Read this book!, 17 May 2008
If you like atmospheric crime writing you will love this book. You can feel the chill in your bones when the author takes you through this tacky American town during the deep of winter. The story links together well and leads the reader to a rather unexpected ending.

Gripping, Thrilling, Couldn't put it down!, 25 Sep 2004
I started this book at 1pm yesterday and have read it every chance I got up until around 10.30pm this evening - I could not put it down. It's really gripping, lots of surprises and twists and interesting characters. Read it !

I can't wait to read The Walkaway or see the movie.

And your point is .....?, 10 Mar 2002
On first read this is a bit throwaway and doesn't benefit from the hype that accompanies it. But it does have a nice strand of humour running through. It's important to realise this is basically an unreal world, full of pointless, joyless people. You can read more into it, and the book does have an excellent atmosphere, but after visiting the down at heel and violent nightclubs and bars that litter the book if you're anything like me you just want to go to your village pub and have fun! Great ending though ....

The Best Novel of 2001, any genre, 14 Dec 2001
Scott Phillips has written perhaps the best novel I've read all year. Tough, violent, and very funny. I can't wait to read the sequal.

An Instant Classic, 02 Dec 2001
Scott Phillips short, powerful, wickedly funny noir tale more than deserves the acclaim it has been getting. It's got a shrewd mix of Elmore Leonard's realistically gritty characters, Charles Willeford's unsettling black humor, and Cornell Woolrich's dark, fatalistic plotting. If you like any of those authors, or can't get enough of Daniel Woodrell and James Crumley, this is a must-read for you...

Read this book!, 17 May 2008
If you like atmospheric crime writing you will love this book. You can feel the chill in your bones when the author takes you through this tacky American town during the deep of winter. The story links together well and leads the reader to a rather unexpected ending.

Gripping, Thrilling, Couldn't put it down!, 25 Sep 2004
I started this book at 1pm yesterday and have read it every chance I got up until around 10.30pm this evening - I could not put it down. It's really gripping, lots of surprises and twists and interesting characters. Read it !

I can't wait to read The Walkaway or see the movie.

And your point is .....?, 10 Mar 2002
On first read this is a bit throwaway and doesn't benefit from the hype that accompanies it. But it does have a nice strand of humour running through. It's important to realise this is basically an unreal world, full of pointless, joyless people. You can read more into it, and the book does have an excellent atmosphere, but after visiting the down at heel and violent nightclubs and bars that litter the book if you're anything like me you just want to go to your village pub and have fun! Great ending though ....

The Best Novel of 2001, any genre, 14 Dec 2001
Scott Phillips has written perhaps the best novel I've read all year. Tough, violent, and very funny. I can't wait to read the sequal.

An Instant Classic, 02 Dec 2001
Scott Phillips short, powerful, wickedly funny noir tale more than deserves the acclaim it has been getting. It's got a shrewd mix of Elmore Leonard's realistically gritty characters, Charles Willeford's unsettling black humor, and Cornell Woolrich's dark, fatalistic plotting. If you like any of those authors, or can't get enough of Daniel Woodrell and James Crumley, this is a must-read for you...

Hero to Zero, 17 May 2008
Scotts Philips 'Ice Harvest' was one of the most enjoyable crime novels I have read in years. By contrast this book was quite possibly one of the worst. How the same person be responsible for such a wonderful work and follow it with this dross is quite beyond belief. This book is boring, slow, dull and I only finished it because I believed that somewhere, at some point in the story it would improve - unfortunately it did not.

A decent sequel, 18 Mar 2004
I've just finished this book, and after reading the reviews here, expected to be disappointed. I wasn't. In fact, I was pleasantly surprised.

Yes, it's a little backstory heavy, and the cast of thousands (well not quite...) can be a little confusing. I occasionally found myself reading a characters name and having to stop reading and think to myself, "Loretta? Loretta...., now, is she the one who..., no, she's the one who's married to that guy! Was it her mother who...?" etc.

Having said that, all the things that made the first book so enjoyable are there as well; the misanthropic tone and the bleak humour. I laughed out loud on a couple of occasions, and that's pretty difficult to get me to do. If the plot is a tiny bit flabby, the writing itself is lean and hard, and a joy to read. I look forward to his third book getting a UK release.

Better than the other reviews suggest, 30 Dec 2003
I very rarely re-read books, but I picked up The Walkaway again this Christmas and couldn't put it down for the second time. I think Gunther is a marvellous character and the merging of the plot's time scales are particularly ingenious.
Last time I read it, I vowed to buy The Ice Harvest, and because the other reviews of The Walkaway generally express disappointment by comparison, it would appear I'm in for a treat by getting round to buying it now.

A huge disappointment, 24 Oct 2003
Sadly, I have to agree with the previous reviewer. Scott Phillips' first novel, The Ice Harvest is wonderful - short, fast-paced and unpredictable. The Walkaway, by contrast, is long, plodding and all too predictable. That said, The Ice Harvest was such a great novel that I'll probably give this author one more shot when his third novel comes along... I just hope he doesn't spin the story out quite so much next time!

Read this book!, 17 May 2008
If you like atmospheric crime writing you will love this book. You can feel the chill in your bones when the author takes you through this tacky American town during the deep of winter. The story links together well and leads the reader to a rather unexpected ending.

Gripping, Thrilling, Couldn't put it down!, 25 Sep 2004
I started this book at 1pm yesterday and have read it every chance I got up until around 10.30pm this evening - I could not put it down. It's really gripping, lots of surprises and twists and interesting characters. Read it !

I can't wait to read The Walkaway or see the movie.

And your point is .....?, 10 Mar 2002
On first read this is a bit throwaway and doesn't benefit from the hype that accompanies it. But it does have a nice strand of humour running through. It's important to realise this is basically an unreal world, full of pointless, joyless people. You can read more into it, and the book does have an excellent atmosphere, but after visiting the down at heel and violent nightclubs and bars that litter the book if you're anything like me you just want to go to your village pub and have fun! Great ending though ....

The Best Novel of 2001, any genre, 14 Dec 2001
Scott Phillips has written perhaps the best novel I've read all year. Tough, violent, and very funny. I can't wait to read the sequal.

An Instant Classic, 02 Dec 2001
Scott Phillips short, powerful, wickedly funny noir tale more than deserves the acclaim it has been getting. It's got a shrewd mix of Elmore Leonard's realistically gritty characters, Charles Willeford's unsettling black humor, and Cornell Woolrich's dark, fatalistic plotting. If you like any of those authors, or can't get enough of Daniel Woodrell and James Crumley, this is a must-read for you...

Hero to Zero, 17 May 2008
Scotts Philips 'Ice Harvest' was one of the most enjoyable crime novels I have read in years. By contrast this book was quite possibly one of the worst. How the same person be responsible for such a wonderful work and follow it with this dross is quite beyond belief. This book is boring, slow, dull and I only finished it because I believed that somewhere, at some point in the story it would improve - unfortunately it did not.

A decent sequel, 18 Mar 2004
I've just finished this book, and after reading the reviews here, expected to be disappointed. I wasn't. In fact, I was pleasantly surprised.

Yes, it's a little backstory heavy, and the cast of thousands (well not quite...) can be a little confusing. I occasionally found myself reading a characters name and having to stop reading and think to myself, "Loretta? Loretta...., now, is she the one who..., no, she's the one who's married to that guy! Was it her mother who...?" etc.

Having said that, all the things that made the first book so enjoyable are there as well; the misanthropic tone and the bleak humour. I laughed out loud on a couple of occasions, and that's pretty difficult to get me to do. If the plot is a tiny bit flabby, the writing itself is lean and hard, and a joy to read. I look forward to his third book getting a UK release.

Better than the other reviews suggest, 30 Dec 2003
I very rarely re-read books, but I picked up The Walkaway again this Christmas and couldn't put it down for the second time. I think Gunther is a marvellous character and the merging of the plot's time scales are particularly ingenious.
Last time I read it, I vowed to buy The Ice Harvest, and because the other reviews of The Walkaway generally express disappointment by comparison, it would appear I'm in for a treat by getting round to buying it now.

A huge disappointment, 24 Oct 2003
Sadly, I have to agree with the previous reviewer. Scott Phillips' first novel, The Ice Harvest is wonderful - short, fast-paced and unpredictable. The Walkaway, by contrast, is long, plodding and all too predictable. That said, The Ice Harvest was such a great novel that I'll probably give this author one more shot when his third novel comes along... I just hope he doesn't spin the story out quite so much next time!

An excellent read, 16 Mar 2007
I didn't know anything about this book, or this writer. However, when I started it, within a couple of lines I had that lovely feeling of ' relax - this is going to be good book'. It is technically a Western (in scenes and time) but covers love, photography and a (real life) murderous family. The sense of time and place is well done and the characterisation is perfect. I finished the book kind of wanting to know more, about both the fictional and non-fictional characters, and that has to be a good thing.

Read this book!, 17 May 2008
If you like atmospheric crime writing you will love this book. You can feel the chill in your bones when the author takes you through this tacky American town during the deep of winter. The story links together well and leads the reader to a rather unexpected ending.

Gripping, Thrilling, Couldn't put it down!, 25 Sep 2004
I started this book at 1pm yesterday and have read it every chance I got up until around 10.30pm this evening - I could not put it down. It's really gripping, lots of surprises and twists and interesting characters. Read it !

I can't wait to read The Walkaway or see the movie.

And your point is .....?, 10 Mar 2002
On first read this is a bit throwaway and doesn't benefit from the hype that accompanies it. But it does have a nice strand of humour running through. It's important to realise this is basically an unreal world, full of pointless, joyless people. You can read more into it, and the book does have an excellent atmosphere, but after visiting the down at heel and violent nightclubs and bars that litter the book if you're anything like me you just want to go to your village pub and have fun! Great ending though ....

The Best Novel of 2001, any genre, 14 Dec 2001
Scott Phillips has written perhaps the best novel I've read all year. Tough, violent, and very funny. I can't wait to read the sequal.

An Instant Classic, 02 Dec 2001
Scott Phillips short, powerful, wickedly funny noir tale more than deserves the acclaim it has been getting. It's got a shrewd mix of Elmore Leonard's realistically gritty characters, Charles Willeford's unsettling black humor, and Cornell Woolrich's dark, fatalistic plotting. If you like any of those authors, or can't get enough of Daniel Woodrell and James Crumley, this is a must-read for you...

Hero to Zero, 17 May 2008
Scotts Philips 'Ice Harvest' was one of the most enjoyable crime novels I have read in years. By contrast this book was quite possibly one of the worst. How the same person be responsible for such a wonderful work and follow it with this dross is quite beyond belief. This book is boring, slow, dull and I only finished it because I believed that somewhere, at some point in the story it would improve - unfortunately it did not.

A decent sequel, 18 Mar 2004
I've just finished this book, and after reading the reviews here, expected to be disappointed. I wasn't. In fact, I was pleasantly surprised.

Yes, it's a little backstory heavy, and the cast of thousands (well not quite...) can be a little confusing. I occasionally found myself reading a characters name and having to stop reading and think to myself, "Loretta? Loretta...., now, is she the one who..., no, she's the one who's married to that guy! Was it her mother who...?" etc.

Having said that, all the things that made the first book so enjoyable are there as well; the misanthropic tone and the bleak humour. I laughed out loud on a couple of occasions, and that's pretty difficult to get me to do. If the plot is a tiny bit flabby, the writing itself is lean and hard, and a joy to read. I look forward to his third book getting a UK release.

Better than the other reviews suggest, 30 Dec 2003
I very rarely re-read books, but I picked up The Walkaway again this Christmas and couldn't put it down for the second time. I think Gunther is a marvellous character and the merging of the plot's time scales are particularly ingenious.
Last time I read it, I vowed to buy The Ice Harvest, and because the other reviews of The Walkaway generally express disappointment by comparison, it would appear I'm in for a treat by getting round to buying it now.

A huge disappointment, 24 Oct 2003
Sadly, I have to agree with the previous reviewer. Scott Phillips' first novel, The Ice Harvest is wonderful - short, fast-paced and unpredictable. The Walkaway, by contrast, is long, plodding and all too predictable. That said, The Ice Harvest was such a great novel that I'll probably give this author one more shot when his third novel comes along... I just hope he doesn't spin the story out quite so much next time!

An excellent read, 16 Mar 2007
I didn't know anything about this book, or this writer. However, when I started it, within a couple of lines I had that lovely feeling of ' relax - this is going to be good book'. It is technically a Western (in scenes and time) but covers love, photography and a (real life) murderous family. The sense of time and place is well done and the characterisation is perfect. I finished the book kind of wanting to know more, about both the fictional and non-fictional characters, and that has to be a good thing.

An excellent read, 16 Mar 2007
I didn't know anything about this book, or this writer. However, when I started it, within a couple of lines I had that lovely feeling of ' relax - this is going to be good book'. It is technically a Western (in scenes and time) but covers love, photography and a (real life) murderous family. The sense of time and place is well done and the characterisation is perfect. I finished the book kind of wanting to know more, about both the fictional and non-fictional characters, and that has to be a good thing.