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I favor novels with a high quotient of what I privately refer to, somewhat blasphemously, as "the holy trinity": explosions, karate and sex. While I don't say this in jest --- well, maybe a little --- my primary concern is character development, which might explain my enjoyment of THE DEVIL'S FEATHER. There are certainly erotic elements within this book, along with violence, though incidents of the latter take place for the most part offstage and in past tense. Primarily though, it's the story of an unlikely friendship that develops (somewhat grudgingly) between two women whose bond is forged by facing a cunning and dangerous adversary --- actually, two of them.
Connie Burns, a British war correspondent, is in Sierra Leone when five women are brutally raped, tortured and murdered. Some suspects are apprehended and the matter is considered closed. Burns, however, soon starts thinking that a British mercenary, a man whom we come to know as Keith MacKenzie, may be responsible. MacKenzie and Burns cross paths in other theaters of war --- South Africa, Iraq --- and it's in the latter setting where matters initially come to a head. Burns, believing she has seen MacKenzie training Iraq security forces, also is aware of a series of murders similar to the Sierra Leone incidents. She begins to investigate MacKenzie, prodding his employer, when she's abruptly kidnapped; released after three days, she denies being tortured or possessing any knowledge regarding her kidnapper.
It is clear though that Burns is traumatized, and upon her return to England, she quickly isolates herself in a somewhat decrepit rental estate in the countryside of Winterbourne Barton. She can't find peace there either --- only warfare of a quieter sort. Upon her arrival she encounters Jess Derbyshire, an extremely odd duck who is somewhat of a pariah among the local townspeople. Madeleine Wright (Burns's landlord) and Derbyshire have a number of points of subtle but sharp conflict that are revealed slowly throughout the book, though the extent of Wright's villainy is not fully realized until the conclusion.
Meanwhile, MacKenzie is a shadowy, nightmarish presence throughout this work as the circumstances of Burns's abduction are slowly revealed and he comes ever closer to finding Burns and provoking a final confrontation. Minette Walters's style is stately; she turns up the suspense incrementally so that when the boogie man arrives, as we know he eventually will, one almost cannot believe that the moment has come. And while careful readers will quickly determine the solution to one of the piece's two mysteries, the enjoyment of witnessing Burns verbally parry and thrust during an interrogation with a local constable is worth the price of admission all by itself.
THE DEVIL'S FEATHER defies easy categorization. It is unique in that it contains elements of a suspense novel that to some extent are relegated to the background in favor of a study in relationships. Accordingly, it is somewhat of a bridge between a genre novel and more general fiction, but guaranteed to appeal to readers of both.
--- Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub
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