Reviews

The Ice House by Minette Walters

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punkinmuffin's review against another edition

3.0

I first read The Ice House not long after it came out (tipped off by a friend who works in publishing). So that would have been in the nineties. I can safely say I'd remembered nothing about it. Re-reading it was therefore a pleasure. It's a good mystery and kept me guessing until the end. I kept changing my mind about whether or not McLoughlin was a good guy or not! Fun read, especially if you enjoy a bit of "comfortable" noir.

andrealoverke's review against another edition

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dark mysterious slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.25

melissa_who_reads's review against another edition

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4.0

When a body is found in an old unused ice house on an English estate, the police are called back in, and the effects of their last investigation at the estate are remembered: an investigation into a possible murder, though no body was ever found. Very good mystery, good plotting, characters, and writing. Though it contains elements that I usually shrink from -- child abuse in particular -- it was so well-written and integral to the story that I was enthralled rather than repulsed. Possibly easier as the abuse was in the past, though the after-effects was very much part of the present, and reverberating throughout the story. Nicely layered. Murder and its after-effects, a little embezzlement as a side plot, and the viciousness of a small village avenging an imagined wrong, all reveal more details of the life of the women living at the estate.