Trust Minette Walters to choose a fresh approach to crime fiction that tears the envelope. This novel comes with photographs of the crime scene, charts and a map of the surrounding community, as well as an unlabeled foreword, a prologue and some clues. Whether the clues are real or not requires reading the book. There are internal graphics as well, including the reproduction of faxes and other documents integral to the police investigation, a technique Ms. Walters has used before.The novel begins with the finding of a nude female at a remote beach on the English Channel. The two finders are young, pre-teen boys, come to the cliffs over Chapman’s Pool, a favorite anchorage for the leisure boating community. The boys have brought binoculars, the better to ogle the bikini-clad girls on the boats. The communities close by are Bournemouth and Poole, destination of more than a few summer vacationers.An arrogant, self-assured young actor named is there at the same time, just walking the cliffs, he says, but there are discrepancies in his story. In fact, as the police investigation widens, discrepancies and lies appear in most of the stories told to the police by almost everyone they encounter. There are, it begins to appear, dark and shameful secrets in the lives of most people. Not all of them are acknowledged, especially by those who most closely hold some of those secrets. Other secrets, of which the less said the better, are flaunted in surprising places.This is a strongly written, study novel, massively complex, gritty, explicit, though not in a prurient way. It deals with some off-beat aspects of human sexuality and some inexplicable aspects of the human mind in an even-toned, matter-of-fact manner. It is full of misdirection. It has tension, pace, fine writing, interesting characters. It is called an international best seller. That’s easy to understand. It is not a cozy. It is not light reading. “The Breaker” is a powerful, moving, novel.
Well done mystery with good characterization. A naked young woman is washed up on the shore in a deserted cove. She is found by two young boys and help soon arrives. It takes a little while to figure out who she is because her husband is away and hasn't missed her yet. Her daughter is somewhat strange and is found wandering alone near the harbor. At first a young actor who is obsessed with pornography and known to be interested in her is arrested and his friends are interviewed. Then they begin looking at her husband and a friend of the actor. A young local constable figures out a lot of what's going on while courting a local woman who lives near the cove.
Do You like book The Breaker (2000)?
Walters creates compelling characters in The Breakers – she’s always good at serving up the weirdos. She sets up enough red herrings to keep your interest, and the two detectives – Ingram and Galbraith – are a wonderful contrast. The way she creates a picture of the dead woman, Kate Sumner, is fascinating – a composite that grows as we hear from different witnesses to and actors in her life. However, the three male characters – Harding, Bridges, and William Sumner – have been so overloaded with sexual dysfunction and/or obsession that they become caricatures rather than characters. Not one of them is credible. And Hannah, the child, doesn’t work either. There is absolutely no empathy for her situation or condition and the final words from Galbraith don’t make any kind of sense. No one in this novel likes children (except maybe Ingram), not even the constable put in charge of Hannah’s care. Which is a pity because, done well, they can shine a vivid light on the adults around them, as they do in that which we like to call real life.
—Sheila
READ IN DUTCHI bought this book because it was very cheap and I had never read anything from Minette Walters before. I'm always looking for new (for me new) good writers.Two boys find the body of a young woman on a beach. Her tree-year-old child is found in a nearby village. The police start to investigate the woman's death. I actually was disappointed. It wasn't what I expected it to be. I thought that the story was almost boring and I was actually just waiting on a better part, but I couldn't find it. I need to say that her writing style was OK, but I didn't like the story. It didn't make me want to read more of her books.
—Marjolein
I have found the thing with Minetter Walters' work is you never quite know what you are going to get. I've now read several of her books and each one had been different: from high energy crime on a council estate; dark tales of small village intrigue; to stories of a reporter roaming the world out of her depth; and now a seaside resort , murder, rape and secret affairs. It's not a bad thing and each has been thoroughtly researched and is well written. It's just that each one has an unknow quantity and, if they didn't have Walters' name on the cover, could have been written by totally different people.To start with The Breakers moved like an Agatha Christie novel and I was a little confused over the time setting. But once I got into the story I admit the twists and turns had me. Some characters were very weak, although it didn't seem to matter as your concern was not for the police here, or really the investigation, but for the victim's life, secrets and associates.
—Rebecca
