Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Life Flesh, Ruth Rendell, 11 Jan 2005
I read this book years ago. Years ago. I lost my copy. As soon as randomhouse reprinted it, I snapped up this new version and immediately re-read it. It's another Rendell gem. I won't say too much about it, because it's brilliant in the ways Rendell is traditionally brilliant (and I've gone on about them enough in previous reviews), but it's without doubt another of her excellent pieces. Victor Jenner is a truly horrific Rendell character - possibly one of her most memorable, in that Live Flesh is an intense study of his character and no other. He's the beast at the centre of it all, and with the usual frightening insight it is that she crafts him. As one reads, you cannot help but shiver as this self-centred criminal lays the blame for his violence at every door but his own, as he finds everyone but himself wanting as concerns the path of his fate. Self-obsessed in the traditionally Rendellian fashion, he considers himself one of life's great victims ("as much a victim as Fleetwood, really", he muses at one point - David Fleetwood is the policeman Victor shoots in the spine, paralysing him for life, in the opening scene). Never has one man's mania for the self seemed so real, never has the mind of a deluded been made so starkly logical. Rendell might, indeed, have outdone herself in this respect. She almost has you believing it along with Victor. Live Flesh is another of Rendell's Gold Dagger winners, and again its deserved. It's a deeply unsettling, but beautifully wrougt, portrait of a scarred mind, written impeccably and, even when you come to the last page, there are still a few drops of bitter poison left in the vial. Superb.
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11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Chilling, In-Depth Psychological Thriller!, 27 Mar 2005
"Live Flesh" is not the usual crime mystery/thriller. It is, however, a thrilling psychological study of a rapist, Victor Jenner, who suffers from chorea, a disease of the nervous system marked by involuntary, jerky movements of the arms, legs, and/or face. Sometimes this illness is called "live flesh." Victor also has a severe phobia of tortoises, along with a multitude of other neuroses. Throughout the novel, he feels a need for psychiatric treatment, but never follows through. Typically, he blames the system for not providing him with therapy. He does understand that he has serious problems, though, and more often than not knows the difference between right and wrong. The inimitable Ruth Rendell thoroughly explores Jenner's motives, secrets, and complex emotions. She paints a chilling portrait of a man doomed by violence he cannot control. This is obviously much more a book driven by characters, and their development, than by action. The heart of "Live Flesh" lies in the complexity of Victor Jenner's personality and how he interacts with others, two characters in particular. These people are all steeped in a web of consequences stemming from one single event, a gunshot, which alters their lives forever. Victor Jenner was convicted of shooting a young police officer in the lower back and permanently crippling him. He had been holding a young woman hostage in her bedroom, after breaking and entering her home, while escaping from the scene of an attempted rape. David Fleetwood, the officer, had been trying to gain the woman's release. Victor was not tried for the attempted rape, or the numerous other acts of sexual violence he had successfully committed. The police probably had no idea he was responsible for the crimes. After ten years Jenner is released early, for good behavior. He has serious problems adjusting to life after incarceration. But then, he always had problems adjusting. His irrational thought processes cause him to blame everyone but himself for the events leading up to the shooting. Underneath, however, he feels tremendous guilt for giving in to his irresistible urges which cause so much harm to others. The author allows the reader to enter Jenner's mind, his very thoughts, throughout the novel. He constantly constructs false scenarios which absolve him of guilt. Primary among his rationalizations is that if David Fleetwood had not taunted him by saying that the gun was a fake, a replica, then he wouldn't have had to fire it in order to prove that it was real. Other rationalizations include: if the girl hadn't screamed, then he wouldn't have had to hold her hostage; and if his uncle hadn't owned a gun, which he had easy access to, he never would have had it in his possession. Victor is also firmly convinced that he is incapable of restraining himself because of the chorea, which acts up when he is stressed. He believes that his behavior is as blameless and uncontrollable as the involuntary twitching which torments him. The plot takes an unusual twist when Victor looks to meet the man he maimed, now wheelchair bound. His delusions allow him to think that, for the first time in his life, he has found true friendship. I must say that I really empathized with Victor, right up until the conclusion - which is a stunning one. His crimes are heinous, but so is the life he has to live with himself. I don't absolve him. I just feel terribly sorry for him - which is all Ms. Rendell's doing. Her characters are rich and so believable. And her narrative is spellbinding. This is a brilliant analysis and portrayal of a deranged man.
JANA
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11 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
AN INTRIGUING LOOK INTO THE SOCIO-PATHIC CRIMINAL MIND..., 13 Sep 2003
This is an absorbing story that could only have been crafted by Ruth Rendell, the doyenne of the quirky murder mystery and chiller killer thrillers. Here, she takes a look into the socio-pathic mind of the amoral Victor Jenner, released back into the world after serving ten years in prison for shooting and paralyzing a young police sergeant. He tracks down the now wheelchair bound officer, meeting both him and his devoted, beautiful girlfriend. You see, in Victor's skewed world view, it was the officer's fault that he got shot, costing Victor ten of the best years of his life. Victor just wants to set the record straight. Who would have thought that they could all be friends? Therein lies the tale.
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