Audiobook ( )

Jeg havde glædet mig til at læse noget Rendell/Vine, og nu hvor denne krimi er done, er jeg faktisk skuffet. Der er for meget jask og sjusk og en håndfuld for mange personer, der bliver introduceret.
Hvad er så godt (jeg giver jo trods alt tre stjerner)? Well. De bærende fire-fem karakterer er interessante nok, og en del af selve det kriminelle element er også fjong. ( )

Outcomes for some characters, unexpected. ( )

Een psychologische thriller met humor. Veel verwikkelingen en vreemde personages. Ik vraag me af of ik het eerder heb gelezen. Uit de boekenkast van ma. ( )

(2) Found this in a used book store and I usually love Rendell's mysteries - in particular her stand-alones tend to be macarbe and better written than the Inspector Wexford series. But this one was a bit of a dud. A serial killer is garroting girls in London and stealing a personal item from them before he dumps their body. The reader knows who the perpetrator is, even if the police don't - he lives in a boarding house upstairs from an antique shop -- and the reader gets to know the odd little circle of people that live in the boarding house and frequent the shop.

It is not really a whodunnit but more of a 'why do I do it?' - kind of a psychological mystery. But frankly the plot isn't really all that compelling and all the (practically) unrelated side stories were tedious. It wasn't so much that the ending was a let down but more that there was never really an up to come down from. The dramatic tension was practically non-existent.

Of course, Rendell's writing is fairly engaging and she is a lovely character sketch artist. The novel is easy to read and entertaining, so I don't begrudge the time. But it seemed like Rendell's heart just wasn't in this one.

Overall, a bit of a yawn - nowhere near as dark as say 'A Judgement in Stone' or as twisty and perplexing as 'A Dark Adapted Eye,' or the 'House of Stairs.' So not a good Rendell to start with - just OK. ( )