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Product Description
Amazon.co.uk Review
In Adam and Eve and Pinch Me, Ruth Rendell once again tackles the dark and dangerous side of human psychology. It is this quality that defines her as a writer and distinguishes her from the other British Queens of Crime: PD James and Minette Walters (although some would argue that Val McDermid is now in that category). She take the reader into a more sinister and threatening world than any of her contemporaries, and there is a reason why she remains non-pareil in this territory: a reason demonstrated with disturbing impact in Adam and Eve and Pinch Me.
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.
Val McDermid
'Ruth Rendell is the ultimate anatomist of the human psyche'
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
8 of 9 people found the following review helpful
Format: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.
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
Format: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
Format: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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Most Recent Customer Reviews
What Story!
I have always regarded Ruth Rendell as one of the best authors to have the pleasure of reading; quite what happened here I am not sure. Read more
Published on 2 Feb 2006 by jackieg1
"Go Away!" she hissed. Wish I'd taken heed...
Minty should have taken her knife to this manuscript. At least half should have been cut. "A&E&PE" is a book both wandering and repetitious. Read more
Published on 21 April 2004 by M. Halpin
Don't take any notice of me
If there is one thing you can be sure of when reading these reviews, it is that they are usless. As much as I love reading them, to guage some sense of opinion on books I've read,... Read more
Published on 22 Feb 2004 by Tiresias
what the ....?
The last few novels I've read by Ruth Rendell ("The Killing Doll", "The Keys To The Street", "The Tree of Hands" and "A Sight For Sore Eyes") have all been exceptional, and I can't... Read more
Published on 19 Jan 2004 by S. Hapgood
Rendell certainly isn't mellowing with age!
This is another absolute winner from Ruth Rendell, my favourite novelist of all time. Of all her books, this is possibly her very very best. Read more
Published on 5 Oct 2002
Her worst book by far
As a reader of many of Rendell's books I was looking forward to reading Rendell's new offering but this one left me feeling disappointed. Read more
Published on 20 Sep 2002
Monotonous
This is the first Ruth Rendell book I've read and, to be fair to the author, I won't make it my last. Read more
Published on 17 Aug 2002
My first Ruth Rendell, but not my last!
I bought it on a whim... never having read anything by her before. I can't get enough of it! I haven't been able to put it down since I started it. Read more
Published on 4 Aug 2002 by H. SEYMOUR
Top Stuff
This book is reminiscent of a Victorian freak show. Almost all of the characters have something strange about them, and that is what attracts them to us. Read more
Published on 12 July 2002
A good read, but not the best
A thourougly engaging read centred around a well drawn womaniser and cad, who meets a bad end, but in an unexpected way. Read more
Published on 10 July 2002 by Simon J Farrant
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