Acid Row by Minette Walter

 

Acid Row is a dilapidated council housing estate, its inhabitants disheartened and just trying to get by.  Petty crime is rampant and money is hard to come by.  A confluence of events occurs that sets Acid Row on fire, it's people determined to make a stand once and for all.

A young girl has gone missing.  Laura Biddulph is ten and living with her mother's boyfriend and his two teenage children.  It's school break and Laura is left alone every day with the teenagers who ignore her.  She tells them that she is off visiting a friend so it takes a while for everyone to realize that Laura has gone missing.  A huge police investigation starts.

In the meantime, a pedophile has recently been released from prison and homed on Acid Row.  He had not been violent, instead engaging in consensual fondling with teenage boys he taught.  But he went to prison and now is out, trying to put a life back together.  His father who is a sadistic brute and should have been the one in prison lives with him and continues to bully him as he did as a child.  A visiting social worker who disapproves lets the news out that the pair are now living on Acid Row.  That, along with the disappearance of Laura, sets off a tinderbox.  Two women living there plan a march to protest but it quickly is taken over by rowdy teenage boys and young men.

Sophie Morrison is a doctor in the area.  She has been in Acid Row that day, visiting a patient.  As she is about to leave work for the day the office calls and asks if she can visit one more patient there.  Little does she know it is the home of the pedophile and his father.  When she goes to treat the father's asthma he traps her there and holds her hostage.

Now the protest has turned violent.  Many more are there than anyone expected and they have built barricades that keep the police out of the area.  Petrol bombs start to be thrown and violence is in the air everywhere.  Sophie needs help but it can't be found.  The father tries to rape her and it will take everything she has to escape this tragedy.

Minette Walter is an English author.  She was first known for her mystery novels of which this is one.  She has since moved on to historical fiction but this novel demonstrates her ability to set a frightening yet realistic setting of terror and things gone wrong.  There are heroes and villains and it is a perfect storm of horror and heroism.  This book is recommended for mystery writers.