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A review by si0bhan
The Birthday Present by Barbara Vine
2.0
This was my first Barbra Vine read, my first Ruth Rendell read for that matter, and I was really disappointed.
Her name is one I have heard many times when seeking out psychological thrillers to read. She just seems to be one of those authors whose name will appear whenever on a hunt. Thus, when I found a three book Barbra Vine collection on offer I jumped at them. I wasn’t crazy about any one book in particular, thus I was content with three random ones, and I allowed my sister to decide which one I would read first. Admittedly, it did sit on my shelf for quite some time, but in the end I worked around to it.
Despite the fact that it’s a very short book, it felt as though the book went on forever. I have read high fantasy books of around a thousand pages that have felt shorted than this book. Why? Because it did not feel as though it was going anywhere. I was expecting a thriller; instead, it was a recounting of life following events. Lives I did not care for, and events I found extremely dull. From the start we knew what had happened, we were given suggestions of where things were going, and whilst this can sometimes be fun such was not the case here. It simply wasn’t done as well as it could have been, as well as it has been in other books.
I could easily sit and write more, yet I have such a feeling of ‘meh’ in relation to this book that I cannot bring myself to write anything more than these couple of short paragraphs. As I own two more of her books I will be reading them, but I will not be in any rush to do so. I have plenty of books by authors I know I really enjoyed, books I am looking forward to reading. My view may be changed, but if the other two are anything like this one… well, it is safe to say they are not what I was made to believe they would be.
Overall, a massive disappointment.
Her name is one I have heard many times when seeking out psychological thrillers to read. She just seems to be one of those authors whose name will appear whenever on a hunt. Thus, when I found a three book Barbra Vine collection on offer I jumped at them. I wasn’t crazy about any one book in particular, thus I was content with three random ones, and I allowed my sister to decide which one I would read first. Admittedly, it did sit on my shelf for quite some time, but in the end I worked around to it.
Despite the fact that it’s a very short book, it felt as though the book went on forever. I have read high fantasy books of around a thousand pages that have felt shorted than this book. Why? Because it did not feel as though it was going anywhere. I was expecting a thriller; instead, it was a recounting of life following events. Lives I did not care for, and events I found extremely dull. From the start we knew what had happened, we were given suggestions of where things were going, and whilst this can sometimes be fun such was not the case here. It simply wasn’t done as well as it could have been, as well as it has been in other books.
I could easily sit and write more, yet I have such a feeling of ‘meh’ in relation to this book that I cannot bring myself to write anything more than these couple of short paragraphs. As I own two more of her books I will be reading them, but I will not be in any rush to do so. I have plenty of books by authors I know I really enjoyed, books I am looking forward to reading. My view may be changed, but if the other two are anything like this one… well, it is safe to say they are not what I was made to believe they would be.
Overall, a massive disappointment.