She’s great and this is one of her best. Easy to read, fast-paced, full of suspense with interesting characters and, although a little predictable, it is nail-biting in its ability to grip. With a Reuters correspondent in Iraq recognising a mercenary she had previously seen in both the Congo and Sierra Leone at the crux of the tale, we are eventually re-allocated to a remote house in Dorset and some fascinating strings in a terrific read.
Reviewed by Sarah Broadhurst Sarah Broadhurst spent her early working life in the book trade in both retail and wholesale until the arrival of children forced her to look for freelance work she could do from… More reviews by Sarah Broadhurst
With private security firms supplying bodyguards in every theatre of war, who will notice the emergence of a sexual psychopath from the ranks of the mercenaries?
When five women are brutally murdered in Sierra Leone, Reuter's correspondent, Connie Burns, questions the arrest of three rebel soldiers for the crimes. No one listens. In the wake of a vicious civil war which saw hundreds of thousands killed and displaced, the rape and murder of women is of little consequence. And who cares if child soldiers are beaten into confessing?
With little to go on, except her witnessing of a savage attack on a prostitute, Connie believes a foreigner is responsible: a man who claims to have been in the SAS and works as a bodyguard to a Lebanese diamond trader. She remembers him from Kinshasa when he was a mercenary for Laurent Kabila's regime, and she suspects he uses the chaos of war to act out sadistic fantasies against women.
Two years later in Iraq, the consequences of her second attempt to expose him are devastating. Terrified, degraded and destroyed, she goes into hiding in England, where she strikes up a friendship with Jess Derbyshire, a loner whose reclusive nature has alienated her from the rest of the Dorset community where she lives. Seeing parallels between herself and Jess, Connie borrows from the other woman's strength and makes the hazardous decision to attempt a third unmasking of a serial killer...
Minette Walters is one of the world's bestselling crime writers and has sold over 25 million copies of her books worldwide. She has won the CWA John Creasey Award, the Edgar Allan Poe Award in America and two CWA Gold Daggers. The Swift and the Harrier is her third historical novel. She lives in Dorset with her husband.
With private security firms supplying bodyguards in every theatre of war, who will notice the emergence of a sexual psychopath from the ranks of the mercenaries? When five women are brutally murdered in Sierra Leone, Reuter's correspondent, Connie Burns, questions the arrest of three rebel soldiers for the crimes. No one listens.
The Devil's Feather features in the following genres: Crime and Mystery, eBooks of the Month, Horror and Supernatural Fiction, Fiction, Recommendations
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The Devil's Feather was written by Minette Walters and published by Pan Macmillan
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