Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Tragic Trades, 14 Aug 2006
Most mystery stories focus on either the detectives or the plot. End in Tears is a nice exception in that the crime context and the incidental characters are also a focus. The result is a very satisfying story that will leave you thinking deeply about the vulnerability of those who want to become mothers.
Here are the three major story lines:
1. Amber Marshalson, an unwed teenage mother, is murdered by being bashed in the head as she walks home after a night out with friends. The investigation soon reveals that Amber had been a target of an earlier attempt that had led to a similar car being smashed by a weight dropped from above. Who killed Amber is Chief Inspector Wexford's first focus. The investigation turns up that Amber was involved in some seemingly illicit activity. What had she been up to? Detective Inspector Burden is convinced that it's drugs, but Wexford is skeptical. The investigation is further complicated when her seeming partner is also murdered.
2. Chief Inspector Wexford's daughter, Sylvia becomes pregnant to provide a baby for her ex-husband's girl friend, Naomi, who cannot conceive. Family relations become quite strained over this decision.
3. Detective Sergeant Hannah Goldsmith finds herself attracted to Detective Constable Baljinder Bhattacharya . . . and the feeling seems to be mutual. But there are complications.
One of the best parts of the book is the way that Ms. Rendell points out the pressures on Wexford and shows how he uses small things . . . like his decisions to eat or not eat healthy foods . . . to handle the stress.
Anyone who loves the Wexford series will be delighted by this book. If you haven't read any books in the series, you'll find yourself engrossed . . . and wanting to read more. Feel free to go back and enjoy 19 earlier novels!
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13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Rendell in top form, 21 Aug 2006
After the slight disappointment of her last books, a return to top form in this latest Wexford. Like its predecessors, it selects a social issue - in this case, surrogacy - which forms the background to the novel, and sets it during one of the hot summers that we have had recently. Rendell inhabits this world with a variety of dysfunctional characters who, though representing extremes, also reflect some of the distinctive features of contemporary British society, particularly the teenage mums intent on having a good time who form the victims of this story. Meanwhile, as she has done in previous Wexford stories, she creates a situation in Wexford's own family that echoes the main theme, surrogacy. In both instances, the outcomes surprise the reader - a mark of Rendell's skill as a story-teller.
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11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Rendell scores again in another thriller!, 7 May 2006
Ruth Rendell's latest Inspector Wexford mystery in another "winner" in this author's long line of thrillers in one of the best of the British police procedural series.
"End in Tears" finds the intrepid chief inspector facing a typical Rendell conundrum: who done it? Early on, a mysterious fleece hooded figure drops a block of cement off an overpass onto an on-coming vehicle, causing a wreck and a death of one of the passengers. Ooops! It's the wrong car and wrong victim. Is this a member of the "gang that couldn't shoot straight"? Regardless, this non-random act of violence opens up another Rendell adventure and as the story progresses, so do the complications and in the author's inimitable style (and own time) the reader is taken for a ride at a fast pace.
What brings this first act into focus is that a short while later 18-year-old Amber Marshalson is found murdered a short distance from her home, killed in the wee hours of the morning (and where a man in a fleece hood is seen hanging around). Gruesome as it is, it's treated as an unrelated incident (to the first) until, by accident, it is discovered that Amber was in an identical auto following closely behind the one that had been hit by the concrete! One plus one equal two and Wexford, Inspector Mike Burden, and their staff began putting the pieces together, but not before another body is discovered and, as the story would have it, the victim is an acquaintance of Amber. Both bodies were found with 1000 pounds each on their persons. What nefarious deeds were these two up to, that would precipitate their murders?
Wexford, old school that he is, prevails and we find not drugs, theft, robberies, and the usual sordid crimes (although they are found in the book), but one of a highly lucrative and dangerous subject, involving human surrogacy, trips to Africa, and a deadly web of deceit and murder.
During this weeks-long detective process, Rendell involves us with Wexford's personal woes, always involving one or more of his family, as well as the personal and professional relationships among his staff on the Kingsmarkham police force.
Rendell, as exciting and fast-paced as her book is, however, disappoints in that she borrows heavily from Christie and relies on the "parlor room revelation" in the closing pages not only to permit Wexford to tell his captive audience how he has solved the crime (it's bad enough with Miss Marple and Hercule!), but so cleanly, clearly, and concisely pours out all the solutions. This is so unlike Rendell and dampens an otherwise highly rated thriller. Maybe it's just a phase. Still, "End in Tears" is well worth the read.
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