Acid Row

Walters is at her best in exploring the banality of criminal activity and intent -- and in this book, once again, she shines. In pursuing the leads to find a missing 10-year-old girl, the reader is led into a maze of inter-connections which is at once astounding, predictable, and tragic. I don't know how Walters manages to weave all three into one mundane little crime, but she reveals herein she has a masterful grasp of the depraved indifference that men and women often demonstrate towards each other. Clever little book -- which sneaks out from the reeds and pounces on you unawares. At first glance, her novel may seem quite pedestrian, but think about it a little, and you'll see she's absolutely brilliant!

Ms. Walters continues to push the boundaries with her suspense fiction. This book shows what can happen when feelings run hot and people unite in a common goal. In this case the goal is misguided and cramped living quarters, xenophobic people and individuals cranked up on meth and other drugs is a recipe for disaster. I found this book very difficult to get through because it is as raw as it can get. There are definitely some gems here, and the biggest one is big, black Jimmy James who seems to almost single-handedly defuse a powder keg situation. His live-in pregnant partner Melanie is also another little jewel in the seamy cesspool in these council estates, so aptly named Acid Row. These are the things that helped me get through this show more book. Even though I didn't enjoy the setting or the happenings during this huge uncontrolled riot, Ms. Walters kept up the tension throughout and kept me turning pages. show less

This is quite the event. Sophie Morrison, a young doctor, goes to a house to treat a patient. She doesn't realize when entering that the house contains a pedophile and his difficult father. Word has reached the street that the pedo lives there and residents are demanding his removal. The demands turn into a mass demonstration that threatens to get ugly.

Meanwhile, Sophie is stuck inside with the father making threats, both oral and physical, and she has no safe way out. On the outside, the mob has gotten so large that it endangers many people. An unlikely hero arises.

I found it absorbing and compelling.

By far my favorite from Walters. This story is an eye opener, turning a stereotype against itself. Jimmy James is one of my favorite characters on the written page. His actions are what concerns him most, his family and he will do what he has to in order to save or protect them. There are many likable characters in this novel and you want to see all succeed in the end. Great read.

The story is gripping and the writing, excellent as usual but I'm getting very sick of reading about this almost sub-human strata of society. Two events occur which start a cycle of unstoppable violence.A young girl goes missing and a blabbermouth social worker lets it be known that a convicted paedophile is housed on the same working class estate, which is so badly designed that it forms a bottle neck, limiting entrance and entrance.An attractive young female doctor is called to the house of the paedophile to treat his ailing father and is held captive by them.When a group of women on the estate hold a march to protest about the presence of the paedophile, yobs take over and start to fire bomb the house where he is living. In the show more ensueing violence, several people are killed and a number of them injured in the panic to escape the streets. It's gripping reading but certainly not pretty and I find it difficult to work up much sympathy for these misfits of society who exist on public hand-outs. show less

Walters is a master of the psychological crime drama. Somehow she gets in the heads of her characters and drives them toward the breaking point. Again, she visits England's poor and paints a bleak and frustrating socioeconomic landscape upon which disruption and violence are inevitable among the desperate denizens of Acid Row. Quite chilling in places and the suspense had me flipping the pages almost faster than I could read them.

This is really a 3.5.I enjoyed this book as a good suspenseful ride but I can't put it on the same level as a four star crime novel. Although I enjoyed it I was not really transported into the character's lives.Walters knows how to handle the pacing in her plot, she keeps things moving always at the right speed. Not breakneck speed, she knows when to apply the breaks but there was very rarely a slow moment or a time when the storyline did not progress.The characters were well written, but they still felt a bit flat or impersonal I guess. It felt like seven eighths of a novel and one eighth police report. It is told from the viewpoint of hind sight - and she keeps giving cryptic warnings during the narrative about what will happen next. show more (If only so and so hadn't done this or little did she know what would happen to so and so when she walked into the room.)In a way that was an interesting take on it, in another way I think it helped flatten out the characters and storyline a bit.What really interested me about this book is that it is actually set near where I live. Portisfield, where this story takes place is actually Portsmouth and the paedophile riots actually did happen and I remember reading about it all in the news. I don't believe it was half as violent or as atrocious as the scenario represented in this book - she took some dramatic license there!However, a couple of 'police reports' at the beginning were actually based on true life cases (the girl tied up in the bath) which unless you're from the UK and read it in the news every day you may not be so aware of. I will definitely be reading some more Walters in the future, she is a good author and if I want some guaranteed enjoyment I'll know where to turn. But nothing that really lit any fires under my bones. show less