - Minette Walters
Date:	24/10/03 (109 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Walters back on form, Gripping

Disadvantages: None

After the major disappointment of Acid Row, I swore I?d given up on Minette Walters. I considered that novel so beneath her talents that I was determined not to let her let me down again. However, after assurances from my mum that Walters was well and truly back on form, I got myself a copy of her latest paperback, Fox Evil, settled down with a coffee and found myself instantly hooked.


The Plot:

Nancy Smith, the adopted daughter of gentrified country parents, receives a visit from a solicitor informing her that her natural grandfather wants to get in touch. Happy as she is, she refuses point blank. Then she receives a letter from her grandfather which makes it clear that her natural family is beset by secrets, shame and tragedy. She is intrigued.

James Lockyer-Fox, Nancy?s grandfather and a retired army colonel, lives alone in a huge house in Shenstead Valley, Dorset. He is ostracised in the village and besieged by obscene phone calls accusing him of murdering his late wife, Ailsa, who died the previous year.

James and Ailsa had two children: Leo, a playboy and gambler, and Elizabeth, a drunken socialite who gave up Nancy for adoption. James is determined that neither child will inherit his estate upon his death.

Meanwhile, a convoy of new age travellers has arrived in Shenstead Valley and laid claim to a patch of unregistered land. Led by a charismatic but violent and dangerous man known as Fox Evil, they turn the land into a fortress and enrage the local people.

Fox Evil knows an awful lot about the places and people of Shenstead Valley, and clearly has his own personal agenda for the invasion.

As the story unfolds, all are dragged into the world of James Lockyer-Fox more deeply and complexly than they bargained for. And the reader is on a roller-coaster of a journey with more twists and turns than Alton Towers? Nemesis.


The Writing:

Minette Walters is totally bac
k on form with Fox Evil. Those who were fans of her pre Acid Row works, in which she investigated the human psyche and the capacity for wrongdoing with intelligence and style, will not be disappointed.

Every character in this novel is believable and every situation in which they find themselves rings true within the context of the story.

The writing itself is skilful and elegant, and tension is employed to great effect making the book a real page-turner.

I will give none of the plot away, but will say that the climax is certainly worth waiting for and knots up all loose ends perfectly, making Fox Evil a very satisfying read indeed.


Recommendation:

Anyone who turned their back on Walters after Acid Row can return to her books safe in the knowledge that she is once more at her best.

Fox Evil is an intelligent, pacy, complex book that you race through as you are dying to know the end, but regret getting there when you do as it was such a damn good read you want it to go on and on.

Very highly recommended.

Jacket price £6.99

Summary: