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Fiction. Literature. Mystery. Thriller. HTML: In each of her ten critically acclaimed and hugely popular novels, Minette Walters has explored the dark terrain of the human psyche to give us thrillers of exceptional psychological complexity and suspense. Now, in The Devil's Feather, she gives us her most unexpected and electrifying novel yet. In 2002, five women are discovered barbarously murdered in Sierra Leone. Reuters Africa correspondent Connie Burns suspects a British mercenary: a man who seems to turn up in every war-torn corner of Africa, whose reputation for violence and brutality is well-founded and widely known. Connie's suspicions that he's using the chaos of war to act out sadistic, misogynistic fantasies fall on deaf ears---but she's determined to expose him and his secret. The consequences are devastating. Connie encounters the man again in Baghdad, but almost immediately she's taken hostage. Released after three desperate days, terrified and traumatized by the experience---fearing that she will never again be the person she once was---Connie retreats to England. She is bent on protecting herself by withholding information about her abduction. But secluded in a remote rented house---where the jealously guarded history of her landlady's family seems to mirror her own fears---she knows that it is only a matter of time before her nightmares become real. With its sinuous plot, its acutely drawn characters, and its blistering suspense, The Devil's Feather keeps us riveted from first to last. It is a dazzling reminder of why Publishers Weekly has dubbed Minette Walters "Agatha Christie with the gloves off.".… (more)
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Connie Burns is a war
Walters excels at psychological suspense. Her weaving in real events in Iraq gives this book a special sense of urgency, placing it more in the real world than most of her others. And yet, I can't consider this a mystery. It's simply a literary tour de force by one of my favorite authors.
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.
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