Customer Reviews

Fox Evil

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

I have been reading Walters books for a long time as I became infatuated with her style of writing. The Sculptress was a fabulous book which she should be proud of, however, Fox Evil has let her down. It was a very slow read and was difficult to get into. It did increase in speed once you began to know about the family,however, disappointment set in with the anti-climax ending. I am deeply disappointed at how the ending was written. Fox turned out to be a random character not previously spoken about and left me feeling quite cheated. Instead of a fabulous ending, the book was destroyed by it. It felt unfullfilled, it did not leave me begging for more just throughly disappointed. I hope that Walters next books does her more justice!!!!

Make no bones about it, Minette Walters is a great writer. For middle-class murder and mayhem, she can't be beaten - that is, when she's on form, as in "The Ice House" and "The Dark Room" - two gripping stories with strong female characters, to whom you are sorry to say goodbye on the final page...

But then, Walters has also written much weaker novels like "The Echo" and "The Breaker", neither of which were very interesting or involving and which I had to plod through...

"Fox Evil" is somewhere in between the two - it has some great characters and the opening few chapters of the novel set things up for a cracking plot... and then it all goes awry... I was really quite disappointed with how the book panned out. As other reviewers have said, the ending is quite a disappointment. Walters has in the past given her books quite open endings, leaving us wondering what happened next... did X really kill Y? etc... but this one is simply an anti-climax (and it's a struggle to get there).

It's disappointing, from an author like Walters - who can be truly, sensationally, jaw-droppingly awesome in her writing at times - that this book doesn't go anywhere and that the twists we seem to be promised never really materialise. A few of the characters here, most notably the travellers and the snooty villagers, are pure caricature, and I know that MW can do a lot better. I liked Nancy Smith - although she is no Jinx Kingsley (from "The Dark Room").

All in all, a missed opportunity, and I've given it 2 stars because I expected a lot more from this particular author and was disappointed - it's not, all in all, a bad book, just a rather frustrating one. I hope "Disordered Minds" sees Ms Walters back on form!

This is not one of Minette Walters' best novels unfortunately. I would suggest her earlier works such as The Sculptress, The Dark Room or The Scold's Bridle. This is not a real page turner and the characters do not draw you in, but you can, if you have to, whizz through it easily.

Elderly Ailsa Lockyer-Fox died a curious death. One cold morning she was found in her night-dress lying dead on the terrace of her large house, the French windows locked. Even though the coroner pronounces that the death is not suspicious, residents of the village of Shenstead remain convinced that her husband, Colonel James Lockyer-Fox, killed her. There are rumours of vicious arguments between the two, and talk of vile secrets in his past. Allegations fly, and a systematic campaign against him begins.

But, when a troop of new-age travellers sets up camp near the village and claim they can stay as long as they wish - permanently, even - for it can't be proved that anyone owns the land, the villagers find themselves in a mess. The only person who could help is Colonel Lockyer-Fox, but after months of their abuse and segregation, he is too tired and worn out, mentally and physically, and no longer cares enough to do anything to help.

Which could be a catastrophe. Because all the while the travellers are there, the village is under threat from their violent and mysterious leader, the enigmatic Fox Evil...

As always, Minette Walters' wonderful writing style makes this psychological thriller a pleasure to read, and each sentence is a joy. The psychology of her characters (and there are many, all fully developed) is deadly accurate, and every action they make is completely believable and true to their characters. The plot (and book) is very strong, indeed, probably her strongest yet. It's complex and powerful, with many disparate threads twisting together. But...

...there is very little suspense. If I were to reveal the main culprit here, it wouldn't spoil the denouement of the book. All the while, the reader believes themselves safe in the knowledge that "Well, of course, she's going to have a big surprise for us, isn't she", and yet that knowledge turns out to be false. There are, yes, one or two small surprises, and some aspects of the ending echo back to the good old days of "The Scold's Bridle", but there's nothing very shocking at all about the end. Also, the solution as it is, because there are so many plot-strands, ends up being rather complicated and confusing. Several times in my head I had to go back over it.

But, while that does take away from an otherwise very strong book, it doesn't mean that this is a big disappointment. Far from it. I would still recommend it to her fans, and anyone who likes a well-written, enjoyable to read mystery, with good characters a strong plot. Even if the ending is ultimately a bit of a let-down.

Ms Walters seems to have caught the JG Ballard disease, whereby she trots out increasingly formulaic, albeit well-crafted, books.

The earnest young doctor of Acid Row, Sophie Morrisson, is here Captain Nancy Smith of The Royal Engineers. The good-hearted, respectable Mum from the sink council estate is here a good-hearted, respectable Mum from a travellers' encampment. The wicked old Polish whiner, Franek, has become a wicked old whining servant, Vera. I could go on....

If you've never read a book by Minette Walters, you'll probably find it a good page-turner, but readers of her previous books might as well just re-read Acid Row which covered the same ground, only better.

The first part of the book is quite graphic and to some extent disturbing but this actually grips you and urges you to read more. However, the rest of the book is a bit of a let down in that it's really rather slow in places.

Some of the quite important characters didn't seem to fit in with the rest of the story and I actually found myself skipping or skim reading chapters that specifically wrote about them.

This was my first experience of Minette Walters and to be honest, I don't think she's as good as other crime or thriller novelists about today. However, I would buy another book written by her if the synopsis gripped me.

After all the hype and publicity this writer receives, I bought Fox Evil hoping for a good read. To be frank, I initially put it down after just the first two chapters then forced myself to read on, as I'd paid for it. The characters are stereotypes,the pace non-existent. I didn't care for anybody either. And how does a fox know about Pavlov? (see Prologue) Points of view changed with each character - I could go on. Compared to The Sculptress, this is dire.

What was that about? I didn't understand it at all - why were James's children in it- what was their purpose?? - who talked to who? - how come it turned out to be the perpetrator's fault? all I can say is HUH??????? Extremely ODD book with no real thread or plot or ending....

I've read several of Ms Walter's novels, and most seem to be complete let-downs. I appreciate she's a competent writer, but her plotting is abysmal. In this novel, there is no suspence, and almost no crime.

Her police detectives are interchangeable, not only between novels, but within them. Reginald Hill, for example, creates full-bodied police characters. In Ms Walter's novels, they are ciphers.

And I'm getting wierded out by Ms Walter's preoccupation with child abuse. All her novels I have read involve child abuse, either the victim's, the killer's, or even minor characters. Is she trying to tell us something? In this case, the whole novel seems to be a vehicle for her preoccupation.

I would love to like Ms Walter's novels, but can't.

Read this book as my Book Club's choice. Found it very hard to get into,but persevered,. However, didn't think it worth the effort, hard to follow and very disappointing end.