The Shape Of Snakes

It's really not until the very last page of Minette Walter's book that satisfaction is delivered, and it isn't the satisfaction mystery buffs generally look foward to as they churn through such crime books - it is a grim comeuppance rather than a thrilling twist, and a rather sad endnote that finally explains why the book's lead character, a schoolteacher, has been doggedly investigating a 1978 death, trying to prove neighbour "Mad Annie" was murdered twenty years earlier in her suburban London street, an investigation overrun with unpleasant characters - racists, rapists, abusers and ransackers - all indistinguishable from each other that, as you slog through the 400 pages, you'll eventually give up trying to distinguish which family is which and which repellent side character belongs to which subplot, and resign yourself to the idea that they may as well have all done it.

CINECAL: ONE SENTENCE REVIEWS