The Devil's Feather
by Minette Walters
Reviewed by Coral
War correspondent Connie Burns has been in dangerous situations and met very dangerous people. But it is a British mercenary that she meets in three countries using three different names who seems to be the most terrifying. In each place he is avoided by the European and American contingents and stories about his violence and brutality are widespread.
This wasn't one of them.
When she sees him in a third country when Connie realizes that there have been similar brutal murders of local women in each of the places she’s seen him. Determined to uncover the truth, she finds herself caught in the crosshairs. Now, unable to escape the fear, Connie goes into hiding in England but that may not be enough to protect her.
I liked parts of this book but I thought that the middle section – where Connie is hiding in rural England and making friends – would have been bettered served by being told in a linear fashion. There was a lot of jumping ahead and then looking back to a conversation that had been skipped over and then stuff like “I would learn later”. I would have liked to see the friendship between Connie, Jessie and Peter develop in a more coherent manner. I think that would have given the ending more of an impact.
I do like ambiguous endings sometimes, depending on the book. While the author does imply what happens at the end I would have liked to have more details on the fate of one of the characters.
Grade: B
