Book
The breaker / Minette Walters.
Record details
- ISBN: 9780399144929
- ISBN: 9780771087554 :
- ISBN: 0399144927
- ISBN: 0771087551 :
- Physical Description: 356 p. : ill ; 24 cm.
- Publisher: Toronto : M&S, 1998.
Search for related items by subject
| Subject: | Murder > Fiction. Mothers and daughters > Fiction. |
| Genre: | Mystery fiction. Detective and mystery stories. |
Available copies
- 7 of 7 copies available at BC Interlibrary Connect. (Show)
- 1 of 1 copy available at Smithers Public Library.
Holds
- 0 current holds with 7 total copies.
Show Only Available Copies
| Location | Call Number / Copy Notes | Barcode | Shelving Location | Holdable? | Status | Due Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Smithers Public Library | F WAL (Text) | 35101000057955 | Adult Fiction | Volume hold | Available | - |
- Booklist Reviews : Booklist Monthly Selections - #1 March 1999
/*Starred Review*/ British novelist Walters, who came out of nowhere several years ago to become one of the crime genre's most popular authors, just keeps getting better. Her latest is a wonderfully convoluted whodunit that will perplex even expert villain spotters. The body of a young woman is found on a beach. A three-year-old girl, apparently drugged with some sort of sedative, is then discovered wandering through the nearby town. Police soon determine that the dead woman is the girl's mother. But what were they doing so far from home? And who killed the woman: her husband, an unsavory actor friend, or someone else? As police investigate, they sink deeper and deeper into a sordid tale of sexual deviance, obsession, and desperation. Accordingly, the novel itself grows more and more unsettling, reaching into areas that would be quite distasteful were it not for Walters' intelligent way of handling her subject matter. Her characters are carefully constructed: they're real people, not crime-novel stock figures (would-be actor Stephen Harding, the prime suspect, and Nick Ingram, one of the police investigators, stand out among the large cast). This fine novel is sure to be a best-seller, and it deserves to be. Not only Walters' fans but anyone who likes a smart, well-constructed mystery will be spellbound until the final scenes have been played out. Multiple copies will be a must. ((Reviewed March 1, 1999)) Copyright 2000 Booklist Reviews - Kirkus Reviews : Kirkus Reviews 1999 April #1
When the binoculars that young Paul and Daniel Spender have snitched from their father first give them a glimpse of the body of Kate Hill-Sumner in Chapman's Pool, off the Isle of Purbeck, three other people are also close by: a self-styled actor whose specialty is gay pornography; a horse-boarder whose swindler husband has run off with all her money; and a teenaged girl aboard an offshore boat idly looking for something to videotape. All three will soon be caught up in the Dorset constabulary's relentless probe of the dead woman's secrets. But the most shocking presence is an absence: Kate's toddler Hannah, who's found wandering the streets of Poole. Why would an assailant brutally rape and disfigure Kate and set her daughter free several miles away? In fact, since Hannah screams at any man's approach, who could have attacked Kate while her daughter was near? And how many lies are the shocked widower, pharmaceutical chemist William Sumner, and Steven Harding, the actor who insists that Kate was stalking him, going to tell? In a brilliantly merciless series of interrogations, Purbeck Constable Nick Ingram and Dorset Inspector John Galbraith strip away layer after layer from the artfully constructed lives and personalities their suspects have made for themselves, bringing a ferocious intensity to the question of who killed Kate. Once again, Walters (The Echo, 1997, etc.) breathes new life into the classic whodunit by treating the cast as agonized and this time monstrously immature human beings. (Book-of-the-Month main selection) Copyright 1999 Kirkus Reviews - Library Journal Reviews : LJ Reviews 1999 February #1
A woman is found dead in the water and her little girl abandonedtoo close for comfort to the sailboat of a troubled young actor the mother was evidently seeing. But then the little girl seems awfully frightened of her dad. Walters tries for another Edgar Award. Copyright 1999 Library Journal Reviews - Library Journal Reviews : LJ Reviews 1999 May #1
In her sixth novel, Walters (The Echo, LJ 3/1/97) grabs us from the opening sceneAthe corpse of an attractive and pregnant woman is discovered washed ashore on the rocky Dorset coast in England. She has been drugged and sexually assaulted, her fingers deliberately broken, her body lashed to a dinghy to ensure her slow and painful death. What resident of the seaside village could be capable of such an atrocious crime? It's telling about the current state of English seaside villages that there are three prime suspects handy. Steven Harding, an actor whose most recent roles have been pornographic and who likes to sail, discovers the body. His friend Tony Bridges may have been jealous enough of Steven to try to shift blame for the murder onto him. And there is the victim's husband, who may have been pushed just far enough to murder his errant wife. Walters joins Ruth Rendell and P.D. James as the best current British purveyors of dark tales of psychological suspense. Her latest will be flying off bookstore and library shelves. For all public libraries. [BOMC selection; previewed in Prepub Alert, LJ 2/1/99.]ABob Lunn, Kansas City P.L., MO Copyright 1999 Cahners Business Information. - Publishers Weekly Reviews : PW Reviews 1999 April #2
Walters's novels (The Echo, 1997, etc.) depict complex, fallible people caught in intricate plots whose course and solution defy guesswork. Here, a woman's body washes up on the Dorset coast; then a toddler is found wandering alone in the nearby town of Poole. Initially, the investigation identifies two suspects, later a third, with both the police and the reader unable to establish definite means and opportunity, although all three suspects have motives. The dead woman, Kate Sumner who had been raped and strangled, her fingers broken before she drowned was chameleonlike: a greedy, malicious social climber, but an attentive wife and loving mother. Her husband may be a browbeaten yet adoring spouse, but his child fears him and his alibi is questionable. One suspect, Steven Harding, is a self-absorbed, sex-obsessed actor and a compulsive liar, but there's little evidence of his rumored affair with Kate. His friend Tony Bridges is a respected high school chemistry teacher with a heavy dope habit and a yen for his female students. The local constable, Nick Ingram, whose lack of ambition hides a probing mind and sharp insights into the human psyche, is immersed in the perplexing case. His investigation reacquaints him with stableyard owner Maggie Jenner, whose marriage to a confidence man shattered her family and its fortune, for which she unreasonably holds Nick responsible; Maggie and Nick's slow, witty courtship is one of the great pleasures of the novel. Each time the police develop a strong case against one suspect, the evidence shifts, pointing to another. Finally, a clever analysis of events and of human motivation leads them to the guilty party. This is psychological suspense at its best, engendered in a novel whose sinuous plot and enigmatic characters will captivate readers as surely as newfound love. (June) Copyright 1999 Publishers Weekly Reviews
