The Ice House

Rating:
Summary: A riveting read couldnt put it down
Review: Having seen the Sculptress on TV last year and being an avid reader of whodunnits and mystery novels I ordered a copy of the Ice House. I was really impressed by the characterisation and the story. I became involved with the characters right from the very beginning feeling sympathy for Phoebe and her friends and downright dislike for the policemen. I really enjoyed this book and truly couldn't put it down. I have been looking for a new author for some time as I have been fed up with the formulaic writing of some of the popular mystery authors such as Patricia Cornwall. Finally being an expat englishwomen from Hampshire where the novel is set I found the descriptions of England etc making me very homesick. I thoroughly recommend this novel.

Rating:
Summary: A great find
Review: In all honesty, I only read this book because I happen to share my name with the deceased husband. While I admit to taking a certain perverse pleasure in all the horrible things written about "me," I honestly found myself tearing through this book in a headlong rush to get to the end of the mystery.

Walters produces an agressive, fearless mystery here in her debut work. As you begin to wade into the book, which hits the ground jogging, not running, and never lets up, a long, entangled web begins to reveal itself. As every closet gets opens, skeletons fall out around the detectives, as the reader continues on, almost unaware of how engrossed they have become.

Walters possesses a unique gift for populating her stories with a staggering array of multilevel characters, many of whom are very intelligent, which provides quality intellectual sparring. The book truly does not have a hero, though. All characters are flawed, many deeply. These are real people, many of them vile, vindictive, but with soft veneers, and some even with kind hearts.

This book was a very enjoyable trip that has not gotten nearly the attention it deserves on this side of the ocean. I highly recommend that my fellow readers work to change that.

Rating:
Summary: A cleverly conceived, well-executed mystery
Review: What a great book! The award-winning THE ICE HOUSE is a thoroughly entertaining novel filled with some of the wittiest prose and sharpest dialogue I've ever read. Minette Walters is a gifted writer; her narrative is lucid as well as literate, and her characters are flawlessly constructed. There's also a fine plot in this book, with quite a few crafty twists and turns; my only complaint is that a few of the plot strands could not be deduced by the reader. In the sense of the Golden Age detective story, then, I suppose Walters "cheated" a bit. Nonetheless, THE ICE HOUSE is such a gloriously savory dish it's quite overlookable. Lovers of P.D. James and Ruth Rendell will undoubtedly enjoy the work of this hot new British author. One down, five to go. Next stop: THE SCULPTRESS...