Jazz club nice and smooth!

So much in here. Not tension and fear, but characters and humanity. Great reading (thanks to the good 'ole BBC)

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I'd forgotten what a good author Rendell is! So much of modern crime writing had dulled my expectations.

Lots of different interesting characters, quirky, never boring. A refreshing change from claustrophobic stories told from the point of view of one or two main characters. This is told from the point of view of multiple characters.
Ruth Rendell weaves the mundane with the horrific beautifully. After all, not all murderers stomp about brooding enigmatically, they eat, sleep and catch colds too, otherwise they'd be a lot easier to spot.
This book reminded me how good Ruth Rendell is, so I'm going to listen to more of her books and stop being disappointed by newer formulaic writers who all seem to write from one persons point of view (their own) in the hope of creating the next Dexter or Girl on a train.

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Great characters

I always love Ruth Rendells stories with their unexpected story lines and amazing characters and this one is no exception. The wonderful narrator makes this story even more enjoyable.

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Superb characters; strange plot

Beautifully read and voiced by Nigel Anthony, these fascinating characters really came alive. I though that the storyline, though intriguing, was rather convoluted. Still worth the listen.

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Very Good Narration

Ruth Rendell is a consistently excellent writer who is not afraid of seeing the world through the eyes of the character who is the murderer. She is a wonderful storyteller, who provides just the right amount of detail and she creates individual, interesting people. She is surely among the very best of crime fiction writers.

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Concentrated on characters rather than the plot

A little long winded. The story mainly concentrated on the relationship between the charactors and the end was very quick as though the author had suddenly got bored and wanted to start something else

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8 people found this helpful

Good story, weak ending

Liked the story but didn't care for the ending 😉 the performance wasn't bad, but his 'normal' voice was a bit too English for me. Loved his other voices though 😊

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1 person found this helpful

Excellent

I loved this book. It was sinister, funny and tragic, all in a surprising way. The characters were convincingly portrayed , with fantastic accents and I found myself frequently standing in Inez's, shop participating in the intrigues. My greatest sympathy lay with the perpetrator. The ending was unpredictable, shocking and believable. Highly recommended

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1 person found this helpful

A psychological rather than detective story

In true Ruth Rendell style this book is much more about human relationships and the motivations that underlie a crime rather than how a crime is detected. I don't think this is one of her best books. The stories of the various characters are only loosely connected and gave the impression of the narrative going off in different directions. Most of the characters are flawed human-beings or outright wicked, even the boy with learning difficulties is given unpleasant aspects to his behaviour that made me dislike him. If there's an underlying theme in the book it is about selfishness in relationships where one person manipulates another either because the other is blinded by love or illicites guilt.

The narrator is very good.

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Ruth Rendell, The Rottweiler

I love these stories, not complicated easy to listen to and suspenseful. A really good listen.

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