- Paperback: 592 pages
- Publisher: Pocket Books (28 Feb 2008)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 1847393519
- ISBN-13: 978-1847393517
- Product Dimensions: 17.3 x 10.9 x 3.6 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 275,009 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
Roots of Evil
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More About the Author
Product Description
Review
"'She has a crisp and intelligent style, and a real way with tension' MO HAYDER 'Clever and atmospheric... a compelling read' Good Book Guide 'When you get halfway through, you won't be able to stop... The varied cast of characters are so well-drawn that they get under your skin long before you reach the gripping climax' Big Issue 'Rayne's wealth of intriguing characters and situations has you continually putting two and two together and making five, but when the truth emerges, you wonder why you didn't see it coming. Clues to all the bizarre twists and turns are there, but so well constructed that each time you are taken by surprise' Western Daily Press"
Product Description
Old crimes cause new murder in Sarah Rayne's mesmerising psychological thriller.Lucy Trent is used to having the legend of her glamorous grandmother unearthed from time to time - the infamous silent-screen actress Lucretia von Wolff, whose life ended abruptly in a bizarre double murder and suicide at the Ashwood film studios in 1952. Lucy rather enjoys Lucretia's legend - although most of the family would prefer it to be quietly forgotten.But when a body is found in the now-derelict studios, brutalised in a macabre echo of the 50-year-old case, disturbing facts about the past begin to emerge. Facts which point back to the eerie legend of the child known simply as Alraune. The child named after Lucretia's most famous film. The child who may never have existed at all.In the ensuing murder investigation, Lucy is to discover the truth about her family's dark and often poignant history - a history which spans the glittering concert halls of 1920s Vienna to the bleak environs of wartime Auschwitz.And at the heart of it all lies the shocking truth about the mysterious child called Alraune.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
7 of 7 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This is the second book I have read by Sarah Rayne and I would just like to say that she has now become my new favourite author. I absolutely loved this book. It is totally engrossing, from the modern plotline with the hilariously prim Edmund to the wonderful tales of the past. I love the fact that Sarah Rayne writes these thrillers but there's a touch of humour in there as well. I didn't want to put it down at all. Fantastic.
The only problem with reading such a great book is that everything else falls flat afterwards, though I can't wait to read her others.
The only problem with reading such a great book is that everything else falls flat afterwards, though I can't wait to read her others.
5 of 6 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I enjoy Sarah Rayne's books very much and found this one thoroughly involving and moving at the same time. This is a long and fascinating story and it unfolds with real pace and confidence. It is always a big "ask" for authors of fiction to involve The Holocaust and to set scenes of a book inside Auschwitz takes some extra courage. But Sarah Rayne is to be congratulated for the accuracy of her research here and for the sensitivity with which she deals with it in the context of what is a work of fiction. A balancing act from which she and the book emerge triumphantly.
4 of 5 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I have just finished reading ROOTS OF EVIL and felt compeld to let others know just what an amazing and intreaging story it is.
I was utterly mezmerised and fasinated at this twisty and whinding plot that seemlessly goes back and forth in time from a present day horrificly gory murder, to the concert halls of 1920,s Vienna and then to the concentration camps of Auschwitz.
After reading Roots of evil i can visualize every person in the cast perfectly and although the tale is compleatly far fetched it is not far fetched enough to compleatly dismiss that some thing like this could really have happend. I can not write about ROOTS of Evil without a mention to the undoudted star in this whole bizzar story, and that is the Baroness Lucritia Von Wolff, the most amazing charaterization i have ever encounted.
This beautifuly crafted plot was part gothic horror, part murder mystery, part romance and part adventure. Madness, scandal, family skeletons, "ghost children", country houses, double identity, historcal reality and Drama, Drama, Drama is waiting for the readers inside these pages. Some bits of the story made me squirm so much with horror that i had to put it down for a second, other parts were exstreamly sad, and other parts gliteringly romantic. The story just builds and builds in to a dazzleing web until you can not rest until you know the whole truth. Every thing that you read on the pages was so well crafted that it came to life as though you were whatching a film , and what a film this story would make.
This is no ordinary murder story and it certainly does not have your typical thriller caracters, it is without any doubt the most complex and exciting novel i have read. Illusions feature stronly in this story line and at times the whole plot is so convicing and vivid you almost think the fianl twist could be that it isn,t actully a work of fiction and that every thing really did happen.
I have read Tower of Silence also by Sarah Rayne and i thouht that was excellent, Roots of Evil was her third book and i am now looing falward to reading her second novel that looks to be just as promising. i can not praise this book highly enough and i am sure that any one with a panchant fot the bizzare and slightly macarbe will be just as delighted with it. Breathtaking .......a truly remarkable illusion is created, the story is an inspiration to the drama queen in us all!
I was utterly mezmerised and fasinated at this twisty and whinding plot that seemlessly goes back and forth in time from a present day horrificly gory murder, to the concert halls of 1920,s Vienna and then to the concentration camps of Auschwitz.
After reading Roots of evil i can visualize every person in the cast perfectly and although the tale is compleatly far fetched it is not far fetched enough to compleatly dismiss that some thing like this could really have happend. I can not write about ROOTS of Evil without a mention to the undoudted star in this whole bizzar story, and that is the Baroness Lucritia Von Wolff, the most amazing charaterization i have ever encounted.
This beautifuly crafted plot was part gothic horror, part murder mystery, part romance and part adventure. Madness, scandal, family skeletons, "ghost children", country houses, double identity, historcal reality and Drama, Drama, Drama is waiting for the readers inside these pages. Some bits of the story made me squirm so much with horror that i had to put it down for a second, other parts were exstreamly sad, and other parts gliteringly romantic. The story just builds and builds in to a dazzleing web until you can not rest until you know the whole truth. Every thing that you read on the pages was so well crafted that it came to life as though you were whatching a film , and what a film this story would make.
This is no ordinary murder story and it certainly does not have your typical thriller caracters, it is without any doubt the most complex and exciting novel i have read. Illusions feature stronly in this story line and at times the whole plot is so convicing and vivid you almost think the fianl twist could be that it isn,t actully a work of fiction and that every thing really did happen.
I have read Tower of Silence also by Sarah Rayne and i thouht that was excellent, Roots of Evil was her third book and i am now looing falward to reading her second novel that looks to be just as promising. i can not praise this book highly enough and i am sure that any one with a panchant fot the bizzare and slightly macarbe will be just as delighted with it. Breathtaking .......a truly remarkable illusion is created, the story is an inspiration to the drama queen in us all!
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
gripping
About the third of her books I have read, most are excellent. This one had a gripping story, pulled you in and , as with her other novels, a byline, a story from the past, in this... Read more
Published 14 months ago by Ichabod
Sarah Rayne at her best
Sarah Rayne is my most recent and much find. What an amazing author. She writes with such clarity that gets you involved with each individual character and brings them vividly to... Read more
Published on 22 April 2009 by Ms. Victoria Harvey
patcham
I bought this book looking for someting different. I liked the book, it is well written and to start with I was fascinated by the conjoined twins and would have loved to know more... Read more
Published on 9 Aug 2008 by patricia
ADMITTEDLY A LOT OF `COINCIDENCES` AND `HARD TO BELIEVE` BITS..
and a part of me really did want to rip this book to bits and scream -
` THIS COULD NEVER HAPPEN IN A MILLION YEARS - DO YOU THINK WE`RE STUPID ??? !!! Read more
` THIS COULD NEVER HAPPEN IN A MILLION YEARS - DO YOU THINK WE`RE STUPID ??? !!! Read more
Published on 4 July 2008 by Leeds lass
Excellent!
Bought this book on impulse in a cheap bookstore and it was marked down to £2. Didn't have time to go to one of the big bookshops in town and I can't be without something to... Read more
Published on 26 Jun 2008 by Helen Witts
guilty pleasure
I feel guilty about enjoying this implausible pot-boiler, but I couldn't put it down after an initially slow start. Read more
Published on 26 Jan 2008 by Vm Postlethwaite
Engrossing and moving
Take it from someone who has lived long and read much, the "ayes" below have it. "Roots Of Evil" is an absolutely engrossing, thoroughly compelling story with characters that you... Read more
Published on 21 Dec 2006 by Jono
Roots of Evil fails to spark
Rather disappointing. I found this novel to be clumsily written with weak characterisation, weak dialogue and a cliche ridden, totally silly plot. Read more
Published on 20 Dec 2006 by Colin Judd
roots of evil
This book is unputdownable, it had me intrigued and hooked from page one. It is the first book i have read by sarah rayne and i will certainly be reading more.
Published on 1 Nov 2006 by Kim Queenan
Good concept, failed by sloppy continuity
The book started out well, and was a good read until the concentration camp scenario. Even this was okayish, although anyone who has read true biographical tales of these camps... Read more
Published on 24 Oct 2006 by Mrs. F. Smith
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