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Amazon.co.uk Review
Rendell's speciality is her ability to enter the psychopathology of her characters and make us not only understand their often murderous behaviour, but also vicariously participate. It's a skill that Hitchcock made his own in the cinema, but he rarely moved into such black waters as Rendell. This new book continues a trend initiated in earlier work by Rendell: the grafting of supernatural elements into a typical Rendellian tale of menace. And what makes the ghost in the new book so disturbing is the total avoidance of cliché: no grey, wispy phantom, this--it is disturbingly corporeal.
Jock Lewis died in the Paddington train crash. Or did he? His fiancée Minty is coming to terms with both his loss and the loss of all her savings, which Jock vanished with. And there is Zilla, who had been married to a man called Jerry Leach. She also received a letter from the railway company telling her that her husband is dead. Other women, too, who do not know each other, have all had relationships with a dark-haired man who disappears from their lives. And when Jock's ghost reappears to Minty at her home and at her work, she begins to carry a knife... but if she stabs him, will he bleed?
Rendell has always been a writer who likes to take risks, and the danger here was that Adam and Eve and Pinch Me would end up as a smorgasbord of supernatural and crime elements, each cancelling the other out. But Rendell is far too assured a writer for this, and the balance between the different aspects of the book is always kept rigorously in place. So many writers fall into dull repetition; here, again, Rendell demonstrates that she's going from strength to strength. --Barry Forshaw --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
Review
Unequalled ability to build a sustain suspense
--Peter Guttridge, Observer
With her usual deft touch, Rendell pulls the strands of the story together, weaving a taut and terrifying narrative --Val McDermid, Daily Express
Here are the fears that haunt us, the nightmarish urban myths of our time ... One of the most remarkable talents writing today --Jane Jakeman, Independent
Rendell's psychological novels remain in a class of their own --Susanna Yager, Sunday Telegraph
Rendell at her brilliant best --Daily Mail
It is ... her ability ... to tap into registers of feeling which range from the commonplace to the psychopathic. She is to be treasured. --Anita Brookner, Spectator
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
"states of mind are real enough",
By A Customer
This review is from: Adam And Eve And Pinch Me (Hardcover)
i read the book and the customer reviews. what is true: rendell IS the best, what is also true: this one is not one of her best books. but it's still so much better than a lot of stuff that finds a publisher these days. as always in her novels (as in life)- there are characters in it you don't actually like. that's one of her specialties: you're not supposed to like them, but to understand their actions and see life through their eyes. that's rendell's greatest achievement. as for the ghost-plot: this is definetely not a supernatural thriller. it's about what joyce carol oates describes as "states of mind are real enough". the whole book is about how one reality sometimes is not enough. the jerry-character only becomes real seen through the eyes of all his women. there's two subplots i favoured: the one about zillah and her marriage to jims, and the couple with eating disorders. in the latter, rendell again manages to portray that what you see (and maybe consider gross) is not what you get. appearances (and apparitions) often lead you in the wrong direction.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Really great,
By
This review is from: Adam and Eve and Pinch Me (Audio Cassette)
This is a really great book well worth the read, and to hear it in tape is even better. The plot is interesting and well thought out, however it is slightly predictable and don't be waiting for a climax ending - on the whole really good but if you want a mystery look at some of Rendells other books.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Potential Flop,
By
This review is from: Adam And Eve And Pinch Me (Hardcover)
Ruth Rendell has ruled the crime waves for decades, but her ship is sinking!This novel, with a highly interesting premise, sustains interest well at the beginning, with shifts between one character and the next and a promising puzzle to solve. Soon, however, repetition blunts the knife, blood oozes more slowly and the story crawls to an obvious conclusion. And there is really nothing new about these ghosts or the psychological insight said to be evident. Believe the blurbs at your own risk; in any case not one cover commendation refers to this particular book, being rather general raves on the theme of Rendell.
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