The Dark Room

Rating:
Summary: A GREAT book!!
Review: This novel caught my attention from the first page and held it to the very last. It was a great read for a rainy day!

Rating:
Summary: Slightly Disappointed
Review: This was my first experience with Walters, and, while I found it to be everything the quotes on the cover suggested ("a page-turner", "engrossing", a "cauldron of suspense"), I was slightly disappointed by the ending. To have the villian commit suicide without confronting Jinx! Or was he indeed the REAL villian? The evidence points to that, but we only have Jinx's word and a questionable suicide note as proof. Walters failed to make me trust or even LIKE Jinx enough to be entirely satisfied with that. A good read, but I would have enjoyed more action and completeness in the ending

Rating:
Summary: A Very Mysterious Read
Review: Very wonderful book! My first read at a Minette Walters' mystery, although I've heard fondly of her other works. Very suspenseful, and I totally did not think of the ending ... it was very skillfully written, although at the end I found myself going "duh!" for not thinking of it.

Rating:
Summary: Another dizzying maze of plots and subplots
Review: Walters certainly has talkative characters and The Dark Room is no exception. Once more the motley group are presented to the reader with no censoring - one minute we like them, the next minute a nasty side turns up - and no end of marathon monologue. The police investigators in this novel are particularly dislikable in their hounding of Jinx Kingsley - reminding me of how often American police seem to find the perpetrator first and then gather evidence and force it to stick to the unfortunate one in their grasp. Yet with all the standard Walters whirlpooling in this labyrinthine plot the reader is left a bit dazed - and wanting. The perpetual review of the evidence and the second and third interviews of the suspects and witnesses began to annoy me. I had three choices for the culprit (using the Walters formula of the least likely character to do someone an injury and the character left nearly hanging in the corners of the plot) and narrowed it down to one. I was wrong (although he was still one of the initial three), Walters won (blast her!) and therefore I award one star for each suspect. Hope ol' Minette has a more involving story next time round, as the Colonel might say.

Rating:
Summary: A great psychological suspense novel!
Review: What a great "who dunnit!" I'm usually able to predict the ending of the mysteries I read, but I couldn't do it this time. Walters skillfully kept the reader guessing - not just until the end,but beyond it!I wanted to believe that Simon had comitted suicide, but a part of me really feels that Jinx suggested to her father that it would be best for all if he were to have an "accident" that looked like a suicide. I liked this book even more than I liked "The Sculptress." Can't wait to read her other books!

Rating:
Summary: You won't be able to put it down!
Review: When I was in Britain last summer and desperate for a good read, I asked the clerk what she recommended for someone who had just finished a Patricia Cornwell and enjoyed it. She suggested Minette Walters (The Ice House) and after reading it, I immediately ordered everything else Walters had written. These books have also made the rounds of my school, and we're all waiting with bated breath for the next one. If you love Hitchcock-type suspense thrillers, this is the book for you. Her characters are well-defined and believable, her plotting intricate. Better yet, as someone now unspeakably bored with the whining and tiresome Kay Scarpetta, each of Walters' novels is different from the others--and each is equally ingenious. A true "Queen of Crime," she far surpasses Ruth Rendell. I'd also highly recommend the Scold's Bridle--and the end of "The Sculptress" will leave you gasping in surprise.

Rating:
Summary: The Dark Room - Minette Walters
Review: While her style is gripping, her female characters very strong, and romance is kept to a minimum, I am also glad that this was not my first exposure to Ms.Walters. I found the ending rather too convoluted and was therefore unsatisfied. Pity, because I was gripped throughout, and only wish the ending came together better.

Rating:
Summary: A fourth jewel in the crown of Minette Walters
Review: With The Dark Room, Minette Walters has fashioned a fourth jewel for her crown as Britain's finest young mystery author. Her chilling stories, awash in sex and psychology, highlight the all too human frailties we must recognize in ourselves. In this case, a young woman suffering amnesia after an apparent suicide attempt, finds she has lost the last two weeks of her life. Not knowing whether she is a murderess or the potential victim of a brutal killer, Jinx Kingsley struggles to sort out not only the events of the immediate past, but the complex relationships between herself and the people who have influenced her life. Unlike most women writers, one of Walters's greatest talents is the ability to craft believable, compelling male characters. The Dark Room is no exception, although in this novel the most striking character is not her love interest, Dr. Alan Protheroe, but a man who never appears on stage in the book -- her father, Adam Kingsley. Though stark and devastating, her prose is never lurid, and she adds enough wit and humor to balance the mix to perfection. She is an exceptional talent, and the mystery reading public is fortunate she still has her whole career ahead of her.