Reviews

• 見事な構成・展開の犯罪小説！！

  ウォルターさんの作品は何々物というパタンに陥らないのがスゴイ！今回は田舎の森に不法に居座る胡散臭い連中から話が始まるが、いつものようにすぐ殺人事件発生とはならないので、どうなるのかと読み進むと、どうやらもう起きている！？新機軸？か、それでも小さな村と旧家の館にすむ元大佐、親身に世話をする弁護士、英軍工兵隊大尉の孫娘と人物が揃ってからどんどん面白くなってゆく。「悪キツネ」と名乗る男の謎へと収斂してゆく卓抜な構成と展開が素晴らしい。557頁が長く感じられない！！

• Minette Walters, always a good read

• Previous reviews have covered the plot outline quite thoroughly, so no need for me to do that. I just wanted to voice my opinion that I totally enjoyed this book, aside from the fact that I started it as bedtime reading and ended up staying up to 3AM to finish it. I haven't said that about a mystery in quite a while. Granted, fans of Walters' earlier books may be disappointed by the lighter tone she uses in "Fox Evil", but I was completely satisfied with the characters interactions, the plot, the ending, the quality of the writing. Those who love the "English village" style of mysteries and shun the gruesome will find this a delightfully fresh adaptation....no Miss Marples (not that I don't enjoy her in the right mood). Only warning is references to animal cruelty, but Walters did not beat you over the head with it and for those who avoid brutality in mysteries, those passages are easy to gloss over. I was left at the end wondering how the cast of protagonists got on (though there were plenty of hints). I can't remember how long it has been since I cared enough about one character, let alone an ensemble, to wonder about their futures. I even wondered about what happens to some of the "bad" chacters. "Fox Evil" is not "The Sculptress" or "The Scold's Bridle", but I bet there are many who would enjoy it.

• All of the books I've bought online by Minette Walters have kept me in suspense until the final 'denouement'. That is where I part company with her and disappointment sets in, since, in this particular story, she brings in an outside character at the very last minute. Another slight criticism is the overly used 'Jesus wept' I have come across in every one of her books. Personally, I have never heard this expression used anywhere so I then find myself looking out for it!

• I enjoyed this book, as I have all Minette Walters' novels. As usual, we find her super character descriptions, here showing how people of varied backgrounds interact with and react to each other. Typically too there is a particular social issue dealt with - in this case 'new age travellers'. Walters captures a real sense of the community's vulnerability towards these people, largely unfounded, emphasising their own insecurities. Family tensions also play a large part in this novel, mainly concerning the Lockyer-Smith family, and the curious relationships between James, his children Leo and Elizabeth, and his recently discovered granddaughter, Nancy. There are moments of humour too, particularly when Julian and Dick discover their wives have been making nuisance phone calls. However, the end of this book was rather disappointing, as none of the various solutions suggested along the way turned out to be true. Instead, the mysterious identity of 'Fox Evil' turned out to be a character rarley mentioned beforehand. The very end also seemed a bit like 'and they all lived happily ever after.' Good, but not Walters' best novel. I look forward to reading her newest work, Disordered Minds , and seeing if this marks a return to absolute top form.

• This author keeps us expecting her characters to act like people we know. But they don't , or maybe that is how the people we know actually do behave? She writes about regular folks who get up to some very scary stuff!

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