Review of Acid Row by Minette Walters

I think I have a new favorite from Minette Walters' list of psychological suspense novels: her 2002 novel Acid Row.

The setting is Bassindale Estate, a poorly designed low-income housing development in England. Acid Row gets its name from the crumbling sign at the entry: "assi d" is all that's left, and the sign is a symbol for the entire poorly maintained development, which is little more than a warehouse for the eldery, the disabled, and single mothers on the dole.

Most of the inhabitants live in fear of each other. Many are angry about their seeming abandonment by the government, an emotion fueled by both drugs and injustice. A rumor that the government has now parked a dangerous pedophile in their midst without a word of warning combines with the disappearance of a child like petrol poured on banked embers.

Two mothers worried about the estate's children organize a peaceful Saturday morning protest march, but the event is hijacked by the estate's maddened youth. They barricade the four entries to the development with overturned cars to thwart the police, and set upon the suspected pedophile with Molotov cocktails. Those who organized the original march find themselves trying to hold back a demonic tide of violence. An idealistic young female doctor finds herself caught in the crossfire.

Most of the action takes place in one very long, very hot Saturday in July. Walters gives us a chance to see this small world poised on the brink of Armageddon through the eyes of a thief and drug dealer fresh out of jail, his pregnant girlfriend and her mother, and the idealistic young doctor whose been trying to improve the lives of those on Acid Row. These would-be heroes form unlikely allegiances with others in the estate as they try to defuse the situation -- or at least escape with their lives and loved ones.

The cold, quiet investigation of the missing child provides a chilling counterpoint to the scorching heat of the battle of Acid Row. The entire story is a page-turner peopled with sympathetic characters whose fate I grew to deeply care about, and the ending is both tragic and satisfying.