Chickenfeed: Reviews

The accolades for Chickenfeed have been unanimous. Critics and fans alike have loved this 'quick read' - we've included some of the best ones below.

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"Minette Walters, who has penned a thriller called Chickenfeed for the series, said that she hoped her Quick Read book would appeal to her existing fans as well as draw in reluctant readers. "I wanted to write a book where sophisticated readers would forget within a page that it was written in a different way from how I would normally write. It was a challenge to write because I constantly had to think whether certain words or ideas, particularly 'inside head' thoughts, were really necessary. But I enjoyed it and I hope the books will be widely read by everyone, so no one need feel embarrassed about being seen to be reading one."

--Alexandra Frean

The Times, 2 March 2006

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"Walters... takes to the pace and clarity imposed by the format like a natural with her true-crime tale, Chickenfeed."

--Boyd Tonkin

The Independent, 3 March 2006
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"Chickenfeed, despite its brevity, reads very much like Walters’ customary fare: a violent crime is committed (offstage, as it were), but the concentration is on perpetrator and victim rather than a dogged police inspector putting the pieces together... This story, in its own terms, is fascinating enough, but in Walters’ expert hands, the swiftest of reads is guaranteed. Some may be unhappy with her deliberately vague treatment of the grim finale of the tale, and long-term Walters aficionados will be keen for her to get back to her normal-length novels--but certainly this is a book that it is difficult to put down."

--Barry Forshaw

Amazon.co.uk

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"Chickenfeed proves that Walters has the knack of writing engrossing stories, whether she has 320 or 120 pages at her disposal."

--Sharon Wheeler

Reviewing the Evidence, March 2006

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"The list of authors is impressive, ranging from Maeve Binchy to the Big Issue's Jon Bird; from Ruth Rendell to Richard Branson; from Joanna Trollope to Minette Walters. They have all risen to the challenge of creating satisfying, powerful pieces within the constraints of the form."

--Alan Tuckett

The Guardian, 14 March 2006

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"(Minette) has turned the constraints (of the Quick Reads' format) to actual advantage. Chickenfeed is a marvellous little story, thoroughly intimate with human nastiness... Elsie's tiresomeness and worse is lovingly detailed by Walters, and, while the relationship is fully described, the prose suits the modest educational level of the protagonists. The ending is faultlessly emphatic, too."

--David Sexton

Evening Standard, 27 Feburary 2006

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"Of the current batch, Minette's stands out for me... I shall be recommending Chickenfeed as a textbook example of psychological complexity."

--Lilian Pizzichini

Times Educational Supplement, Scotland, 24 February 2006

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"Crime writer Minette Walters knocks spots off the rest with Chickenfeed, a novel based on the true story of a 1924 murder. Walters' pacy account of a needy young typist whose relationship with her chicken farmer lover ends in tragedy is a gripping page-turner and easily as good as her longer novels."

--Emma Lee-Potter

The Daily Express, 3 March 2006