I admit that I decided to download this from audible.com because it was on sale and that I’d liked other books from this author, not because of the description. I didn’t even read it so when we’re introduced to Connie, war correspondent in Sierra Leone, I cringed inwardly. My head just wasn’t in a good state to be on the receiving end of a politically correct novel full of white guilt. There’s a place for those novels that showcase the almost hidden atrocities committed in African nations, but I just can’t take one right now. Luckily the author doesn’t go there. Oh sure we get to understand a bit of the underbelly of reporting in war-torn countries, but it’s not the focus and no one preaches.

Connie herself is a bit of an enigma. I still don’t know what drives her to her unconventional and harrowing profession. She is driven though and it’s her determination to see a probable killer brought to justice that gets her into trouble. Her video recorded humiliation at his hands keeps her from talking and after her very short captivity she eschews her fellow journalists and goes into hiding under an assumed name.

It’s at this location that most of the action occurs. She meets Jess, a strange and dramatic neighbor who she immediately likes despite Jess’s abrupt and somewhat rude behavior. She also meets Peter, eligible bachelor and local doctor. She doesn’t like him so much and remains skeptical of his bona fides. She also meets the ostensible owner of the house and finds out she isn’t what she seems. Like any good reporter, when she finds the edge of a mystery, she just has to pry it up and have a look.

Although she is caught up in figuring out the family she’s renting from, her obsessive worry over her captor coming for her again nearly consumes her. She’s paralyzed by every noise in the unfamiliar house and constantly goes from door to window to door checking and re-checking locks. This part of the book seemed over long and melodramatic to me. The constant hand wringing and panic attacks got to be a bit much considering there wasn’t any forward motion to go with them. The on-again-off-again relationship with Jess was good though and Madeline’s deceptions. Despite Connie’s precaution against being found, she’s convinced he’ll find her even though she’s barely said anything to the authorities about how he is or what he did to her. Through emails the situation is revealed however and when he does come for her, she’s more than ready. The ending is somewhat ambiguous although I’m not so unimaginative that I think there could have been any doubt as to where McKenzie ended up. ( )

Interesting novel. I found the ending deliberately ambiguous (what did happen in the 30 minutes McKenzie was left bound and injured, did he escape and die in a cliff fall or did they put him in the well?) I think it is up to the reader to decide, the clues allow you to believe either way - revenge or destruction by his own perversity (there was a quote earlier in the book as to how you end up depends on what you do)? Do we believe what we want to believe about the characters? Is Minette Walters giving us the choice? In "The Ice House" she gives us a quote about revenge being wild justice that should be rooted out, is that what happened here? I don't find her writting great, but her ideas are fascinating and challenging. I will remember forever the quote from Thucydides - "The secret of happiness is freedom; the secret of freedom, courage" - and Alan Collins's father's addendum that "courage is about being scared to death and not showing it". I felt the 2nd storyline about elder abuse something of a distraction. Read it for the ideas! ( )

The subject matter of this novel didn't appeal to me very much. Full of tension/suspense at the end (at which the author excels), but a lot of the time I was frustrated with the lack of detail about the characters, especially the chief proponent, and with her dealings with the matter in hand. Not one of Minette Walters' best, I'm afraid. "The Scold's Bridle", "The Ice House" and other earlier works were far superior. ( )

I have read many of this author’s book and have always enjoyed them. I enjoyed this one too, but found it a little different in the format she uses. She intersperses the story with emails to her boss and senior policemen using them to update the situation for the reader, indeed the book actually starts with 2 emails setting the scene. She also adds what I can only assume are case notes for the main character’s use. Once I got used to this style I started to enjoy the read, although the early chapters were a little slow. The pace increases once the “action” moves to England in no uncertain fashion and before long I was getting very tense and resisting the temptation to peak at the pages to come. Minette Walters certainly grabs the reader’s attention and you are carried along with her very pacy writing skills and imaginative scene setting. The characters were drawn with skill and totally believable. However the main focus of the action suddenly ends and I was left wondering if “that was it” or was there more. There was still 134 pages to go and as I worked through them I was wondering “where is this going? Where it was going was to solve the psychological problems of the main character and her the people she had befriended and whether or not they had disposed of her tormentor in the previous pages. Slightly confused? Well so was I and I found the ending pretty disappointing and unsatisfactory. It gave me the feeling that the author didn’t know how to end the story so just wound it up as best she could. ( )

War correspondent kidnapped, tortured, home to Dorset.