Acid Row is 2001 thriller novel by Minnette Walters.
The Bassindale Estate - known to the locals as Acid Row - is a rundown housing estate primarily home to single mothers struggling to make ends meet, fearful old folks and delinquent teens. As of recently, it's also home to a convicted paedophile, secretly moved to the estate by the police to protect him from vigilantes in his old neighbourhood.
When the residents of Acid Row learn there is a paedophile in their midst, their ire is quickly raised and they plan a protest march to force the perverts from the neighbourhood. Matters are worsened when they learn a young girl from a neighbouring estate has gone missing, with many assuming that she was taken by a predator. Things soon spiral out of control and Acid Row becomes the stage of a mass riot, one that threatens the lives of all its residents.
Tropes found here include:
- Absurdly Youthful Mother:
- Melanie Patterson isn't even twenty yet, already has two children and is six months pregnant with her third child. She had her first child, Rosie, when she was only fourteen.
- Gaynor Patterson is indicated to be unusually young for a grandmother; both her youngest son and her eldest granddaughter are four-years-old (her son is actually younger than her granddaughter by a few months). Gaynor's eldest daughter was in her early teens when she first got pregnant and it's implied Gaynor herself started having children when she was quite young.
- All Gays Are Paedophiles: This trope is discussed a few times. When the residents of Acid Row learn there are two men living in the convicted sex offender's house, some people assume they're a couple and are both paedophiles; they're actually father and son and although the father did sexually abuse his son up to his teens, he's primarily attracted to women. The convicted paedophile, Milosz Kelowski, is actually gay, although his situation is more complicated than just "same-sex attraction = predator". He was always attracted to men but had his view on relationships severely warped by his father's abuse; he's also technically not a paedophile because that refers to attraction to prepubescent children, while all the boys Milosz was convicted of abusing were in their late teens (they also expressed attraction to him and his psychiatrist believes it's unlikely he would've done anything if it weren't for this, as he's so submissive and introverted). It's also noted that few of the rioters really stop and think over the logic of two allegedly gay paedophiles being interested in a girl after 10 year old Amy goes missing; all logic goes out the window once the word 'paedophile' comes up.
- Attempted Rape: Franek tries to rape Sophie, though she puts up a fight long enough for Jimmy to intervene. He beats her to the point she's implied to have some disfigurement and it contributes to her trauma over the events of the day, but she copes with it well overall, defiantly telling Franek if there's anything she'll remember from the incident, it's that she refused to submit no matter what he did.
- Ax-Crazy: Wesley Barber is easily the most deranged and aggressive of the youth mob, not helped by the fact he's often on hard drugs; he's high on acid, crystal meth and who knows what else the day of the riot. He's willing to burn down the entirety of Humbert Street to get rid of the paedophiles - even though it will endanger everyone else - eventually punches the pregnant Melanie Patterson in the stomach when she tries to stop him, and brutally murders and mutilates an old man he mistakenly believes is a pervert, telling himself he's Blade killing vampires.
- Bittersweet Ending: The protagonists are able to prevent Acid Row from being burnt down and eventually the riot disperses. However, three people still died, including two teenagers and an innocent old man who was mistaken as a pervert. No one is legally held accountable for the violence save Wesley Barber and the police, government, healthcare sector, media and social services all point the finger at each other. Gaynor has lost her son Colin and will probably never get over it, but is glad the rest of her family is safe. Melanie gives birth to a baby girl and is happy with Jimmy, who has officially gone straight and is helping the residents of Acid Row rebuild. Acid Row is slowly improving, with both the council and the residents working together to make it safer and more hospitable. It's implied that Franek gets arrested for his attack on Sophie, finally getting some comeuppance for his crimes and freeing Milosz from his toxic influence; he's already started standing up for himself more by backing up Sophie's version of events over his father's. Although she has some trauma and potential disfigurement, Sophie is getting on with her life and is Happily Married to Bob.
- Cassandra Truth: Jimmy warns Melanie that her intended protest against the paedophile is a bad idea, saying that the youth gangs will hijack it and use it as an excuse to make trouble, and that Melanie and Gaynor won't be able to control them. This is exactly what ends up happening. He's also right about the paedophile in Humbert Street having nothing to do with Amy's disappearance, pointing out the logical fallacy of a supposedly gay paedophile taking a little girl and that there's no proof Amy is in Acid Row besides unsubstantiated rumours. Again, no one listens.
- Chekhov's Gun: It's mentioned early on that Sophie started up "Friendship Calling" among some of the older or otherwise vulnerable residents of Acid Row who don't go out much, creating a list of people they can call for companionship. The Nightingale Clinic uses it to call around the estate and locate Sophie, while Eileen uses it to persuade several residents to open up their homes and let people trapped by the riot get off the streets into the gardens, saving many lives.
- Dead Guy Junior: Melanie and Jimmy's baby daughter is named Colinna, after her deceased uncle Colin.
- Death by Racism: An in-direct example with Arthur Miller, who is described as a "dyed-in-the wool racist" and views all black people with distrust. When he sees Jimmy going back into 23 Humbert Street, he assumes he's trying to loot the property and follows him (he's actually trying to get out to the front of the house to help his pregnant girlfriend). Consequently, Arthur is in the wrong place at the wrong time and is mistaken as one of the paedophiles by the mob, leading Wesley to brutally murder him. In a tragic irony, Jimmy does his best to defend the old man from Wesley and is genuinely distraught by his murder.
- Death of a Child:
- Fifteen-year-old Kevin accidentally burns himself to death with one of his own petrol bombs.
- Fourteen-year-old Colin Patterson is fatally trampled by a mob, trying to shield his older sister.
- Dirty Old Man: 71-year-old Franek is an especially dark example. When he takes Sophie - who is several decades his junior - hostage, he gropes her chest and rubs his erection against her, and otherwise leers at her and makes creepy comments. Sophie strongly fears that he will try to rape her and he indeed attempts to do so after catching her off-guard, viciously beating her when she resists.
- Domestic Abuse:
- Franek was physically, sexually and emotionally abusive towards Milosz' mother; when she eventually couldn't take it anymore and ran off, Franek insists she abandoned him and their son. Sophie later realises based on some comments Franek makes that he probably murdered his wife in retaliation for her trying to leave him.
- Laura Biddulph's ex-husband Martin wasn't physically abusive as far as anyone can tell, but he was emotionally abusive, being extremely controlling and manipulative towards her and trying to alienate their daughter from her out of spite (Martin never wanted to have a child, so he's mostly doing it to punish Laura for keeping the pregnancy). Their relationship also came off as predatory, given Laura is significantly younger than her ex and quite naive, which Martin knowingly took full advantage of to make her dependent on him.
- Extremely Short Timespan: With the exception of the first few chapters and a few chapters at the end, the bulk of the story takes place over several hours on Saturday 28th July 2001, which proves to be a highly eventful and terrifying day for Acid Row, later known to the public as Bloody Saturday.
- Fat Bastard:
- Teenage siblings Kimberley and Barry Logan are both overweight and are both rude, mean-spirited spoiled brats, who do little but watch TV and gorge themselves while letting their long-suffering stepmother Laura clean up after them; they also bully their young stepsister Amy, with Kimberley being especially cruel to her. Laura even nicknames them Miss Piggy and Jabba the Hutt. That said, it's made clear that the siblings' nasty behaviour and over-eating is due to their crappy homelife; their mother walked out on them, their father is emotionally distant and tends not to instill boundaries as a way of showing affection, he's shacked up with a woman about half his age and it's mentioned that besides her brother, Kimberley doesn't really have any friends.
- Franek Kelowski is overweight and is an utterly reprehensible man; a sadistic bully and predator who has abused his son all his life, has seriously hurt many women and terrorises Sophie. Franek even uses his weight and advanced age to appear more feeble than he really is, to manipulate people into doing what he wants or catch them off-guard.
- Fire-Forged Friends: Eileen and Jimmy start out viewing each other with suspicion and distaste; he assumes she's yet another holier-than-thou Racist Grandma, while she assumes he's just one of the estate's many delinquent, ne'er-do-well youths (him being black doesn't factor in her judgement, though she does think he's a "dandy" because of all his gold jewellery and assumes he's never paid for it). However, after they work together to help PC Watson and locate Sophie during the riot, they come to realise they're not as bad as the other thought and become friendly, each finding things to admire in the other. By the end of the novel, set two months later, Eileen is now treated as an honorary member of Jimmy's family, with him taking Elieen to see his newborn daughter and telling her that one of his daughter's middle names will be Eileen after her.
- Foregone Conclusion: The prologue reveals that the protest in Acid Row escalated to a riot that resulted in many injuries and some deaths. The rest of the book explains how things got to this point and what exactly went down.
- Foreshadowing: Early on, it's mentioned the police have often grumbled about the way the council designed the Bassindale Estate back when it was first built in the 1950s; as demonstrated with small maps provided at the start of the book, the estate is designed in such a way that if you hypothetically blocked off some roads, it would essentially turn the estate into an impenetrable fortress. Some of the local youths evidently realise this too, as shortly before the riot begins, they up-turn cars at the entrances of the estate, creating crude yet effective barricades, and lob petrol bombs and other missiles at anyone who approaches. This makes it just about impossible for the emergency services to enter the estate or for anyone else to get out.
- Groin Attack: After killing Arthur Miller, Wesley hacks off his genitals with a machete, because he mistakenly believes him to be a paedophile.
- Hate Sink: Fay Baldwin isn't a villain per se, but she's intentionally written to be a thoroughly unlikable woman who plays a central role in triggering the riot, mostly because of her own spite and stupidity. She looks down her nose on everyone, though especially her patients; while she occasionally makes good points, she goes about it in such a judgemental, patronising way she just ends up annoying or offending people. Fay ultimately cares more about proving herself right than the well-being of her patients. She also tends to take out her frustration over never having a long-term relationship and children on some of her patients, which much of the time manifests as blatant slut-shaming and misogyny.
- Heel–Face Town: While it's still got a long way to go, following Bloody Saturday steps are taken to make Acid Row a better place. The cramped, damp, outdated houses on Humbert Street are bulldozed to make way for larger, healthier homes, with the streets redesigned to make it easier for emergency services to access the estate to prevent another incident like Bloody Saturday. Trees and shrubs are planted outside the local shops to make them more inviting. The hallways in the tower blocks get redecorated and the residents establish a cleaning roster; while some troublemakers still relieve themselves in the lifts, they get cleaned up quickly and now tend to smell more like disinfectant than urine. More people reach out to the elderly residents and bring their children around to hang out with them, establishing stronger bonds within the community. A youth recreation centre is also established as a safe place for kids to hang out, giving them healthier outlets and discouraging them from getting involved in gangs.
- Heroic Sacrifice: Colin throws himself over Melanie to protect her and her unborn child from a stampeding mob. Colin dies of his injuries, though Melanie is able to be revived and gives birth to a healthy baby two months later. She names her baby after Colin in his honour.
- Horrible Judge of Character: Fay Baldwin isn't the most reliable judge of character, with her personal prejudices and own lofty opinion of herself often getting in the way.
- She dismisses Sophie Morrison as being naive and easily manipulated because she's a young doctor, often cheerful despite her dire surroundings and has only been with the practice two years. Sophie is actually much sharper and more resilient than Fay realises; while she's not experienced any real hardship in her life (yet) she's not ignorant or blind towards the realities of life in Acid Row, and she doesn't give up easily. She's far more emotionally intelligent and strong-willed than Fay herself.
- Fay dismisses Melanie Patterson as a horrible parent, a drug addict and a lazy slut. Melanie has actually been cutting back on alcohol and cigarettes with Sophie's encouragement and plans to settle into a long-term relationship with Jimmy, the father of her unborn child, once he gets out of prison. Melanie may not be the best mother in the world, but she does truly love her children and is adamant she would never intentionally bring them to harm (Fay thinks of Rosie and Ben as living in squalor, whereas Sophie notes that while they're a bit grubby they're not unhealthy, and considering their mother is an unemployed teen parent living in a crime-infested, disease-riddled estate, they could be in a much worse condition). Melanie is also strong-willed and resourceful enough to organise a protest march and then rally people to defend Humbert Street from a mob of angry youths. Melanie is far from a perfect person, but she's got more positive qualities than Fay gives her credit for.
- Hostage Situation: When a mob of youths attack the Kelowski house, Franek takes Dr Sophie Morrison - who was visiting him as her patient - hostage to guarantee the police will rescue them. Sophie spends much of the book trying to reason with Franek and his son, and attempting to protect herself from Franek, who is just as much a danger to her as the mob outside.
- I Don't Like the Sound of That Place: Acid Row doesn't sound like an ideal place to live, an assumption that is highly accurate. Technically, the real name is the Bassindale Estate, but the sign at the entrance has been continuously vandalised from "Welcome to Bassindale" to "Welcome to Ass i d Row"; many residents and even visitors to the estate have adopted Acid Row as the name, feeling that it better reflects the realities of living there.
- Imperiled in Pregnancy: Melanie is six months pregnant when she gets caught up in a dangerous riot. She nearly get set alight by a petrol bomb and is punched in the stomach by Wesley Barber, collapsing to the ground and being overrun by an angry mob. She comes close to dying, though luckily her mother, a neighbour and Sophie are able to revive her.
- It's All My Fault: Gaynor and Melanie both feel responsible when their intended protest march devolves into a riot that endangers many people - including their children. They feel obligated to stay and help people because of this, though others don't believe they are to blame, because they really did just organise a peaceful protest consisting of mothers and kids, and couldn't have known it would get so out-of-control. It's further pointed out they wouldn't have organised a march in the first place if Fay Baldwin hadn't blabbed to Melanie about there being a paedophile living in the neighbourhood and led her to believe he was a danger to the children.
- Jealous Parent: Martin Rogerson is so jealous of his daughter Amy taking his estranged wife Laura's time and attention away from him, he tried to pressure Laura into an abortion when they first learned she was pregnant (including threatening to leave her if she didn't comply), constantly argued with her about spending 'too much' time with Amy and all but ignored Amy for the remainder of their marriage unless he saw an opportunity to sabotage Laura's attempts to bond with her. The police quickly realise that the only reason Martin is fighting Laura about custody is so he can use Amy to get Laura back under his control; he couldn't give two hoots about Amy herself.
- Likes Older Men: Laura is much younger than her ex-husband Martin; she was barely out of her teens when she married him, while he's over a decade older. She then had an affair and briefly lived with her husband's co-worker, who is of a similar age to Martin, and is currently in a relationship with a divorcee in his fifties. She mostly shacks up with older men because she thinks they can better provide for her and because she feels they give her the attention and validation she craves. Her older sister points out that their father spent most of Laura's childhood and adolescence spoiling and coddling her, so she isn't surprised Laura is drawn to older men who treat her similarly.
- Man on Fire: Kevin manages to set himself on fire by lighting a homemade petrol bomb he's holding too soon (like most of the other youths, he doesn't truly understand how they work beyond the basics). Melanie risks her own life to put him out, with other people helping, though unfortunately he still dies of his injuries (he ends up with second and third degree burns to 75% of his body).
- Missing Child: Early on, a ten year old girl named Amy Biddulph goes missing. Rumours that the paedophile on Acid Row has taken Amy is one of the things that incites a riot. Part of the plot revolves around the search for Amy. It's eventually revealed she willingly took off with her mother's ex-boyfriend, due to feeling he was the only person who treated her kindly and gave her attention (her mother is preoccupied with keeping a roof over their heads and oblivious to Amy being relentlessly bullied by her stepsiblings, while her father just uses her to get back at her mother for leaving him). She's returned to her mother unharmed, though she still has other issues that need addressing.
- "Near and Dear" Baby Naming: Besides naming her after her mother Melanie, Jimmy and Melanie give their daughter Colinna three middle names after people they love and respect, and who ensured she was even born: Gaynor, Sophie and Eileen, making her full name Colinna Gaynor Sophie Eileen Melanie James. When Eileen jokingly asks if Colinna will be able to remember all that, Jimmy says he hopes so, because "they're the first words of her story".
- Nephewism: Jimmy James' aunt stepped in to help his father raise him and his brothers after their mother died; she ended up taking over most of the child-rearing duties while Jimmy's father spent his time either working or out on the town. Unfortunately, while well-intentioned, Jimmy's aunt wasn't the best parent; she was constantly criticising Jimmy even for simply voicing his own opinions and dismissed him as a good-for-nothing troublemaker like his father, which only pushed him to rebel more, while raising his brothers to be highly submissive and deferential towards her.
- Never My Fault:
- Milosz Kelowski's psychiatrist states that based on what Milosz told him of his father, Franek "will never take responsibility" because of his narcissism. Franek indeed blames everyone and anyone else for his problems, while utterly refusing to acknowledge his own faults. He blames Sophie for making him hit her because she refused to cooperate and tried to turn his son on him... after he took her hostage while the house was surrounded by a mob and wouldn't even let her try to talk them down. Later, he dramatically tells the police that Sophie tried to seduce him and then got angry when he criticised her, and that Jimmy hit him and tied him up for no reason; in reality, Sophie is nothing but repulsed by Franek and was angry at him for refusing to listen to reason, while Jimmy got violent with Franek because he tried to attack Jimmy after he caught Franek assaulting Sophie. Luckily, no one remotely believes Franek's version.
- Fay Baldwin is adamant that she isn't to blame for the events of Bloody Saturday, trying to blame it all on Melanie Patterson for organising the protest that turned into a riot. This is despite the fact Melanie only organised the protest because Fay had broken doctor-patient confidentiality and told her there was a paedophile living on her street who would go after her children, resulting in word spreading and everyone getting up in arms. Fay tells herself that everyone would've found out eventually anyway, but when it's discovered she leaked the information, her colleagues make it clear they find her behaviour extremely inappropriate and irresponsible. They get so sick of hearing Fay whine about it not being her fault, they're considering getting her charged with incitement; they know it likely wouldn't make it to court but hope it might finally get Fay to to reflect on her actions.
- Oh, Crap!:
- Fay realises she's made a huge mistake in telling Melanie about the paedophile living down the street moments after the words are out of her mouth; besides being private information given to the Nightingale Health Centre that Fay shouldn't remotely be dishing out to the public, Melanie immediately begins demanding more information about "the sicko" living near her kids, with Fay fleeing in a panic and hoping the problem will just go away. It doesn't. Hoo boy, it doesn't.
- Upon learning that Wesley and his gang intend to burn down the paedophiles' house at 23 Humbert Street, Melanie is horrified because the fire will likely spread to all the other houses in the street, including her own house at 21 Humbert Street, where she'd sent her children to protect them from the riot.
- Older Than They Look: Sophie Morrison is in her late twenties, but looks much younger due to her short stature, baby face and tendency to wear her hair in a long plait (similar to how some schoolgirls wear their hair). This leads to some people underestimating her or not taking her seriously, when she's actually quite sharp and fierce-tempered. Unfortunately, it also in-directly contributes to the riot; someone sees Sophie going into the sex offender's house and mistakes her as a young girl, leading to rumours that the missing 10-year-old girl is in the house and resulting in the rioters turning up on the doorstep.
- Outliving One's Offspring: Gaynor's son Colin is trampled to death by a mob, trying to protect his older sister Melanie. Gaynor attempts CPR on him, but to no avail, though she does manage to save Melanie and her unborn child.
- Parents as People:
- Gaynor and her daughter Melanie aren't always the most responsible of parents and tend to drink, smoke and swear around their kids, but they also do genuinely love them and try to look out for them in their own way. For what it's worth, Gaynor and Melanie absolutely adore each other. They're the ones who organise the protest against paedophiles living on the estate; while their actions inadvertently lead to disaster, they just wanted to protect their children. As the riot escalates, their main concern is for their children's safety. Jimmy notes that while he thinks they're both a bit lax when it comes to discipline, he finds their unconditional love and support for their children to be preferable to how he was raised, constantly being berated for his shortcomings and presumed to be a failure right out the gate.
- Laura Biddulph is too busy working to support them both to notice how lonely and distressed her daughter Amy had become, wanting to accept her claims that her stepsiblings don't treat her that badly when they're alone together because it makes things easier. Laura is horrified and furious when she learns that Amy's stepsiblings- especially her stepsister Kimberley - have been relentlessly bullying and/or neglecting her when Laura isn't around. She's also beside herself with fear and worry when she discovers Amy is missing, likely taken by someone. She's far from from a perfect parent, but the police note that it's unlikely any jury or judge would believe she doesn't love her daughter with all her heart.
- Politically Incorrect Hero: Even the more sympathetic and heroic characters tend to casually throw around slurs like "retard", "spastic", "faggot" and so on. This sort of language is generally part of the everyday vernacular in Acid Row, so it's not always a sign of bigotry on the character's part (the teens in particular tend to use the words the same way they would profanity).
- Politically Incorrect Villain: Franek Kelowski is openly racist and sexist; he frequently disparages Sophie as stupid, weak and over-emotional because of her gender and is revealed to have been horrifically violent towards women in the past, and refers to Jimmy James as "a nigger" both to other people and to Jimmy's face.
- Practically Different Generations:
- It's mentioned that the generations in the Patterson family are all over the place, as they tend to continuously have lots of children and the women tend to start having children very young. Gaynor Patterson's great-grandmother was born five years after her eldest brother died in World War One; she also gave birth to ten children. Gaynor herself has a four-year-old son - her youngest child - who is a six months younger than her four-year-old granddaughter Rosie, and about fifteen years younger than her eldest child Melanie (who was fourteen when she had Rosie). Rosie's maternal uncle Colin is fourteen and could easily be her older brother.
- Laura Biddulph's older sister explains to the police that she and their brother are much older than Laura; their younger sister was unexpectedly born when their mother was forty-eight, with Laura being eighteen years younger than her sister and sixteen years younger than her brother. Laura's sister explains that their father doted on Laura as The Baby of the Bunch (much more so than her siblings), so she grew up rather spoilt while his wife and older children were pushed aside. Because of the age gap, Laura's sister says she isn't close to Laura, regarding her more as "a distant cousin". The sister also admits she was once jealous of Laura, but not anymore after her disastrous marriage to Martin Rogerson.
- Pregnant Badass: At six months pregnant, Melanie rips off her jacket, jumps on Kevin, wraps him in the jacket and rolls him around on the ground to put out the flames when he accidentally sets himself alight, nearly setting fire to herself in the process. She's also one of the first to stand up to Wesley and shout down his attempt to burn down Humbert Street, holding her ground even when he and his friends threaten her.
- Scary Black Man:
- Subverted and exploited by Jimmy James. He's a tall, powerfully built black man who has done time in prison and doesn't suffer fools; many residents of Acid Row - especially prejudiced old white people - find him intimidating. However, Jimmy is actually one of the nicest and most heroic characters in the novel, did time for theft rather than anything violent and only gets violent in self-defence or defence of others. He sometimes takes advantage of the stereotype to get people to do what he says, though it causes some problems for him as well, as some people immediately assume he's up to no good when he only has benevolent intentions; while trying to help the injured PC Watson, he gets frustrated when the 999 operator tells him to find a neighbour for help, saying that most of them are paranoid and bigoted old white folks who will never open their doors to a large black man covered in blood, or worse, will assume he attacked PC Watson.
- Wesley Barber is an extremely violent, out-of-control, drug-taking black teenager whom almost everyone on the estate fears and despises. His own mother despairs of him and urges him to "take Jesus into [his] heart" before it's too late, not that this does any good. Jimmy himself says that Wesley gives black people on the estate "a bad name" with his wild behaviour. Wesley is one of the ringleaders of the youth mob that turns the protest into a riot and ends up being the only one who is charged with criminal behaviour after murdering an old man; besides the evidence against him being particularly strong, it's implied that Wesley being black may have been a factor, given the majority of the other offenders are white.
- Shared Family Quirks: It's said that the Patterson men tend to all like going off to fight, while the Patterson women like to stay home and have lots of babies (whether they're fathered by their husbands or not). Gaynor's great-great uncle died in World War One and her great-grandmother went on to have ten kids, Gaynor and Melanie are both stay at home mothers with children fathered by different men (Gaynor has five kids, Melanie will have three when her baby is born), and Melanie's fourteen year old brother Colin is frequently in trouble for his antics, but also stands by his sister when she tries to stop further violence.
- Shout-Out:
- There are two references to Star Wars; Laura nicknames her stepson Jabba the Hutt, while during their attempt to hold back the mob on Humbert Street, Melanie compares herself and Colin to Princess Leia and Luke Skywalker: "brother and sister Jedi Knights. The force was with them."
- When Amy is finally found, a detective says she's dressed up trying to look like Lolita, but looks more like "Macaulay Culkin in drag".
- Laura's nickname for her stepdaughter is Miss Piggy.
- Jimmy comments on Sophie's bravery for "walking down the aisle looking like the Elephant Man".
- Slut-Shaming:
- Fay calls Melanie a slut and a whore, both to other people and to Melanie's face, because she's a teenager who already has two kids out of wedlock and a third on the way (none of whom have the same father) and is rumoured to be a glamour model. Fay also acts scandalised that Melanie tends to wear short skirts and skimpy tank tops that leave little to the imagination. Melanie herself states that Fay is just jealous because she never had a relationship or children herself - and Melanie is actually right about this. Sophie also observes that Fay takes an holier-than-thou attitude towards women like Melanie partly to make herself feel better about being a spinster.
- Laura's stepdaughter Kimberley calls her a tart and makes other disparaging comments - such as mocking the noises Laura makes when she has sex - because she knows Laura has only shacked up with Kimberley's father to put a roof over her and her daughter's head.
- Teacher/Student Romance: It turns out that Milosz' offending was actually closer to this rather than truly predatory. It was discovered that over a fifteen year period, he masturbated three boys aged between 16 and 17; the boys were looking to experiment and openly expressed attraction to their teacher, as opposed to Milosz grooming and coercing them. While the sexual contact was still inappropriate given that Milosz was their teacher, none of the boys felt traumatised by what happened or reported him, and they were all technically over the age of consent; Milosz' psychiatrist mentions that the boys' parents were the ones who kicked up the most fuss and pushed for prosecution, which he suspects is more to do with them blaming Milosz for "turning their sons homosexual" and being unable to accept their sons' sexuality. The psychiratrist further doubts if Milosz would've had the confidence to even act upon his feelings if the students hadn't approached him first.
- Teen Pregnancy: Melanie is an exaggerated example; she was fourteen when she had her daughter Rosie, sixteen when she had her son Ben, and is currently nineteen and pregnant again.
- Think of the Children!: Deconstructed; the riot is triggered by the residents of Acid Row being under the impression that the paedophile who recently moved to the estate will endanger children. He's actually a repentant and meek man who is no particular danger to the public and his offenses were against teenage boys looking to experiment sexually, not vulnerable young children. Rumours also spread like wildfire of the paedophile holding a missing girl named Amy Biddulph hostage; it turns out she's nowhere near Acid Row and it was pure coincidence she and Milosz Kelowski previously lived on the same estate. It's mentioned that the rioters use "Protecting Amy" as a catch-all defence for all kinds of violence and mayhem.
- Troubling Unchildlike Behaviour: When the police finally locate 10-year-old Amy, she has bleached her hair blonde, is wearing skimpy clothes and has make-up caked on her face. She has to be coaxed into letting the police in and initially refuses to cooperate, all but throwing a tantrum and saying she doesn't care about her mother being worried sick. The police have to get a female officer to stay with her alone because Amy threatens to tell people a male detective touched her inappropriately.
- Turn of the Millennium: The novel is primarily set in July of 2001 (and was first published in October 2001), with a number of details rooting it in the time period.
- Several of the older residents of Acid Row lived through World War Two (which at this point ended less than sixty years ago), with Franek Kelowski having left Poland for the UK to avoid Nazi persecution and Arthur Miller having served in Borneo.
- Several characters own mobile phones with pressable buttons rather than touchscreens and they tend to run out of battery quickly; occasionally people like the police will ask if characters own a mobile (whereas these days it would likely be assumed they own a mobile unless they're very old or very young). A detective points out that you can hide money in bank accounts all over the world "these days".
- There are a few references to 1990s and early 2000s pop culture; Wesley Barber is a fan of Wesley Snipes' movies, including comparing himself to Blade, and a child is compared to Macaulay Culkin in Home Alone.
- There are multiple references to Megan's Law and whether something similar should be introduced in the UK, which was still fairly fresh in the public consciousness at the timenote The novel indirectly references the abduction and murder of eight-year-old Sarah Payne in the UK, which occurred just a year prior to the novel's publication in 2000, and the subsequent push for the passing of Sarah's Law (which had similar aims as Megan's Law), with the novel mentioning the News of the World's part in this campaign and the characters debating if this would've prevented the violence in Acid Row. The abuse and murder of Anna Climbie at the hands of her caregivers - which occurred in February 2000 and drew national attention - is also referenced.
- Two Lines, No Waiting: The novel switches back and forth between the riot in Acid Row and the search for ten year old Amy Biddulph (contrary to what many in Acid Row believe, the paedophile living on their estate has nothing to do with Amy's disappearance).
- Unwitting Instigator of Doom: While no single person is responsible for what happens in Acid Row, Fay Baldwin is technically the one who sets off the whole thing when, in a moment of anger, she spitefully tells Melanie that there's a paedophile living down the street from her and that she should keep a closer eye on her daughter - something that's extremely unprofessional of her (nor very accurate, as it turns out the sex offender committed minor offenses against teen boys and is no danger to young children). Rather than scaring and shaming Melanie into submission, it makes her righteously angry that there's a supposed child predator living close by and word quickly spreads. Melanie and her mother organise a protest to oust the paedophiles and protect the children, but some troublemakers hijack the protest and turn it into a full-scale riot. Despite Fay insisting that she's not responsible, many people note that if someone hadn't shot their mouth off about there being a dangerous paedophile living in Acid Row, this probaby wouldn't have happened.
- Would Hit a Girl:
- Franek Kelowski practically specialises in violence against women. He was physically abusive towards Milosz's mother until she left him and was accused of raping and torturing prostitutes, though he was never convicted due to Milosz giving him alibis and the prostitutes being reluctant to testify against him. He grabs Sophie and threatens her with violence later punching her repeatedly when she resists his attempt to rape her and threatening to snap her neck. Sophie also comes to realise he murdered Milosz' mother and let his son believe she abandoned him.
- Wesley Barber eventually gets fed up with Melanie's attempt to block him from 23 Humbert Street and punches her hard in the stomach (she's visibly pregnant), knocking her to the ground. The other young men in the mob aren't too concerned about trampling over her to follow Wesley.
- Wouldn't Hit a Girl: Jimmy is a firm believer in this. He's disgusted by violence towards women and he quickly comes to despise Franek when he catches him beating Sophie and learns he has a long history of violence towards women. His opinion of Milosz isn't much better due to his failure to protect Sophie, saying that while he knows Milosz had a traumatic childhood, he doesn't think that excuses him and that no matter what "Beating on women is wrong".
- Wretched Hive: The Bassindale Estate is a rundown housing estate notorious for poverty, crime, physical and mental illness and substance abuse. The streets are generally controlled by directionless, troublemaking youths, with some people too fearful to even leave their homes. There's a great deal of pent-up anger and distrust in the community, as well as a dislike for authority and tendency to take the law into their own hands. When word gets out that a paedophile is living among them and has supposedly kidnapped a little girl, all hell breaks loose.
- Wrong Line of Work: PC Watson is fresh out of the police academy and is clearly ill-suited to being a cop, already experiencing burn-out. In fairness, anyone would probably get stressed out having to work in Acid Row, but Watson is so out-of-her-depth she's on the verge of a breakdown from stress, even expressing some suicidal ideation. She doesn't handle conflict well, quickly becoming frustrated and defensive, and come to view the residents with either fear or disgust, which makes it difficult to empathise with them. Watson gets knocked out shortly before the riot begins and spends most of the incident unconscious (she probably wouldn't have been much use anyway). In the end, she's decided that being a cop isn't for her and is retraining to become a teacher, though Jimmy and Eileen note that dealing with kids all day can be stressful too and hope she's up for it.
