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A Judgement In Stone [Paperback]

Ruth Rendell
4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (34 customer reviews)
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Book Description

21 April 1994

Four members of the Coverdale family - George, Jacqueline, Melinda and Giles - died in the space of fifteen minutes on the 14th February, St Valentine's Day.

Eunice Parchman, the illiterate housekeeper, shot them down on a Sunday evening while they were watching opera on television. Two weeks later she was arrested for the crime.

But the tragedy neither began nor ended there.

(20030723)

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Product details

  • Paperback: 224 pages
  • Publisher: Arrow; New Ed edition (21 April 1994)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0099171406
  • ISBN-13: 978-0099171409
  • Product Dimensions: 11 x 1.3 x 17.8 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (34 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 32,998 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Product Description

Review

Rendell's psychological insights are so absorbing, it's easy to forget what a superb plotter she is (The Times )

Ruth Rendell is not only the finest crime novelist there is, but one of the finest novelists writing in the English language (Scotsman )

The most brilliant mystery novelist of our time - mesmerizing (Patricia Cornwell )

Ruth Rendell has quite simply transformed the genre of crime writing. She displays her peerless skill in blending the mundane, commonplace aspects of life with the potent murky impulses of desire and greed, obsession and fear (Sunday Times )

The best woman crime writer since Sayers, Christie, Allingham and Marsh (Edmund Crispin, Sunday Times )

Book Description

It seems to be a straightforward, if bloody, crime. Four members of one family murdered by their housekeeper in a modern St. Valentine's Day massacre. But that is where the story begins. A critically acclaimed novel from the author of bestselling crime thrillers including Thirteen Steps Down and the world-famous Detective Chief Inspector Wexford series. (20030723)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews
15 of 15 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
"A judgement in stone" is the story of a crime, and the reasons behind it. All that happens is in direct relation to a secret, Eunice Parchman's secret.

Eunice, the housekeeper of the Coverdale family, seems to be merely a dull woman with an insipid personality. She is cold and quite solemn, but not violent, at least she doesn't seem to be. However, events would prove otherwise, as the reader is informed from the very first page of "A judgement in stone": "Eunice Parchman killed the Coverdale family because she could not read or write".

This is the story of how an apparently normal person is ridden by the all-powering obsession of protecting a secret she deems shameful, that she is illiterate. How far will she go to avoid the disclosure of that fact is something you will learn if you read this book, although you already have a pretty important clue...

On the whole, I can say that I highly recommend this book. The main character isn't likeable ("A stone that breathed was Eunice, as she had always been"), but the story is engaging and well-written. Moreover, the writer managed to write a convincing psychological study of Eunice that allows the reader to look into the mind of a cold-blooded killer. Those are the main reasons why you won't be able to stop reading this book once you start it :)

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12 of 12 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars A BRILLIANT STUDY OF THE SOCIO-PATHIC MIND... 6 Sep 2003
By Lawyeraau HALL OF FAME TOP 500 REVIEWER
Format:Paperback
This is one of Ruth Rendell's earlier works and, perhaps, one of her best. More of a novella, rather than a full fledged novel, by virtue of its brevity, it is absolutely brilliant, well-written, and gripping from the get go. Ms. Rendell captures the reader with her first sentence, "Eunice Parchman killed the Coverdale family because she could not read or write."

This is a descriptive and insightful literary stunner about how an illiterate, middle aged women gets to the point that she wipes out a family one fateful evening. The book takes the reader, step by step, through the events that lead up to this crossroad. It explores the mind of Eunice Parchman, a woman so limited in her world view and so robotic in her actions that she is almost repellent. The reader marvels at her very existence and is sure to find her fascinating character study.

Ms. Parchman's interactions with the well educated Coverdale family, who employs her as a housekeeper, are intriguing and always interesting, as she struggles to keep her illiteracy a secret. How Ms. Parchman circumvents its discovery for as long as does, the lengths to which she goes to maintain a facade of literacy, and her socially inappropriate responses to every day situations, paint an intriguing psychological portrait for the reader. The eventual discovery of her illiteracy results in a ghastly outcome, which makes for some gripping and chilling reading.

Ms. Rendell is masterful in her storytelling, infusing mundane situations with an understated horror that is all the more chilling because of the common denominator that strikes a chord with the reader. Written is well-nuanced, taut, spare style, this book is a literary gem that will keep the reader riveted to its pages. Bravo!

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23 of 24 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars A Judgement in Stone, Ruth Rendell 23 Jun 2004
By RachelWalker TOP 500 REVIEWER
Format:Paperback
A Judgement in Stone is Rendell's masterpiece (well, along with one or two others). It is popular opinion among her fans, and it is also true. I have never read a better book on the class division in England; any books that deal with probing the minds of the mad are written only by Rendell herself.

"Eunice Parchman killed the Coverdale family because she could not read or write", is its famous first line, and a brilliant one it is too. The crime writer Henning Mankell has said that it is his ambition to write a crime novel where, from the beginning, the reader knows exactly what is going to happen, but continues to read the rest of the book for a desperate need to find out more details such as why and how. In time, Mankell may well achieve that, but with A Judgement in Stone Rendell already has.

Despite that the reader knows what's going to happen, there is more compulsion to turn the pages even than in a normal detective story. The psychological insights and the gradual movements towards the foreshadowed events are absolutely gripping - this novel is possibly Rendell's most focused depiction of a mind driven to madness, mad actions, despite not being inherently "mad".

It's also told in a wonderful style. A retrospective one, looking back on events as if you are being told a story by a person in the room with you. It's almost delivered as a true-crime case study, a proper scientific rendering of murder.

It is truly superb. Only Rendell could write a novel where the psychoses of an illiterate lead to catastrophic murder. The writing is brilliant, the description of colliding classes is inspiring and very well-done indeed. Tension and suspension fill the pages until the very last, as the two women (Eunice and her friend Joan, follow down this terrible path.) How did it happen? What exactly set it off? Why? All questions the reader desperately wants to know. Also particularly chilling is the way that, throughout the book, the characters have so many opportunities to escape their fate, but they never take. There is always a possibility for escape, but we know they don't take it. Rendell snatches it away before long in any case.

An excellent book. It's only 200 pages, but it says so very much about people and society that it'd be easy to re-read it as soon as you finish it the first time.

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Most Recent Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars Gripping
Ruth Rendell surpasses with this tragic, grim but absorbing tale. The reader knows the outcome of the story at the start, and this adds to the tension which builds to the horrific... Read more
Published 21 hours ago by purplecar 32
5.0 out of 5 stars Brilliant!
A fantastic Thriller you will not want to put down! Great story and fantastic characters! An easy read yet intricately written.
Published 22 days ago by charlotte gruen
3.0 out of 5 stars Average
Did not grip me and for long periods I was going to abandon it but I trudged on and it got a little beter
Published 1 month ago by lucy
5.0 out of 5 stars Brilliant
This is a really brilliant story; you know from very early on what has happened, yet the book is so well written, it keeps you intereted and in suspense all the way along to the... Read more
Published 1 month ago by ocelotjanie
5.0 out of 5 stars Judgement in stone
Fascinating portrait of a woman who efficiently compensated for her shortcomings with disastrous results for her and for those around her. Enjoyed this book
Published 3 months ago by Trish Macdonald
5.0 out of 5 stars psychololigal masterpiece.
I've never read a ruth rendell but got this from local library and loved it.I watched them in the past and always enjoyed them. Read more
Published 4 months ago by Sarah Moorin
3.0 out of 5 stars Book
As a James Patterson fan I wasn't overwhelmed with this story - too many 'WORDY' parts and not enough action
Agnes McLuckie
Published 5 months ago by grannie mac
1.0 out of 5 stars Money down the drain
I couldn't possibly recommend this book to anyone. Given the author, I was especially disappointed in a story which never took off. Read more
Published 5 months ago by whatachef
5.0 out of 5 stars Judgement in stone
One of the first books I read from this author. I've read the Portugueses translation many years ago and decided to buy the original to get the real flavour.
Published 5 months ago by Carmo Vasconcelos R
4.0 out of 5 stars Interesting subject
I enjoyed this book, as usual Rendell delivers a good page turner with an unusual subject matter. Strangely disturbing but believable.
Published 11 months ago by Mrs. Jane Johnson
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