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3.26 AVERAGE
3.26 AVERAGE
I don't think this is one of Vine's best. The plot revolves around an MP's affair with a married woman, which turns from a potential sex scandal into something much larger when the woman is killed in a car crash during a faux kidnapping set up by the MP. Vine slowly unravels the wealth of complications caused by the kidnapping gone wrong, but there's less tension than in her best books, and the end is simply anticlimactic.
dark
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
A quick weekend escape read. Possibly over complex plot made me forget a couple of characters and have to backtrack, but mostly enjoyable. A bit worrying how much today's media shape events in ways that are not good for individuals or society.
This book was just okay, not nearly as compelling or well-written as most of the Vine novels are, but not bad either -- a good book to read when your mind is tired (as mine has been). There are the usual Vine elements, such as the discontented, lonely character (who in this book is one of the two narrators) living on the fringes of society, but I questioned the choice of the other (main) narrator -- his voice didn't always work for me.
As always Ruth Rendell (here writing under her pen name) is a fun read, but this is one of my less favorite ones. The plot was predictable, and there wasn’t really a twist. But the class faultlines were as always fascinating and some of the characters very memorable! :)
“When we say we’re sure, we mean we doubt but we’re hopeful.” I am sure you will find this book satisfactory.
dark
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
As one would expect from Ruth Rendell/Barbara Vine, this novel is well written and at times quite absorbing. It tells the story of a rising Tory MP whose lover dies in a car crash that was organized as part of a mock abduction / sex game. Given the circumstances, including the fact that the woman is married, he doesn't report it to the authorities and it takes several years before all the different strands pointing to him come together -- largely the self-fulfilling result of his attempts to bury the truth (or, more to the point, his behavior which is explicable pretty much only as the actions of a person who wants to be caught).
The weakness of the novel is that after a promising start it never comes together in any sort of satisfying manner. The ending is essentially stated at the opening of the novel and the unfolding of the events leading to it contain little in the way of surprise or a satisfying conclusion. Still, it remains interesting to the very end -- although some of that comes from the expectation that Rendell/Vine is going to deliver something different than what she ultimately did deliver.
The weakness of the novel is that after a promising start it never comes together in any sort of satisfying manner. The ending is essentially stated at the opening of the novel and the unfolding of the events leading to it contain little in the way of surprise or a satisfying conclusion. Still, it remains interesting to the very end -- although some of that comes from the expectation that Rendell/Vine is going to deliver something different than what she ultimately did deliver.
Took to long to get interesting. Narrator talked like I was supposed to already know things.
