A review by jonnellsimpson
A Judgement in Stone by Ruth Rendell

2.0

I recently re-watched the French film La Ceremonie (after first seeing it 21 years ago). I hadn't realized it was based on this Ruth Rendell book. Maybe because the film was so fresh in my mind, and because I liked it so much, this book felt a bit bland. It gives away the ending immediately, which is fine for a novel, whereas in the film it was a shock. And it's hard to erase the performances of Sandrine Bonnaire and Isabelle Huppert from my mind when reading the book. Aside from that, the book does provide a good character study of two deeply disturbed women and the class differences that escalate the tragedy. Overall, it's well-written but not as compelling as I'd hoped.