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2.96 AVERAGE
2.96 AVERAGE
Another great read by Ruth Rendell, one of my all-time favorite authors. She is the master of intertwining storylines and the bizarre workings of the human mind to create authentic and odd characters who keep you turning the pages.
dark
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This book is only 228 pages. (That being said) you would think that I would have finished this in a week or so. This story dragged on for me. There were simultaneously 2-3 stories going on at one time, which I didn’t mind because at some point they would weave together and make sense. Right? (Wrong) They do cross paths but not in the way I had hoped.
Carl, the main character inherits his father's home after his death. Carl’s father was known for creating homeopathic remedies that never worked or were dangerous.
Carl (a writer…sorta) knew he would need a roommate. It was only himself and his girlfriend Nicola who stayed in the house on occasion. Carl posted the flat in the paper and received several inquiries. But what did this idiot do, take the first person in line. (Stupid) For the first few months, the rent was on-time, but that would progress to the day of or the week after.
Carl however was stupid and didn’t care as long as he received the rent money. The earnings from his last book have all but dried up so the rent became his main income. Carl is also suffering from writer's block and can’t seem to get the motivation to continue.
Enter Stacy, Carl’s old schoolmate and good friend who is an actress. Stacy is hyper-aware of the fickleness of the industry but unfortunately, she has put on a few pounds and blames this as the reason she’s getting less work. While visiting Carl, Stacy comes across what appears to be diet pills (DNP) and asks Carl’s can she buy them.
Carl tells her the pills probably won’t work and because he can only think about the money he doesn’t begrudge her for trying so he sells them to her.
Dermot (Carl’s roommate) witnesses this interaction. Ignoring the warning label Stacy takes the diet pills and a few days she dies. Her death is all over the media and the cause is DNP. Dermot decides to take advantage of this by telling Carl that he's no longer paying the rent. Blackmail is ugly as Dermot says he will inform the media and police telling them that Carl sold Stacy the pills.
(Another despicable character) Dermot knows he can't do this forever but he plans on milking the situation.
Carl tells his girlfriend (Nicola) everything (the only smart person in this story), and Nicola basically says to call his bluff and go to the police himself. But Carl, the spinless idiot (that he is) doesn’t listen and continues to be miserable.
Meanwhile, Dermot has met a woman in church they become friends, they court, and they decide to become engaged. I guess there is a time in everyone’s life when they reach a breaking point and Carl reached his.
The story introduces other characters ...Stacy, (her parents) Sybil, (Dermot’s fiancé), and a few others that don’t make any sense.
I didn’t like this book from the beginning so I don’t know if I could honestly recommend it as a “good read”. My summery…
What made Dermot think he could hold a person hostage on blackmail and deceit and build a happily-ever-after knowing at some point the person on the receiving end would snap? He got greedy which led to his own demise. I absolutely despised Carl‘s character. This spineless-whiny, cowardly excuse for a man. Damn! Grow a pair and put your big-boy panties on.
I just didn’t see the point in the three character plots, and how they didn’t really mesh together. This book was a “get it over with” story, but if you’re interested checkout Dark Corners by Ruth Rendell.
Carl, the main character inherits his father's home after his death. Carl’s father was known for creating homeopathic remedies that never worked or were dangerous.
Carl (a writer…sorta) knew he would need a roommate. It was only himself and his girlfriend Nicola who stayed in the house on occasion. Carl posted the flat in the paper and received several inquiries. But what did this idiot do, take the first person in line. (Stupid) For the first few months, the rent was on-time, but that would progress to the day of or the week after.
Carl however was stupid and didn’t care as long as he received the rent money. The earnings from his last book have all but dried up so the rent became his main income. Carl is also suffering from writer's block and can’t seem to get the motivation to continue.
Enter Stacy, Carl’s old schoolmate and good friend who is an actress. Stacy is hyper-aware of the fickleness of the industry but unfortunately, she has put on a few pounds and blames this as the reason she’s getting less work. While visiting Carl, Stacy comes across what appears to be diet pills (DNP) and asks Carl’s can she buy them.
Carl tells her the pills probably won’t work and because he can only think about the money he doesn’t begrudge her for trying so he sells them to her.
Dermot (Carl’s roommate) witnesses this interaction. Ignoring the warning label Stacy takes the diet pills and a few days she dies. Her death is all over the media and the cause is DNP. Dermot decides to take advantage of this by telling Carl that he's no longer paying the rent. Blackmail is ugly as Dermot says he will inform the media and police telling them that Carl sold Stacy the pills.
(Another despicable character) Dermot knows he can't do this forever but he plans on milking the situation.
Carl tells his girlfriend (Nicola) everything (the only smart person in this story), and Nicola basically says to call his bluff and go to the police himself. But Carl, the spinless idiot (that he is) doesn’t listen and continues to be miserable.
Meanwhile, Dermot has met a woman in church they become friends, they court, and they decide to become engaged. I guess there is a time in everyone’s life when they reach a breaking point and Carl reached his.
The story introduces other characters ...Stacy, (her parents) Sybil, (Dermot’s fiancé), and a few others that don’t make any sense.
I didn’t like this book from the beginning so I don’t know if I could honestly recommend it as a “good read”. My summery…
What made Dermot think he could hold a person hostage on blackmail and deceit and build a happily-ever-after knowing at some point the person on the receiving end would snap? He got greedy which led to his own demise. I absolutely despised Carl‘s character. This spineless-whiny, cowardly excuse for a man. Damn! Grow a pair and put your big-boy panties on.
I just didn’t see the point in the three character plots, and how they didn’t really mesh together. This book was a “get it over with” story, but if you’re interested checkout Dark Corners by Ruth Rendell.
Reading this book was a bittersweet experience for me. It was a joy to read a book by one of my favourite mystery/suspense writers, but it was sad to think that this is the last of her novels since Ruth Rendell died earlier this year.
Carl Martin, a young crime novelist, inherits his father’s house and acquires a tenant, Dermot McKinnon, to give him extra income as he struggles with writing his second novel. Carl also inherits his dad’s collection of alternative, herbal, and homeopathic remedies and he sells some diet pills to a friend Stacey, an actress struggling with weight gain. Stacey dies because of those pills. Dermot knows that Carl sold them to her, and he sets out to blackmail Carl: refusing to pay rent and threatening to tell the newspapers about Carl’s involvement in Stacey’s death. Carl’s life soon spirals out of control.
There are two subplots as well: the adventures of Tom Milsom as he explores London using his free seniors’ bus pass, and the petty crimes of his amoral daughter Lizzie who, her father admits, is prone to constant “lying, exaggeration, or fantasizing.”
Usually in a Rendell mystery, plots will converge seamlessly. That is not the case here. Tom’s adventures and Lizzie’s exploits are only tangentially related to Carl’s story. Had Rendell lived to revise and edit, I suspect the narrative threads would have been tightened so they would not seem so meandering and unconnected.
What is explored so well is how everyone has dark corners in his/her mind and how ordinary people can step out of dark corners to commit criminal acts. Carl’s need for respect causes him to take actions of which he does not initially seem capable: “he realized again what he dreaded most in Dermot’s threats. It wasn’t the loss of income. It was the humiliation he feared. He couldn’t live with the shame.” Lizzie is motivated by a need to feel powerful: “Doing [petty thievery] – and she often did it – gave her a sense of power.” Dermot has a similar need: “No one had ever been afraid of Dermot before, or not to this degree, and it gratified him to have caused someone this amount of fear without violence or even the threat of it.”
The book also examines how guilt can destroy a person. In its portrayal of psychological disintegration, the novel is masterful. Carl’s first act of selling dangerous diet pills to Stacey is not an illegal act, merely a careless one. He does however feel guilty and so Dermot’s threats of exposure are effective against him. A girlfriend describes the impact of guilt on Carl: “He hardly speaks but to rage against Dermot. He sleeps a little, dreams violently, cries out, and sits up fighting against something that isn’t there.” Gradually paranoia takes over his life. When one character suggests being too frightened to ever confess to a crime like murder, another responds, “’It wouldn’t be as scary as not confessing. It might even be a comfort. Think what it must have been like to have it on [one’s] conscience.’”
The effectiveness of Rendell’s character development is shown by the novel’s impact on the reader. Readers understand Carl so well that they will want him to go unpunished while at the same time desire some justice. Readers will also be left with a feeling of “There but for the grace of God, go I.”
There are some plot weaknesses but the depth of its psychological analysis, characterization, and thematic development make this a must-read for lovers of suspense books.
Note: I received an ARC of this book from the publisher via NetGalley.
Please check out my reader's blog (http://schatjesshelves.blogspot.ca/) and follow me on Twitter (@DCYakabuski).
Carl Martin, a young crime novelist, inherits his father’s house and acquires a tenant, Dermot McKinnon, to give him extra income as he struggles with writing his second novel. Carl also inherits his dad’s collection of alternative, herbal, and homeopathic remedies and he sells some diet pills to a friend Stacey, an actress struggling with weight gain. Stacey dies because of those pills. Dermot knows that Carl sold them to her, and he sets out to blackmail Carl: refusing to pay rent and threatening to tell the newspapers about Carl’s involvement in Stacey’s death. Carl’s life soon spirals out of control.
There are two subplots as well: the adventures of Tom Milsom as he explores London using his free seniors’ bus pass, and the petty crimes of his amoral daughter Lizzie who, her father admits, is prone to constant “lying, exaggeration, or fantasizing.”
Usually in a Rendell mystery, plots will converge seamlessly. That is not the case here. Tom’s adventures and Lizzie’s exploits are only tangentially related to Carl’s story. Had Rendell lived to revise and edit, I suspect the narrative threads would have been tightened so they would not seem so meandering and unconnected.
What is explored so well is how everyone has dark corners in his/her mind and how ordinary people can step out of dark corners to commit criminal acts. Carl’s need for respect causes him to take actions of which he does not initially seem capable: “he realized again what he dreaded most in Dermot’s threats. It wasn’t the loss of income. It was the humiliation he feared. He couldn’t live with the shame.” Lizzie is motivated by a need to feel powerful: “Doing [petty thievery] – and she often did it – gave her a sense of power.” Dermot has a similar need: “No one had ever been afraid of Dermot before, or not to this degree, and it gratified him to have caused someone this amount of fear without violence or even the threat of it.”
The book also examines how guilt can destroy a person. In its portrayal of psychological disintegration, the novel is masterful. Carl’s first act of selling dangerous diet pills to Stacey is not an illegal act, merely a careless one. He does however feel guilty and so Dermot’s threats of exposure are effective against him. A girlfriend describes the impact of guilt on Carl: “He hardly speaks but to rage against Dermot. He sleeps a little, dreams violently, cries out, and sits up fighting against something that isn’t there.” Gradually paranoia takes over his life. When one character suggests being too frightened to ever confess to a crime like murder, another responds, “’It wouldn’t be as scary as not confessing. It might even be a comfort. Think what it must have been like to have it on [one’s] conscience.’”
The effectiveness of Rendell’s character development is shown by the novel’s impact on the reader. Readers understand Carl so well that they will want him to go unpunished while at the same time desire some justice. Readers will also be left with a feeling of “There but for the grace of God, go I.”
There are some plot weaknesses but the depth of its psychological analysis, characterization, and thematic development make this a must-read for lovers of suspense books.
Note: I received an ARC of this book from the publisher via NetGalley.
Please check out my reader's blog (http://schatjesshelves.blogspot.ca/) and follow me on Twitter (@DCYakabuski).
This was my first Ruth Rendell, and I’m not sure about her style and pacing. Carl, an aspiring writer, inherits a London townhouse and decides to rent out the top-floor flat, but his nosy tenant upends his quiet life. The story isn’t nearly as suspenseful as it could have been, as Rendell leaves plenty of breathing room for Carl to make other, better decisions. Other storylines elaborate on the theme of the ways in which the price and scarcity of urban real estate drives desperate actions. Timely in the way Agatha Christie stories were, but without the tight pacing.
This book was very interesting to me - it offered me a Kafka-esque feeling. You know, when you read metamorphosis and you can feel the human turning into the roach, but it's all sort of dream like because the main character is a in a bit of a stupor? The only issue was, I didn't feel many of the characters flowed together very well and it also didn't feel as if there was much of a point to the book - which is unfortunate. I thought a lot more could have been done with it.
Turning the last page of this novel was bittersweet. I have been a fan of Rendell's for many years and to know that there will be no more stung. Sadly, I believe this novel is unfinished. The bones are there. The characters are there. But the frames of the structure, which are usually so elegantly hidden from view, are starkly visible. The normally seamless plotting shows visible seams. I would like to believe, if she had had more time, Rendell would have polished her narrative. Instead, I am grateful for that a few ofher backlist titles remain for me to read for the first time.
dark
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I only lasted 30% or so into the audio. The narrator was highly annoying, and the whole story just sounded so whiny. You think you supplied a friend with an OTC that caused her death? Then tell the cops and be done with it. I'm sorry, I just have no patience for that sort of thing. The other story lines were just .. odd. From the other reviews, it seems that this book was released after Ms Rendell's death, and maybe she wasn't done with it yet. I haven't read others by her, so maybe the others are better? IDK. I just couldn't take any more whining.