Portobello [Hardcover]

In the mid-70s, Ruth Rendell published a short psychological novel entitled `A Demon in my View'. This slim masterpiece was sad, seedy, and concerned the creepy characters and goings on in a boarding house. She revisited similar themes in the recent `Thirteen Steps Down' and now once again in this novel where three properties (including a boarding house) provide the focal point for much of the action.

All of the main characters live on or within touching distance of Portobello in London - hence the title - and the book explores how their lives intersect with one another.

Eugene Wren, art gallery proprietor, lives in a well-to-do area which he comes to share with his fiancée Ella Cotswold, a medical doctor. One day he comes across a sum of money and advertises his find (without stating the exact sum) on a local telegraph pole in an attempt to find its owner. Lance, a young unemployed and unemployable burglar, decides to chance his arm at conning the cash out of its finder.

Unfortunately for Lance, by the time he calls round, Eugene knows the identity of the real owner - Joel Roseman - a young man who's currently recovering in hospital from a heart complaint. The socially isolated Joel subsequently engages Ella as his private doctor, and she visits him a few times at his property, a handsome dwelling but kept in a shabby, darkened state by its incumbent. This is all paid for by the obscenely rich father who's ostracized him for years because of a family incident. As the book progresses Joel's mental health deteriorates alarmingly.

Lance's uncle Gilbert Gibson (Uncle Gib) - an ex-jailbird who's now deeply religious - owns a run down property half a mile away from Eugene. He rents out rooms to his burglar nephew Lance (burglary is the family trade), and later to a barely-seen immigrant, who nevertheless becomes an integral part of the plot.

Although Eugene and Ella seem like the perfect upper-middle class couple, Eugene has his own 'dark' little secret...

The book title is ironic in that Portobello is famous for its bright, breezy, bustling market, and Rendell deliberately contrasts this with the empty, sad or grey lives of most of her major characters.

It features several outstanding passages that describe what it's like to be mentally ill, or ostracized, or in the grip of a strange obsession. Dame Ruth does sad, creepy individuals with obscure motivations better than almost any living writer. The novel also contains deliberately understated scenes of violence, that hit home without being visceral.

Of course there's so much more to the book than I've indicated: it's a study of the impact of chance and coincidence on the lives of a set of very disparate individuals. I don't feel I'm spoiling it when I point out that for once, everything ends well (though not in ways you'd expect) and is an illustration of the redemptive power of love. Even crime queens have their sentimental moments!

Rendell has hit a rich vein of form recently with the previously mentioned `Thirteen Steps Down' and `The Water's Lovely' being outstanding reads. Unfortunately she suffered a minor blip with last year's disappointing Wexford novel, 'Not in the Flesh' which was readable but a little clichéd. Happily `Portobello' is once again, top-notch entertainment. As Barbara Vine she published `The Birthday Present' a few scant months ago. She was 78 years old this year, and no one should be able to write as well, or prolifically as this at that age!

This is a compelling novel and a great study of psychologically damaged and/or disadvantaged people. Told in her usual elegant, spare prose this is very definitely recommended and just fails to get the maximum 5 stars. I make it a 9/10, and I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

It seems bonkers to review a novel you haven't finished yet, particularly when the ending, according to some other reviewers, is a let-down. However, I can't leave this brilliant book undefended, even though I'm only part of the way through...
As a passionate but critical reader of both RR and BV novels, so far I can't recommend this one highly enough. It has all the subtlety and intelligence of some of her very best psychological work (The Bridesmaid, The Keys to the Street, The Minotaur, Asta's Book, Wolf to the Slaughter) but, in her portrait of Eugene's addiction, she has surpassed herself...it's extraordinary. Yes, if you prefer the more straightforward Wexfordy crime, you might not love this, but this is completely addictive, gripping, delicious fiction.
(And even if it goes terribly wrong from now on, I'd still give it 5 stars for the early chapters...)

Recent Ruth Rendell novels have disappointed some of her long-time fans. These novels are not as tightly plotted and are often more slice-of-life looks at odd characters and how their lives intersect. In PORTOBELLO, this trend has reached the maximum: there is no over-arching plot, but an episodic set of character studies linked by ironic coincidence.

A lot of readers will prefer her earlier works, with their intricate plotting, but I like the new flavor as much as the old. Her prose is still instantly compelling, her quirky characters endearing and maddening, and the stories are as absorbing as ever.

In this one, I particularly enjoyed the character who becomes addicted to a low-calorie sweet, obsessing over it to the point where it interfered with his work and relationships. Rendell paints a convincing portrait of addiction, with the added irony of dependence on a substance that is supposedly guilt-free.

I thoroughly enjoyed this one and look forward to reading it again. I still love the old classics, but I think Rendell has made a wise decision not to try and write the way she did 20 years ago. Her more relaxed approach may not be as popular with some, but I find it just as entertaining as her older style, and look forward to more books in this vein.