Reviewed By: Harriet Klausner
The Breaker
Amazon US PB Amazon US HC Amazon Canada PB Amazon Canada HC
Minette Walters
Class/Genre: Mystery
Putnam, Jun 1999, $23.95, 368 pp.
The brutalized corpse was found naked on a beach in the Dorset area. Not far from the crime scene, a couple finds a toddler wandering the streets by herself and brings the child to the police. Later on, the police identify the murdered person as Kate Sumner and the little girl as her daughter Hannah.
Two suspects emerge. Steven Harding is an actor, who called the police to inform them that two boys claimed to have seen a dead body on the nearby beach. William Sumner is Kate's spouse, who shared a stormy relationship with her. Both men have motives, opportunities, and means. Both men also are keeping secrets and lying to the police. To learn what really happened, PC Ingram knows he must somehow gain entrance to the inner thoughts of the two prime suspects.
THE BREAKER is a taut psychological thriller that will leave readers guessing the identity of the killer until the very end of the novel. This is the heart of the tale as the audience will seesaw back and forth between the two male suspects. The story line is exciting, loaded with red herrings, and filled with increasing tension. Though the characters, including the deceased, could have been more developed to prop up motives, fans of a non-stop, plot driven thriller will take immense pleasure from Minette Walters' dark tale.
Harriet Klausner
Reprinted with permission. Do Not repost without permission from the author, Harriet Klausner
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