A Fatal Inversion
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Review
'I defy anyone to guess the conclusion, but looking back, the clues are seen to be there, unobtrusively but cunningly planted, so that it seems one should have known all along. The curtain is drawn back to reveal rather than to surprise; a most satisfying end' Daily Telegraph 'An absolute winner, nimbly written with all the Dickensian virtues of vivid characterization, fine prose style and a cunningly devised plot that shifts and twists and keeps you on the edge of your chair' Daily Mail 'The story is brilliant, the ending a perfect bit of irony... Barbara Vine has the kind of near-Victorian narrative drive... that compels a reader to go on turning the pages' - Julian Symons, Sunday Times
Product Description
In the long hot summer of 1976, a group of young people are camping in Wyvis Hall. Adam, Rufus, Shiva, Vivien and Zosie hardly ask why they are there, what they are doing or how they are to live; they scavenge, steal and sell the family heirlooms.In short, they exist. Ten years later, the bodies of a woman and a child are discovered in the Hall's animal cemetery. Which woman? Whose child?
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
17 of 17 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
A Fatal Inversion is among Barbara Vine's most creepy and atmospheric novels. From the start of the first chapter, death casts its ominous shadow over the entire novel, when Adam, Rufus and Shiva, now three grown men in their thirties are forced to confront something terrible and tragic that took place ten years previously, when they lived together in a commune at Wyvis Hall in Suffolk in the sweltering summer of 1976.
The group of young people who come to inhabit `Ecalpemos', a Georgian mansion, inherited from his Great Uncle by 19-year-old Adam Verne-Smith, are by no means likeable characters - hedonistic, selfish, arrogant, manipulative, weak - yet you become intensely caught up in their world and the landscape of their individual psychologies. Then the wheel of fate is set in motion with the arrival of the seemingly mysterious, disturbed and child-like Zosie. Barbara Vine writes about dysfunctional individuals in a unique way that imbues the mundane with chilling significance.
As ever, with Barbara Vine, buildings and landscape take on a dark and sinister aspect, even as the hot summer sun of '76 beats down, and Vine's Suffolk countryside is at times as menacing and uncanny as that of M.R. James. More than just a crime and mystery novel, this book makes you think about human conscience, lack of it, deception, innocence, guilt, and the hard truth that in life, the amoral do not always get their just deserts.
The group of young people who come to inhabit `Ecalpemos', a Georgian mansion, inherited from his Great Uncle by 19-year-old Adam Verne-Smith, are by no means likeable characters - hedonistic, selfish, arrogant, manipulative, weak - yet you become intensely caught up in their world and the landscape of their individual psychologies. Then the wheel of fate is set in motion with the arrival of the seemingly mysterious, disturbed and child-like Zosie. Barbara Vine writes about dysfunctional individuals in a unique way that imbues the mundane with chilling significance.
As ever, with Barbara Vine, buildings and landscape take on a dark and sinister aspect, even as the hot summer sun of '76 beats down, and Vine's Suffolk countryside is at times as menacing and uncanny as that of M.R. James. More than just a crime and mystery novel, this book makes you think about human conscience, lack of it, deception, innocence, guilt, and the hard truth that in life, the amoral do not always get their just deserts.
14 of 14 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I had already read a couple of Barbara Vine novels before reading this one, and although I thought the others were good, for me this is the masterpiece: enthralling and unputdownable. The plot is totally original and as you put the pieces together you realise how well crafted the storyline is. The ending is fantastic. A must read.
10 of 10 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Masterfully written, this is the story of a group of young students who gather to spend a long, blazing hot summer vacation at Wyvis Hall in Suffolk, the recently inherited house of medical student Adam Verne-Smith. This hypnotic tale is told mostly through flashback, the threads pulling together gradually and inexorably, weaving the past and present towards a stunning climax. Menace is present from the opening line to the startling denouement. Vine has created a living, breathing world as only she can; this tale of greed and frailty, disaster and triumph places human nature under the microscope and while none of the characters is particularly likeable you are drawn into their worlds as the tale unfolds. The story will imprint itself on your mind long after you have read the final page. One of my Desert Island must haves.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Slow burner
I love Ruth Rendell as Barbara Vine and have previously read her books in one sitting as they are so well crafted I just can't put them down. Read more
Published 1 month ago by rachv67
A huge disappointment
I have read two Ruth Rendell novels, one of which I found simply pointless, the other greatly enjoyed. So I thought I'd give her Alias a go. Read more
Published 8 months ago by Glilla Bear
Barbara Vine at her very best
When I get picky about Vine/Rendell's recent works it is because I look back at novels like these and long for a return to this sort of form. Read more
Published 9 months ago by smartesthorse
fatal inversion
All the charcters in this book are interseting , the mysterious zosie, adam, refus, shiva, they all have a motive in this story and your left guessing right up to the end who was... Read more
Published 11 months ago by Mrs. Amanda R. Newman
A fatally engaging read
Don't start on this book, if you have a lot to do, because you will find it very difficult to put it down. Read more
Published 16 months ago by CJ
A Fatal Inversion - A book to keep you up all night
Barbara Vine is a master of the psychological thriller. Her characterisation is second to none and you soon feel you know her characters as though you have met them. Read more
Published 19 months ago by Sheila M. Belshaw
Which one was murdered?
As always, writing as Barbara Vine seems to give Ruth Rendell much more space and time to develop a setting and its characters. Read more
Published on 18 Sep 2009 by Eileen Shaw
A banal plot
During the summer of 1976, Adam Verne-Smith inherits a big old country house in Suffolk, Wyvis Hall. Read more
Published on 1 Feb 2007 by HORAK
Once again a great novel!
This is another of Rendell/Vine's classic books. It is so much more than a whodunit or a whyduunit; the wide variety of characters is very memorable and the reader learns a lot... Read more
Published on 6 Jan 2001
Un-put downable!
Simply the best work of Ruth Rendell aka Barbara Vine. A superb plot and an excellent BBC mini-series screenplay. An absolute must...
Published on 9 April 2000 by christopherfenner@hotmail.com
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