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2.96 AVERAGE
2.96 AVERAGE
I got too freaked out, my brain was not on the right place and I was too affected by the book
dark
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
dark
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I found this book bizarre, it was following characters and events that didn't add anything to the plot. I thought there would be a big twist and everything would link together and make sense but it didn't..
dark
reflective
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Honestly I thought this was a pretty good time, but I tend to like books where someone digs themselves deeper and deeper when there is an obvious out they've convinced themselves they can't take. Definitely more of a slow-burn, psychological thriller than an action-packed, twisty one. Will definitely pick up other books by this author. I also thought the audiobook narration was really well done!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Kidnapping, Murder
Moderate: Vomit
medium-paced
This is Ruth Rendell's final novel, and is more of a psychological thriller than a murder mystery. We know all along who committed the crimes, and much of the book looks at the events from the murderer's point of view. The book seems to be overtly demonstrating how one morally compromising action can so easily beget another, worse one, and also how human hypocrisy can just as easily be about individuals deceiving themselves as everybody else. It is about how overtly respectable, middle-class, educated people can sometimes care little deep down about the lives of those less fortunate, to the point of dispensing with them ruthlessly when they become inconvenient or threaten their sense of power in the world.
It addresses how profound ethical compromises generally catch up with people who have anything resembling a conscience (presumably, hardened psychopaths are excluded from this equation), once the reality of such actions have sunk in and karma begins to do its work. Most of the main cast of characters are deeply flawed, including those with more common vices, such as the greedy, grasping and envious Lizzy, who moves into her dead friend's flat and lies pathologically, yet toward the end seems to mature into someone capable of a measure of compassion. Rendell's characters are believable because of their flaws and contradictions, from the woman who prefers her cat to her daughter, to the devout, church-going Christian who engages in blackmail to avoid rent.
This is a gripping, fine piece of work from an author who is undoubtedly very much missed by those who like crime writing of the sort that probes into the complexities of human virtue and vice, in all its multitudinous manifestations.
It addresses how profound ethical compromises generally catch up with people who have anything resembling a conscience (presumably, hardened psychopaths are excluded from this equation), once the reality of such actions have sunk in and karma begins to do its work. Most of the main cast of characters are deeply flawed, including those with more common vices, such as the greedy, grasping and envious Lizzy, who moves into her dead friend's flat and lies pathologically, yet toward the end seems to mature into someone capable of a measure of compassion. Rendell's characters are believable because of their flaws and contradictions, from the woman who prefers her cat to her daughter, to the devout, church-going Christian who engages in blackmail to avoid rent.
This is a gripping, fine piece of work from an author who is undoubtedly very much missed by those who like crime writing of the sort that probes into the complexities of human virtue and vice, in all its multitudinous manifestations.
dark
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
dark
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I loved this last book written by the irreplaceable Ruth Rendell. One of her best books yet.
Her 66th and last novel, written at age 84. Some lackluster reviews here, but I enjoyed it very much. It explores false piety (the upstairs renter and his girlfriend) but mostly concerns the debilitating weight of a guilty conscience.