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The Devil's Feather
AMIDST THE MIRE OF A BLOODY WAR, WHO WILL NOTICE THE EMERGENCE OF A SEXUAL PSYCHOPATH FROM THE RANKS OF THE MERCENARIES?
When five women are brutally murdered in Sierra Leone, Reuters correspondent Connie Burns questions the arrest of three rebel soldiers for the crimes. No one listens. In the wake of a vicious civil war that saw hundreds of thousands killed and displaced, the rape and murder of women are of little consequence. And who cares if child soldiers are beaten into confessing?
With little to go on, except her witnessing of a savage attack on a prostitute, Connie believes a foreigner is responsible—a man who claims to have been in the SAS and who works as a bodyguard to a Lebanese diamond trader. She remembers him from Kinshasa, when he was a mercenary for Laurent Kabila's regime, and she suspects he uses the chaos of war to act out sadistic fantasies against women.
Two years later in Iraq, the consequences of her second attempt to expose him are devastating. Terrified, degraded and destroyed, she goes into hiding in England, where she strikes up a friendship with Jess Derbyshire, a loner whose reclusive nature may well be masking secrets of her own. Seeing parallels between herself and Jess, Connie borrows from the other woman's strength and makes the hazardous decision to attempt a third unmasking of a serial killer, knowing he will come looking for her...
When five women are brutally murdered in Sierra Leone, Reuters correspondent Connie Burns questions the arrest of three rebel soldiers for the crimes. No one listens. In the wake of a vicious civil war that saw hundreds of thousands killed and displaced, the rape and murder of women are of little consequence. And who cares if child soldiers are beaten into confessing?
With little to go on, except her witnessing of a savage attack on a prostitute, Connie believes a foreigner is responsible—a man who claims to have been in the SAS and who works as a bodyguard to a Lebanese diamond trader. She remembers him from Kinshasa, when he was a mercenary for Laurent Kabila's regime, and she suspects he uses the chaos of war to act out sadistic fantasies against women.
Two years later in Iraq, the consequences of her second attempt to expose him are devastating. Terrified, degraded and destroyed, she goes into hiding in England, where she strikes up a friendship with Jess Derbyshire, a loner whose reclusive nature may well be masking secrets of her own. Seeing parallels between herself and Jess, Connie borrows from the other woman's strength and makes the hazardous decision to attempt a third unmasking of a serial killer, knowing he will come looking for her...
357 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2005
68 people are currently reading
1272 people want to read
About the author
Minette Walters
94 books1,439 followersMinette Walters (born 26 September 1949) is a British mystery writer. After studying at Trevelyan College, University of Durham, she began writing in 1987 with The Ice House, which was published in 1992. She followed this with The Sculptress (1993), which received the 1994 Edgar Award for Best Novel. She has been published in 35 countries and won many awards.
The Sculptress has been adapted for television in a BBC series starring Pauline Quirke. Her novels The Ice House, The Echo, The Dark Room, and The Scold's Bridle have also been adapted by the BBC.
The Sculptress has been adapted for television in a BBC series starring Pauline Quirke. Her novels The Ice House, The Echo, The Dark Room, and The Scold's Bridle have also been adapted by the BBC.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 279 reviews
December 21, 2021
British-Zimbabwean Connie Burns, is the Reuter's reporter that starts investigating a British mercenary who might be committing horrific crimes against women under the cover of conflicts in the Developing World, reportedly in Sierra Leone. As Burns begins to uncover some facts she's first intimidated, and then put through a horrific kidnapping experience! She retreats to the UK and not until she's inspired by another woman does she prepare to do battle again.
An interesting look at the role of survivors that didn't really grab my attention I'm a afraid. Interesting reading some of the other less complimentary reviews, as they mostly say that this is Minette Walters worse book to date. 5 out of 12.
2006 read
An interesting look at the role of survivors that didn't really grab my attention I'm a afraid. Interesting reading some of the other less complimentary reviews, as they mostly say that this is Minette Walters worse book to date. 5 out of 12.
2006 read
January 4, 2016
Psychological non-thriller
Having been totally captivated by every Minette Walters book that I have picked up in the past, The Devil's Feather came as a huge disappointment to me. It has to be the most unthrilling "thriller" that has ever appeared on my bookshelves.
It took some stamina to plough through nearly five hundred pages of the fictional ramblings of a self-obsessed woman who doesn't trust anyone around her and just moans and groans about her circumstances. To be fair to the author, there are a couple of chapters of action towards the end of the book, but they are far from convincing and I was willing the protagonist to put the narrator out of her misery. Sadly, she survived to inflict more tedium on the reader.
Had this been Minette Walters's first novel, she would have sunk into oblivion along with thousands of other wannabe authors. Let's hope that her next effort returns to her usual brilliant standards.
Having been totally captivated by every Minette Walters book that I have picked up in the past, The Devil's Feather came as a huge disappointment to me. It has to be the most unthrilling "thriller" that has ever appeared on my bookshelves.
It took some stamina to plough through nearly five hundred pages of the fictional ramblings of a self-obsessed woman who doesn't trust anyone around her and just moans and groans about her circumstances. To be fair to the author, there are a couple of chapters of action towards the end of the book, but they are far from convincing and I was willing the protagonist to put the narrator out of her misery. Sadly, she survived to inflict more tedium on the reader.
Had this been Minette Walters's first novel, she would have sunk into oblivion along with thousands of other wannabe authors. Let's hope that her next effort returns to her usual brilliant standards.
November 29, 2016
4.5 Audio I think audio format may have enhanced this book. I agree with Carol's opinion that "Minette Walters seldom disappoints and this book is no exception." Walters creates this tense, creepy atmosphere with a min of gory detail. I thought it was very good- narrator,characters, story, all of it.
June 18, 2010
Minette Walters seldom disappoints me and this read was no exception. Devil’s Feather is psychological suspense at its best. What would it feel like to be a victim of a terrorist kidnapping? This is just what happens to Connie Burns, Reuter’s reporter. While working on a story in Sierra Leone about five women brutally murdered, she suspects a British mercenary. She has met this man before under different names and is certain he is using the backdrop of war as a cover for his sadistic murders. In a confrontation with him, he warns her not to cross him. Connie could not know to what lengths this man would go to make good on his threat.
What I really loved about this book was how well Walter’s portrays monsters that prey, the victim, and explores the role of survivor. I learned a thing or two, also. I learned that the mastiffs in the Hounds of the Baskervilles were actually a mastiff/bloodhound cross and that they are scarier than the mastiffs belonging to a main character in Devil's Feather. Though Jess’s dogs are massive in size and look ferocious, they are less to be feared and less ferocious than expected.
I was intrigued by the definition of Devil's Feather coming from the Turkish and translating as "a woman who stirs a man's interest without realizing it; the unwitting cause of sexual arousal. This passage, at the beginning of the book drew me right in. Having read many of Walter's novels, I was right at home with her style of story told with use of emails, letters, newspaper stories and the like. She does this so well.
What I really loved about this book was how well Walter’s portrays monsters that prey, the victim, and explores the role of survivor. I learned a thing or two, also. I learned that the mastiffs in the Hounds of the Baskervilles were actually a mastiff/bloodhound cross and that they are scarier than the mastiffs belonging to a main character in Devil's Feather. Though Jess’s dogs are massive in size and look ferocious, they are less to be feared and less ferocious than expected.
I was intrigued by the definition of Devil's Feather coming from the Turkish and translating as "a woman who stirs a man's interest without realizing it; the unwitting cause of sexual arousal. This passage, at the beginning of the book drew me right in. Having read many of Walter's novels, I was right at home with her style of story told with use of emails, letters, newspaper stories and the like. She does this so well.
February 9, 2013
Those of you who follow my reviews can see I've been on a bit of a Minette Walters kick. I've read three of her books in quick succession, with a pause to revisit a Plath biography. Even that pause was spurred by Walters, whose writing is characterized by strong women who go against societal expectations, who suffer, and who eventually find a way to expose the truth - all of which describes Plath. Like Plath's poetry, Walters fiction delves into the cultural morass of womanhood and truth by way of a deeply personal investigation on the part of a female protagonist.The philosophical aspects, the shocking nature of the method of telling, and the masterful prose are brain candy. Or, if my Walters kick is any indication, brain crack.
Yes, reading a Walters crime thriller is like taking a big hit of mental crack.
And that's a good thing.
THE DEVIL'S FEATHER is my third Walters book, and my favorite. Connie Burns, a war correspondent, has returned to England after being released by a sadistic abductor who kept her naked, caged, and in the dark for three days. Connie can't handle the comforts of home, not when those comforts will induce her to admit the extent of her violation. She goes to the country, where she lets a house. Her closest neighbor is Jess Derbyshire, an intensely private and enterprising woman. Jess has familial ties to the house Connie has rented, and emotional ties to several key players in a elder-neglect story arc that serves as the 'domestic' counterpoint to the 'international' torment of Connie and her abductor's other victims.
The story is bewitching, and infused with the tension of Connie's trauma. In wonderful, dark-magic - even Plathy - fashion, Walters manages yet another plot where emotional and narrative energy crystallizes around a nexus of unseen events. Walters never shows you the gory moments of violence, but the shape of the aftershock forms a negative space wherein the reader is entirely, viscerally aware of what happened. It is gorgeous.
Most of Walters's characters are, to me, unlikable. The protagonists tend to be manipulative and avenging, the sort of strong woman that in real life would command respect, if not fear. The antagonists tend to be real scum - with a strong tendency towards also being rapists. Then comes Jess Derbyshire, who is not only tough, smart, independent, and avenging, but also likable. Jess is an artist, a farmer, a single woman who lives her life without kowtowing to any societal or conventional 'musts.' She doesn't speak much, but the integrity of her actions is valorous. There are no easy, sugar-sweet half-lies with Jess. Nor is she beautiful. In books, just as much as in Hollywood, women are often portrayed as beautiful. Even women cast as smart or commanding or funny are also somehow foxy, shapely, or downright cute. It is refreshing to meet Jess, an interesting and likable woman, who is not a mockery of real womanhood, or a secret confession that, yes, women really are mostly there for their looks, even when they happen to be smart, commanding, or funny.
THE DEVIL'S FEATHER should be on your reading list, not only for the absolute command Walters has of the art of storytelling by omission, but because you'll meet Jess Derbyshire. You won't forget her. Oh, and you've been warned about the addictive nature of Walters's fiction - enjoy!
Yes, reading a Walters crime thriller is like taking a big hit of mental crack.
And that's a good thing.
THE DEVIL'S FEATHER is my third Walters book, and my favorite. Connie Burns, a war correspondent, has returned to England after being released by a sadistic abductor who kept her naked, caged, and in the dark for three days. Connie can't handle the comforts of home, not when those comforts will induce her to admit the extent of her violation. She goes to the country, where she lets a house. Her closest neighbor is Jess Derbyshire, an intensely private and enterprising woman. Jess has familial ties to the house Connie has rented, and emotional ties to several key players in a elder-neglect story arc that serves as the 'domestic' counterpoint to the 'international' torment of Connie and her abductor's other victims.
The story is bewitching, and infused with the tension of Connie's trauma. In wonderful, dark-magic - even Plathy - fashion, Walters manages yet another plot where emotional and narrative energy crystallizes around a nexus of unseen events. Walters never shows you the gory moments of violence, but the shape of the aftershock forms a negative space wherein the reader is entirely, viscerally aware of what happened. It is gorgeous.
Most of Walters's characters are, to me, unlikable. The protagonists tend to be manipulative and avenging, the sort of strong woman that in real life would command respect, if not fear. The antagonists tend to be real scum - with a strong tendency towards also being rapists. Then comes Jess Derbyshire, who is not only tough, smart, independent, and avenging, but also likable. Jess is an artist, a farmer, a single woman who lives her life without kowtowing to any societal or conventional 'musts.' She doesn't speak much, but the integrity of her actions is valorous. There are no easy, sugar-sweet half-lies with Jess. Nor is she beautiful. In books, just as much as in Hollywood, women are often portrayed as beautiful. Even women cast as smart or commanding or funny are also somehow foxy, shapely, or downright cute. It is refreshing to meet Jess, an interesting and likable woman, who is not a mockery of real womanhood, or a secret confession that, yes, women really are mostly there for their looks, even when they happen to be smart, commanding, or funny.
THE DEVIL'S FEATHER should be on your reading list, not only for the absolute command Walters has of the art of storytelling by omission, but because you'll meet Jess Derbyshire. You won't forget her. Oh, and you've been warned about the addictive nature of Walters's fiction - enjoy!
December 3, 2014
I'm baffled by the 4-star avg rating this book has received. This book is filled with unlikable characters, has a slow plodding pace and is just generally un-thrilling. If this was the first Minette Walters book I read it would also be the last. Definitely not recommended!
April 30, 2009
Another mystery that I COULDN'T PUT DOWN. I sat aside two other books to finish this one as fast as I could because the story is so compelling. Minette Walters is a good writer and she spins a tale that is far from ordinary. British, she includes vernacular that is uncommon to most of us, but is descriptive and cryptic. The protagonist is Connie, a journalist, who has antagonized a mercenary while reporting in Iraq. She believes this man, who goes by many names, is responsible for the brutalization and death of women from Sierra Leone to Iraq. She is taken prisoner for three days as she is preparing to leave Iraq and when released, flees to the countryside in England. She refuses to say what happened to her or who her captor may have been. She leaves her boss and her boyfriend completly baffled. In England she rents (lets)a falling-down, isolated house, with only another traumatized (what else) woman for a neighbor. There she unravels another puzzle about the elderly woman who owns the house. So, as she tries to process her abuduction in Iraq, she is also learning the story of the history of her rental, the people who have lived in it and the principals in the land ownership of the region. Riveting!
November 19, 2010
This book has a lot in common with the Millenium trilogy (Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, etc.) It could well have been called "Men Who Hate Women," which was the original title of the first book. One of the female protagonists bears a striking resemblance to Lisbeth Salander both in appearance and personality.
Much of this novel falls outside the confines of the thriller genre. Many thriller authors focus on the exposition of crimes and the process of solving them. Walters delves into the psychology of both the victim and the sadistic man who abused her. It is a well-rounded, satisfying read. "Devil's Feather" is good enough for me to recommend to anyone looking for a suspenseful novel that is actually well written.
Much of this novel falls outside the confines of the thriller genre. Many thriller authors focus on the exposition of crimes and the process of solving them. Walters delves into the psychology of both the victim and the sadistic man who abused her. It is a well-rounded, satisfying read. "Devil's Feather" is good enough for me to recommend to anyone looking for a suspenseful novel that is actually well written.
July 16, 2016
A Cautionary Tale of epic proportions, this was her most disturbing book. Will make you uneasy as it's meant to, well that's the hope anyway. It was disturbing because it skirted too close to reality.
Minette has always been careful of her monsters but the horror of this novel is that men like this exist in real world. But here's the silver lining, so does the heroic women like these to counter them.
What is it about this War between our own Kind?
what is it about
victim and oppressors
prey and hunters
men and women ?
December 30, 2017
For me, a book has to be able to draw me in and make me forget where I am and what I was doing. It has to come with an unusual gambit, an unexpected flavor, and/or a lovely use of language. This book had all of that so I enjoyed most of it quite a lot. The majority of the action of the book is internal to the protagonist, the things she remembers and the things she alludes to. The author takes us through past, present, and possible events and states of mind without losing us on the way. In other hands, it might have felt jarring but, I didn’t feel any of that. I remained ensconced in the narrative’s closeness and didn’t lose faith in its ability to give me whatever information I would need precisely when I would need it.
I gave the novel 4 stars instead of 5 because some of the characters drove me up a wall without respite. ;) I wish there had, perhaps, been more time with the protagonist being a journalist in different parts of the world before the story moved entirely back to the UK but that’s just a personal taste thing since I am not a mystery lover, strictly speaking.
I gave the novel 4 stars instead of 5 because some of the characters drove me up a wall without respite. ;) I wish there had, perhaps, been more time with the protagonist being a journalist in different parts of the world before the story moved entirely back to the UK but that’s just a personal taste thing since I am not a mystery lover, strictly speaking.
March 14, 2022
Amazing story.
I really liked how it's paced, the fact that Connie is a somewhat unreliable relator, and how easily I slipped into the claustrophobic paranoia that permeates Connie's life.
It's a story that feels more... intimate than the others I've already read by this author. Maybe because the main protagonist is almost alone in that place; yes, there are other characters, all interesting by their own rights, but this is Connie's story, no doubt about it. And I learnt to love Connie, which is not an easy task at the beginning :P
I also liked a lot the mystery surrounding the events that lead the elderly woman who owns the house into an assisted-care institution.
But at its core, this is a book about what happens after you survive: the guilt, the trauma and its lasting effects. And yes, I liked the end, too, sue me! *dies laughing*
It was a good decision to go through all the Minnette Walters' books that I own :P
I really liked how it's paced, the fact that Connie is a somewhat unreliable relator, and how easily I slipped into the claustrophobic paranoia that permeates Connie's life.
It's a story that feels more... intimate than the others I've already read by this author. Maybe because the main protagonist is almost alone in that place; yes, there are other characters, all interesting by their own rights, but this is Connie's story, no doubt about it. And I learnt to love Connie, which is not an easy task at the beginning :P
I also liked a lot the mystery surrounding the events that lead the elderly woman who owns the house into an assisted-care institution.
But at its core, this is a book about what happens after you survive: the guilt, the trauma and its lasting effects. And yes, I liked the end, too, sue me! *dies laughing*
It was a good decision to go through all the Minnette Walters' books that I own :P
August 22, 2016
One I actually hadn't read by my very favourite suspense author. I remember thinking 'that was as near to perfect as I ever read' at the end of The Shape of Snakes and this is as good. Minette Walters does suspense in a most singular way, never really relying on horrific imagery to provide the adrenaline factor. I avoid the Horror genre as I hate being made to feel distressed; MW writes psychological suspense par excellence.
January 27, 2019
I struggled to finish this book. The main mystery is captivating enough, but about midway the narrative shifts to the sub plot, which takes over the main plot. In the middle sections it is hard to know where the story is going as it meanders here and there....But the main reason it only gets two stars is - you are left unsure about the fate of the baddie! Crime book 101....leave the readers with a firm sense of justice being done.
If you are a Minette Walters fan, you may love this. I found it too....pedestrian and lacking in clarity, especially at the end.
If you are a Minette Walters fan, you may love this. I found it too....pedestrian and lacking in clarity, especially at the end.
September 8, 2016
I've been reading Minette Walters books now for years and her books are always professionally written with excellent storylines. This book had a brilliant plot and because there were only a few characters you truly felt connected to them. Maybe a little long, I did feel towards the end that I wanted it finished but I did thoroughly enjoy it and would recommend.
April 19, 2018
An enjoyable read; Walters can write for storytelling and do it well. The confrontation scene was especially effective and held me on the edge of my seat.
The one failing in Walters’ books is her slavish dependence on Hollywood happy endings; she does so well capturing the gross unfairness and frayed edges of life that the cookie-cutter endings just never fit the works they’re supposed to finish.
The one failing in Walters’ books is her slavish dependence on Hollywood happy endings; she does so well capturing the gross unfairness and frayed edges of life that the cookie-cutter endings just never fit the works they’re supposed to finish.
May 30, 2018
2.5 stars. Not as well-written or gripping as Walter's books normally are. I was expecting something completely different. Some chapters near the end were thrilling though.I'm also in a mood where I easily give up on books nowadays, but I wanted to continue with this for some reason. I guess that's a plus.
did-not-finish
February 25, 2025DNF @ 65%
I don’t have a nice thing to say about this. It was written in the early 2000s and does not stand up to 2020s standards.
Upholds white colonialism of Africa. Upholds wars in the Middle East and the use of “defense contractors”. The part of this book that takes place in Africa, all Black people described to be either bad people or women who work as sex workers.
The main character is the worst. She’s horrible to her parents.
The author needed to choose a plot and stick with it instead of flipping between the hijacking and the relationship between Lilly/Jess/Peter etc
I don’t have a nice thing to say about this. It was written in the early 2000s and does not stand up to 2020s standards.
Upholds white colonialism of Africa. Upholds wars in the Middle East and the use of “defense contractors”. The part of this book that takes place in Africa, all Black people described to be either bad people or women who work as sex workers.
The main character is the worst. She’s horrible to her parents.
The author needed to choose a plot and stick with it instead of flipping between the hijacking and the relationship between Lilly/Jess/Peter etc
June 19, 2015
This is I think the fourth Minette Walters I've read, and it's the first about which I've had strong reservations. The opening 250 pages or so are absolutely splendid -- every bit as good as expected -- but the final 100 or so just sort of meander unconvincingly.
Connie Burns is a war correspondent who picks up on the fact that a Glaswegian "security consultant" (i.e., mercenary) whom she encounters first in Sierra Leone and then in Baghdad, Keith Mackenzie, is taking advantage of the general social mayhem to commit sadistic rape-murders. He retaliates by abducting her -- everyone assumes it's a terrorist abduction, of course -- and putting her through three days of sexual and other humiliations. Oddly, he then releases her -- perhaps reckoning that living with her memories of those three days will be worse than death? I dunno.
Too terrified to point the finger -- at least publicly -- Connie flees to England where, under a phony name, she rents a dilapidated house in a remote Dorset village.* There she encounters, and is taken under the wing of, a neighboring farmer, Jess Derbyshire, and the local GP, Peter Coleman. She's sure that Mackenzie will come after her to finish the task he inexplicably didn't in Baghdad . . . and of course he does.
What above all else keeps the story moving is the character of Jess Derbyshire. Fiercely inept in the usual social graces, quite uncaring of what others think about her, she demonstrates a genuine goodness of heart in an environment where others -- Connie included -- seem superficial in their commitments to each other. It's just unfortunate that Jess is also (innocently) at the heart of the book's secondary plot, which is to do with ancestry and an inheritance and is frankly pretty dull. It's the rather unconvincing resolution of this secondary plot that keeps the book rambling on for that extra hundred pages. And during those pages she loses a lot of her credibility as the masterful fictional creation she seemed to be earlier, as if the author had lost interest in her.
So, very much a mixed bag. As I say, the first time I've been disappointed by one of Walters's novels.
=======
* We're told the house is big, but at one point (p67) Jess remarks, while calculating how long a phone extension cord should be, that it must be at least 100m from the kitchen to the master bedroom. Think about that for a moment. 100ft, maybe?
Connie Burns is a war correspondent who picks up on the fact that a Glaswegian "security consultant" (i.e., mercenary) whom she encounters first in Sierra Leone and then in Baghdad, Keith Mackenzie, is taking advantage of the general social mayhem to commit sadistic rape-murders. He retaliates by abducting her -- everyone assumes it's a terrorist abduction, of course -- and putting her through three days of sexual and other humiliations. Oddly, he then releases her -- perhaps reckoning that living with her memories of those three days will be worse than death? I dunno.
Too terrified to point the finger -- at least publicly -- Connie flees to England where, under a phony name, she rents a dilapidated house in a remote Dorset village.* There she encounters, and is taken under the wing of, a neighboring farmer, Jess Derbyshire, and the local GP, Peter Coleman. She's sure that Mackenzie will come after her to finish the task he inexplicably didn't in Baghdad . . . and of course he does.
What above all else keeps the story moving is the character of Jess Derbyshire. Fiercely inept in the usual social graces, quite uncaring of what others think about her, she demonstrates a genuine goodness of heart in an environment where others -- Connie included -- seem superficial in their commitments to each other. It's just unfortunate that Jess is also (innocently) at the heart of the book's secondary plot, which is to do with ancestry and an inheritance and is frankly pretty dull. It's the rather unconvincing resolution of this secondary plot that keeps the book rambling on for that extra hundred pages. And during those pages she loses a lot of her credibility as the masterful fictional creation she seemed to be earlier, as if the author had lost interest in her.
So, very much a mixed bag. As I say, the first time I've been disappointed by one of Walters's novels.
=======
* We're told the house is big, but at one point (p67) Jess remarks, while calculating how long a phone extension cord should be, that it must be at least 100m from the kitchen to the master bedroom. Think about that for a moment. 100ft, maybe?
September 28, 2008
Actually, listening. Which is weird, given how many emails go back and forth, but the book is well read, so I'm not having a problem following. I'm just losing patience with the narrator. So are all the other characters, so I'm assuming this is deliberate.
And I've been informed by another reader that bad things happen to dogs. Had I known this, I would never have started the book.
Update: Just as I thought I'd have to give up on the narrator--not unreliable by the book's standard but withholding and irritating by mine--the story took a turn that reeled me back in again. It's very much a psychological novel rather than a mystery, and the character I ended up liking best was Jess, the owner of a pack of mastiffs. One of them does die, and there is a suggestion of dog abuse in the Baghdad part of the story.
I guess I'd better give a brief summary: the narrator, Connie Burns, is a war reporter who gets kidnapped and held hostage for 3 days in Baghdad. It becomes clear that she was not kidnapped by Islamic extremists, yet she refuses to talk to anyone about her captivity, making, instead, oblique allusions to feeling ashamed and weak. She holes up in rental property in Dorset, where she meets a neighboring farmer, Jess, whose entire family was killed in a car crash when she was twenty. Both of them are wounded and form an unlikely friendship.
I can't say much more without giving away the plot. I found the point of view very interesting, especially the way that Walters managed to get around its limitations. The subplot involving land and inheritance was confusing and contrived, and I never did like the narrator, though I don't see why that's necessary. I cared about what happened to her, which seems to be enough.
And I've been informed by another reader that bad things happen to dogs. Had I known this, I would never have started the book.
Update: Just as I thought I'd have to give up on the narrator--not unreliable by the book's standard but withholding and irritating by mine--the story took a turn that reeled me back in again. It's very much a psychological novel rather than a mystery, and the character I ended up liking best was Jess, the owner of a pack of mastiffs. One of them does die, and there is a suggestion of dog abuse in the Baghdad part of the story.
I guess I'd better give a brief summary: the narrator, Connie Burns, is a war reporter who gets kidnapped and held hostage for 3 days in Baghdad. It becomes clear that she was not kidnapped by Islamic extremists, yet she refuses to talk to anyone about her captivity, making, instead, oblique allusions to feeling ashamed and weak. She holes up in rental property in Dorset, where she meets a neighboring farmer, Jess, whose entire family was killed in a car crash when she was twenty. Both of them are wounded and form an unlikely friendship.
I can't say much more without giving away the plot. I found the point of view very interesting, especially the way that Walters managed to get around its limitations. The subplot involving land and inheritance was confusing and contrived, and I never did like the narrator, though I don't see why that's necessary. I cared about what happened to her, which seems to be enough.
February 10, 2017
It' supposed to be a thriller but I would consider it more to be a snore. I was never frightened nor a tiny bit scared.
I thought it would be a 'sit-o-the-edge' read but it wasn't. The first 100 or so pages read like a chicklit book with the little added emails and reports in between chapters that were there to provoce the reader's curiosity. But I never felt curious. The book almost read like a thriller novel according to 'template 1A'.
It's sad that it was such a disappointment because I really like the two other books I've read by Minette Walters.
I thought it would be a 'sit-o-the-edge' read but it wasn't. The first 100 or so pages read like a chicklit book with the little added emails and reports in between chapters that were there to provoce the reader's curiosity. But I never felt curious. The book almost read like a thriller novel according to 'template 1A'.
It's sad that it was such a disappointment because I really like the two other books I've read by Minette Walters.
March 20, 2009
Another terrific potboiler from this prolific mystery writer. This time, the protagonist is a journalist who was kidnapped and brutally terrorized in Iraq, and who has retreated into the English countryside to recuperate. She befriends a neighbor woman lacking in all social graces and the doctor who attends the neighbor. The journalist, Connie Burns, though suffering from PTSD, shuns all atempts at help and is paralyzed by her fear of the man (MacKenzie) who is responsible for her attack. She has kept the details of her captivity private and has not identified her attacker to the authorities, other than a Manchester police detective, with whom she corresponds by email. A side story involves the neighbor and her running dispute with the woman who stands to inherit the house Connie is renting and some family secrets. Again, as in each of Ms. Walters' books this reader has read, the characters that populate this are fully formed, the situations are entirely believable, the tension builds to its shocking conclusion, and the actual events of the denoument are discreetly left up to the reader's imagination. Reading a Minette Walters story is like digging into a slice of baklava: layer upon layer leading to a sweet reward. Four and a half stars.
June 15, 2019
Journalist Connie Burns is no stranger to danger. She works as a Reuters foreign correspondent in war zones and areas of turmoil and destruction. It's a strangely incestuous world where people often cross paths again and again as they chase the story (in the case of the journos) or chase the money (in the case of the 'security' staff and other mercenaries) but one particular man – known by various aliases but she calls him MacKenzie - rings Connie's alarm bells wherever she finds him. Connie has spotted a pattern of rapes and murders of local women in Sierra Leone and suspects that the country's war-torn history has been used as cover for a serial killer. Yes, three ex-child soldiers have been beaten into confessions but the modus operandi of the murderer isn't consistent with multiple killers. Nobody seems interested in the deaths of five women in a country where civil war will clock up an alleged total of 50,000 deaths.
When Connie moves to Baghdad and finds similar unsolved sexual murders it's only a matter of time before she connects them to MacKenzie when he pops up in Baghdad working for a 'security' firm under an alias. When Connie links his patterns of violent, misogynistic and sadistic behaviour to the Baghdad murders she confronts the head of the firm he works for and hits a brick wall. The more she pushes for information, the more the company resists and covers up for their employee.
Connie is abducted in Baghdad and held captive for three days. On her release, she refuses to say anything about what happened and flees to the UK in fear of her life. People are baffled – why isn't she spilling the beans? She's a journalist for goodness sake, but she won't tell her own story. Others start to question whether she really was abducted because she just won't talk about it but some of the things that happened to her are just too horrifying to reveal. She needs to run and hide, to go underground and wallow in her grief – but most of all to get away from the man she fears.
Back in the UK she uses her mother's maiden name and takes a lease on a rambling old house in the West Country, hoping to hide from her abductor who she fears will become her killer and to find sanctuary from the violent and humiliating experiences of her captivity. Personally, if I wanted to hide I think I'd do it in a city, not in a village, but Minette Walters likes tales of dystopian village life where things are never as chocolate-box-pretty under the surface. She tells nobody who knows her where she is and she tells nobody she meets who she is but it doesn't take some of the more switched on locals to work out her identity.
Her choice of bolt-hole is ill-advised and she finds that instead of being at the heart of a small village community, she's rented herself a place that's falling down and cut-off from the main village with no direct neighbours, no mobile phone signal and no broadband. Could Connie have just made herself a sitting duck for the man she's sure will not rest until he's hunted her down? Will Connie succeed in her race against time to persuade the police that MacKenzie is the killer before he finds her?
On the plus side, she's soon at least partially distracted by the mysteries of the house where she's staying, it's elderly owner Lily, her manipulative daughter Madeleine, the village GP Peter and Jess, the young farmer woman and her dogs who set out to protect her whether she wants it or not. How far would Madeleine go to get control of her mother's property and how can Jess and her dogs protect their farm? Can Minette Walters find a way to drag Connie's past as the daughter of an exiled Zimbabwean farmer into the story in any way that will actually make sense?
I've been reading Minette Walters ever since her first book, The Ice House, way back in 1992. The first few were so hot I had to get them the moment they were released but somewhere round about 2000 she seemed to go a bit off the boil. I got frustrated by her tendency to try to squeeze too many entwined plots into every story, annoyed by the way that she wrote as if she didn't actually know 'whodunnit' until far too late in the process, and peeved by her naughty habit of conveniently introducing bad guys from thin air. 'The Devil's Feather' was a refreshing return to the clarity of her earlier writing.
With just the two threads running through – Connie's flight from the killer and the mystery of the old house and its owner – I cared enough about both to hold them equally in my consciousness. She uses her tried and trusted techniques of reproducing emails and extracts from police reports to introduce information without weighing down the plot. Her descriptive powers are undiminished – I could clearly picture the house, decaying around her with chunks of wallpaper held up by Blu-tak and the old Aga gasping for life and only Jess knowing how to light it. I believed in Connie's need to keep the details of her abduction a secret and in the redemptive power of her friendship with her extremely introverted neighbour.
It's a tale with many morals and many lessons. Yes, it's about revenge – on many levels and from many people – but it's also about redemption and renovation, about getting back your sense of self and finding the courage that's been buried so deep that you think it's beyond grasp. It's well-paced, compelling, quite believable (unlike some of her others), logical and leaves just enough doubt at the end that you'll have to make your own decisions about just how far Connie and Jess went to ensure Connie's safety. If you already know and love Walters – especially if you feared she'd lost something in her later books – this one is worth a go. If you don't know her, you can start it without the preconceptions that prevented me from reading it sooner.
When Connie moves to Baghdad and finds similar unsolved sexual murders it's only a matter of time before she connects them to MacKenzie when he pops up in Baghdad working for a 'security' firm under an alias. When Connie links his patterns of violent, misogynistic and sadistic behaviour to the Baghdad murders she confronts the head of the firm he works for and hits a brick wall. The more she pushes for information, the more the company resists and covers up for their employee.
Connie is abducted in Baghdad and held captive for three days. On her release, she refuses to say anything about what happened and flees to the UK in fear of her life. People are baffled – why isn't she spilling the beans? She's a journalist for goodness sake, but she won't tell her own story. Others start to question whether she really was abducted because she just won't talk about it but some of the things that happened to her are just too horrifying to reveal. She needs to run and hide, to go underground and wallow in her grief – but most of all to get away from the man she fears.
Back in the UK she uses her mother's maiden name and takes a lease on a rambling old house in the West Country, hoping to hide from her abductor who she fears will become her killer and to find sanctuary from the violent and humiliating experiences of her captivity. Personally, if I wanted to hide I think I'd do it in a city, not in a village, but Minette Walters likes tales of dystopian village life where things are never as chocolate-box-pretty under the surface. She tells nobody who knows her where she is and she tells nobody she meets who she is but it doesn't take some of the more switched on locals to work out her identity.
Her choice of bolt-hole is ill-advised and she finds that instead of being at the heart of a small village community, she's rented herself a place that's falling down and cut-off from the main village with no direct neighbours, no mobile phone signal and no broadband. Could Connie have just made herself a sitting duck for the man she's sure will not rest until he's hunted her down? Will Connie succeed in her race against time to persuade the police that MacKenzie is the killer before he finds her?
On the plus side, she's soon at least partially distracted by the mysteries of the house where she's staying, it's elderly owner Lily, her manipulative daughter Madeleine, the village GP Peter and Jess, the young farmer woman and her dogs who set out to protect her whether she wants it or not. How far would Madeleine go to get control of her mother's property and how can Jess and her dogs protect their farm? Can Minette Walters find a way to drag Connie's past as the daughter of an exiled Zimbabwean farmer into the story in any way that will actually make sense?
I've been reading Minette Walters ever since her first book, The Ice House, way back in 1992. The first few were so hot I had to get them the moment they were released but somewhere round about 2000 she seemed to go a bit off the boil. I got frustrated by her tendency to try to squeeze too many entwined plots into every story, annoyed by the way that she wrote as if she didn't actually know 'whodunnit' until far too late in the process, and peeved by her naughty habit of conveniently introducing bad guys from thin air. 'The Devil's Feather' was a refreshing return to the clarity of her earlier writing.
With just the two threads running through – Connie's flight from the killer and the mystery of the old house and its owner – I cared enough about both to hold them equally in my consciousness. She uses her tried and trusted techniques of reproducing emails and extracts from police reports to introduce information without weighing down the plot. Her descriptive powers are undiminished – I could clearly picture the house, decaying around her with chunks of wallpaper held up by Blu-tak and the old Aga gasping for life and only Jess knowing how to light it. I believed in Connie's need to keep the details of her abduction a secret and in the redemptive power of her friendship with her extremely introverted neighbour.
It's a tale with many morals and many lessons. Yes, it's about revenge – on many levels and from many people – but it's also about redemption and renovation, about getting back your sense of self and finding the courage that's been buried so deep that you think it's beyond grasp. It's well-paced, compelling, quite believable (unlike some of her others), logical and leaves just enough doubt at the end that you'll have to make your own decisions about just how far Connie and Jess went to ensure Connie's safety. If you already know and love Walters – especially if you feared she'd lost something in her later books – this one is worth a go. If you don't know her, you can start it without the preconceptions that prevented me from reading it sooner.
June 1, 2010
Two plots. 1.A journalist's abduction in a war zone and 2. inheritance- I was looking for a connection - there was none other than the journalist had rented a house where the inheritance plot occurs. I kept thinking that a woman hiding out from an abductor would not be getting so involved in the lives & dramas of people who owned the house she was renting. Aside from that it was fast paced (mostly) - the email formated sections worked but it annoyed me no end.
February 27, 2010
This book was so much better than the last one I read of hers. I would have given it 3 1/2 stars if that had been available. Her characters were interesting and the plot was good enough that I didn't want to put it down. Since I have 3 more books of hers sitting in my library stack it gave me some hope to dive in and read.
October 8, 2014
A disappointing read. I haven't read many Minette Walters books but the ones I did read were entertaining enough. This one clearly wasn't. It was boring, repetitive and the plot was completely unrealistic. I also found the main character to be very unlikeable and felt absolutely no sympathy for her, which didn't help.
November 28, 2013
There were moments where action was happening that I was so drawn into the story that I felt antsy sitting and reading instead of moving around, as if I could help. So for that, I give it high marks.
Most of the characters were unpleasant, though, which I don't like in a book. But there were a couple pleasant ones to balance them out.
Most of the characters were unpleasant, though, which I don't like in a book. But there were a couple pleasant ones to balance them out.
December 24, 2015
Loved this! Nail-biting. Mystery. Action. Good characters. Tantalising tid-bits of information that create a 'who dunnit' feel and make you want to keep reading to check whether your theories are correct. Also liked that she used emails/letters/reports in places to tell the story. Would like to read another of her books.
January 28, 2008
I am addicted to Mystery novels. Yes, it is true. This read a little bit more like a current events thriller. I like Minette Walters. Her novels are much more disturbing than the other mysteries I generally read. But this one had me on the edge of my seat and I did enjoy the characters.
July 12, 2008
I was compelled to write a letter to the author after reading this book, because her understanding of PTSD is incredible. Suffice to say that anyone who has been through a trauma will feel less alone after reading this book.
January 30, 2010
War zone journalist is abducted, and on her return to England struggles to protect her privacy as she tries to investigate the truth about her captor.
Very well done, sketching both a broad world stage and a small English village equally convincingly.
Very well done, sketching both a broad world stage and a small English village equally convincingly.
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