Ultimately disappointing novel. Diverse storylines only connect through the presence of two or three characters, and they are hardly interwoven. I had the feeling I had read this book before, though without any recollection having ever picked it up before. ( )

War correspondent Connie Burns suspects a mercenary of murdering women in Sierra Leone and now, by the same methods, in Iraq. After making her suspicions known, she is abducted and tortured for three days and then released without ever seeing her abductor. The story shifts to England where she hopes to recover under an assumed name in a quiet rural house where she encounters a local eccentric and the doctor. Despite her strict precautions, word of the location reaches the suspect who breaks into the house. The main part of the story shows her as an emotional wreck, not eating or sleeping. After the break-in where the culprit escapes she becomes confident, sure of herself and unconcerned about her torturer being at large. During the hideout, she uncovers unsettling information about her landlady providing an accompanying crime to investigate. Some of the dialogue is implausible, such as when she is interviewed by the police, or when she is questioning her landlady, or more accurately, interrogating her. A decent read but not one of Walters' best. ( )

Wir haben das Hörbuch gehört, auf dem wohl im Gegensatz zur Buchfassung ein Teil gekürzt ist. Das Hörbuch setzt ein, als die englische Journalistin Connie Burns sich in das Dorf Winterbourne Barton in Dorset zurückzieht. Sie leidet unter Panikattacken und wird verfolgt: Die vorausgehende Geschichte, in der sie als Journalistin in Krisengebieten einem Söldner auf die Spur kommt, der systematisch Frauen vergewaltigt und tötet, wird nur in Rückblenden erzählt. Connie befand sich drei Tage in der Hand dieses Psychopathen und kommt dann frei - nun verfolgt er sie erneut. Dieser Teil der Handlung ist etwas unlogisch- wieso hat der Täter nicht auch Connie getötet, wieso verfolgt er sie nun?
Minette Walters vermischt die Handlung nun mit der Geschichte von Connies Nachbarin Jess, die ebenfalls unter Panikattacken leidet: Ihre gesamte Familie wurde bei einem Autounfall getötet. Jess gab daraufhin ihr Kunststudium auf und übernahm die elterliche Farm. Die beiden so unterschiedlichen Frauen eint also das gleiche Schicksal: Sie leiden unter Angst und Panik, sie sind Opfer- obwohl sie eigentlich sehr stark sind.
Nicht immer ist es ganz geglückt, dass Walters diese englische Familiengeschichte mit dem Entführungsfall mischt. Dennoch ist das Buch sehr spannend und hat uns gut gefallen. Wir haben viel darüber diskutiert! ( )

Crisp writing, well drawn characters and suspenseful plot line, though there are a few cliques, though to name them would be a spoiler. Premise is that a 30-something Reuters reporter, Connie Burns, has gone to ground somewhere in Dorset after she was abducted in Baghdad. She refuses to answer press questions and, in some cases, just doesn't know the answer. Question- is her abduction related questions about at spree of rapes and murders in the war torn aftermaths in various African civil wars. She has put it out that these murders are not part of the mob violence that was part of the wars, but the act of a foreign mercenary. She finds a a peaceful English village in which she hopes she can lie low There she makes friends with Jess, the village eccentric, a rough spoken woman with rumors buzzing around her like flies. And then there is the youngish doctor who may or may not be involved with Jess. Or may or may not be involved with the landlord's grasping daughter.
Or.... ( )

Crisp writing, well drawn characters and suspenseful plot line, though there are a few cliques, though to name them would be a spoiler. Premise is that a 30-something Reuters reporter, Connie Burns, has gone to ground somewhere in Dorset after she was abducted in Baghdad. She refuses to answer press questions and, in some cases, just doesn't know the answer. Question- is her abduction related questions about at spree of rapes and murders in the war torn aftermaths in various African civil wars. She has put it out that these murders are not part of the mob violence that was part of the wars, but the act of a foreign mercenary. She finds a a peaceful English village in which she hopes she can lie low There she makes friends with Jess, the village eccentric, a rough spoken woman with rumors buzzing around her like flies. And then there is the youngish doctor who may or may not be involved with Jess. Or may or may not be involved with the landlord's grasping daughter.
Or.... ( )