ACID ROW by Minette Walters July 2002 ISBN: 0399148620 Putnam Publishing Group

In ACID ROW Minette Walters tackles yet another subject mysterious. What happens when neighbors know there’s a pedophile next door before the police know?
The story is set in an Estate called Acid Row. It’s hot, there’s a child missing and the inhabitants of the Estate want to make a statement to the bureaucracy that has seen fit to relocate a pedophile to a neighborhood made up of single mothers and their children.
A peaceful march soon becomes a riot lead by teens. Caught in the middle is a compelling cast of characters: single mother Mel and her man Jimmy, the good Doctor Sophie, a pedophile and a sadist. Walters writes all of her characters with such smoothness that we know them all. Secondary to the Acid Row plot, but just as demanding of the reader’s attention, is the story of what has happened to the missing girl Amy.
And we think. Effortlessly, Walters has her reader contemplating everything from poor urban development decisions to what in childhood molds our personalities. In a story in which who becomes heroic and who is truly frightening is not restricted to stereotype, the author leads us on a horrific adventure, spattered with blood and fuel, and enough moments of personal triumph to make it just bearable. And let’s not forget Amy.. money does not necessarily guarantee a safe and happy childhood. Very readable.
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Ruth Jordan