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Product Description
Amazon.co.uk Review
Slowly but surely, Minette Walters has been building up her reputation as one of the UK's most penetrating and distinctive purveyors of the psychological thriller. Disordered Minds will add even more lustre to her name. Such books as Fox Evil and Acid Row demonstrated Walters' reluctance to repeat herself in terms of narrative, and her easy command of the various social groups in her novels (upper middle or council estate) is more sure than that of her colleagues and peers.
Disordered Minds builds on her rich mélange of gifts and continues to strip-mine darker areas of the human psyche than most contemporary novelists--literary or otherwise--are keen to tackle. It's the 1970s: a man dies in prison after a controversial conviction for killing his grandmother. Howard Stamp, an educationally subnormal young man, takes his own life, and the case generates movements claiming Stamp's innocence. Anthropologist Jonathan Hughes digs deeper than the police had originally done, and when Jonathan's path crosses that of the elderly George Gardener, long an advocate of the hapless Stamp's innocence, Gardener co-opts Jonathan in an attempt to clear the dead man's name. But there are some frightening consequences, such as the fact that the real killer will not like being put in the frame again.
As always, Walters is interested in far more than the simple mechanics of crime-novel plotting: Despite their differences, Jonathan Hughes finds that the backward Stamp is still something of a doppelganger of himself, mirroring his own disturbed childhood and sense of alienation, while the background of a pending conflict in Iraq throws the personal dramas sharply into relief. This is Walters at her disturbing best. --Barry Forshaw --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
Product Description
In 1970, Harold Stamp, a retarded, reclusive twenty year-old was convicted on disputed evidence and a retracted confession of brutally murdering his grandmother - the one person who understood and protected him.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
23 of 24 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
I've always been a die hard Minette Walters fan and pre order her latest book as soon as it becomes available. Everything she has written so far has been pitch perfect. The endings are always unexpected and you are eagerly turning the pages until the very last paragraph. This book, however, was a bit of a disappointment. On the whole, it is classic Walters, and you will be hooked to the bitter end. However, when you reach the last page, you will probably find yourself wondering if somebody has ripped out the final chapter. Unlike her other novels, however, this one fizzles out limply without any satisfying conclusion. Although it's another morality tale, this moral is hardly ground breaking stuff (we all have a bit of good and a bit of evil in us - tell us something we DON'T know!) And I have to say that Walters' insistence on using the term "quid pro quo" every chapter in every book is wearing a bit thin - as is her obsession with child abuse (can we have a book about something else?) I hope the next book features a change of subject, and also a change of characters. Walters seems to have fallen into the trap of basing all her characters on the same person, but with different names and job titles. Even the apparently illiterate, violent, abused louts in the novel come out with deep philosophical insights they would never have in a million years - as someone who has relatives like this I can assure you that meaningful introspection doesn't feature heavily in their lives! I'd like to see Walters next book being a bit more gritty and realistic, as her attitude to the "abused", "poor" and "downtrodden" is horribly patronising. She writes from the viewpoint of a smug woolly liberal who's never lived among the people she writes about in a million years. Having said that, she is such a good story teller that I'm sure she can come back with something much better than this. I still like the way she writes, even if I think the subject matter has gone a bit awry of late. And Minette - if you ever HAVE lived on a Council estate in Peckham - could you be a bit more honest about it? It's not all "Gawd blimey love I might be a rogue but I have a heart of gold even I am a thieving rotter!" in the real world!
9 of 9 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
Having just read through the other online reviews of 'Disordered Minds,' I'm left with a feeling that this latest effort from Minette Walters has split her loyal readership into two camps. Half seem to think it's Walters at her best, half think she's lost her way. I have to admit, sadly I fall into the latter camp.
I did enjoy the book and I did pursue it to the end and, certainly, I will eagerly await any future offerings from Ms Walters. However, I believe this was a flawed novel and perhaps not one which would make a new reader to Walters want to pursue any of her past fantastic offerings, such as The Shape of Snakes, The Sculptress, Acid Row etc... etc...
So what was the problem? I think it's twofold. Firstly, the character of Dr Hughes, who initially poses the idea that Howard Stamp was wrongly convicted of his grandmother's murder in 1970, seems to become far too great a focus in the early part of the book. Following this initial over-emphasis which takes the reader far too far away from the actual plotline, without adding sufficiently to it, Hughes is then suddenly sidelined in favour of telling the story from other viewpoints. It further emasculates an already self-emasculating character and makes his very presence rather irritating. (And personally, I do hate it when authors introduce a new character at the 11th hour because they can't think of any other way to tie up loose ends: the arrival of private detective Sasha Spencer is just too convenient a tool for my taste!)
Secondly, whilst I normally love the way Walters makes her readers weave through an intensely complex plot, I think this one went too far. Lies are told to cover up injustices. But there were lies upon lies upon lies in this novel and now and again I felt more frustrated than enlightened when yet another character's previous statements were proved to have been fabrication. At some point the truth has to become startlingly clear to the reader, that's what makes reading psychological thrillers such a joy. I just wonder whether, in this case, Walters made the plot so complex that the reader is in danger of losing the desire to follow it through to the finish line. We're left at times wondering exactly what IS supposed to have happened in 1970?
In conclusion, I was disappointed. But I carry a sneaky supiscion that if I'd had the luxury to read this book in just a few sittings, the whole thing might have been more satisfying. Don't make my mistake and draw it out over several weeks in between stressful days at work! It doesn't help the plot!!
9 of 9 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
I am a huge fan of Minette Walters since reading “The Shape of Snakes” a few years ago. I have enjoyed every book, but I found that “Disordered Minds” was pretty disappointing in comparison to the others.
The dimension that the author usually puts around the characters seems to be lacking from this one, making it hard to become involved with the story and to get involved with the characters.
I am sad to say that although a big (in past) fan of Walter’s, my only sense of urgency in finishing this book was so that I could move swiftly onto something else.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Wrong profession?
Previously, I have always enjoyed this author's books, but she certainly seems to have taken a wrong turn with this one, which is flat and confusing, and frankly not very... Read more
Published on 1 July 2004
Dark Secrets Revealed
Minette Walters' specialty is her portrayal of the damaged soul, the person who has lived a hard life and has survived because they're a fighter. Read more
Published on 28 Jan 2004 by Untouchable
Yearly dose
My daughter makes me a present of Minette Walters at Christmas ever since I introduced her to The Ice House. Read more
Published on 24 Jan 2004 by Mme Roslyn Mor
Disappointing Minds
This book, however was a great disappointment. It follows the story of Howard Stamp, now deceased, as a writer attempts to prove his innocence. Read more
Published on 2 Jan 2004 by Sharon Young
Wonderful return to form
This year, I got angry. I got angry because the Crime Writer’s Association of the UK awarded Walters’ Fox Evil the Gold Dagger for Best Crime Novel of the Year (and... Read more
Published on 22 Dec 2003 by RachelWalker
Disordered
Hmm. I think that this book is very much like it's title - disordered. Maybe that was intentionally so, but I found it confusing to read the story from so many different angles,... Read more
Published on 20 Dec 2003
Vintage Walters!
In 1970, twenty year old Dorset resident Howard Stamp was convicted of the brutal murder of his grandmother. Read more
Published on 14 Nov 2003
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