Barbara Vine

Advantages: Excellent read
Disadvantages: Unputdownable

...A Fatal Inversion by Barbara Vine (Ruth Rendell writing under another name) is the best book I have ever read. It is one of those psychological thrillers where you know what has happened from the beginning but it is the manner of how this has happened that drives the story. The story is set during the long, hot summer of 1976 and involves a group of young hippy types living a commune-type existence in a secluded country house and the trail of destruction they manage to wreak in their wake. The book was written in the late eighties and is split between the present and flashbacks to 1976. It is a first-rate read and is impossible to put down until the final page. Highly recommmended.... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average somewhat helpful

Advantages: Good use of suspense
Disadvantages: Quite long and boring in parts

...Introduction I've read a couple of Barbara Vine novels before that I have thoroughly enjoyed, so had high expectations of this. Barabara Vine is a pen name for Ruth Rendell, but she may as well be a completely different author. The Barbara Vine books are based far more around characters rather than situations and she allows the reader to get deeply into the characters' personalities. Yet, they are far more believable that some of Ruth Rendell's non-Wexford books. The story Clodagh, who recently lost her best friend and lover when he was electrocuted while climbing a pylon (the grasshopper of the title) after encouragement from Clodagh, is packed off to London by unsympathetic parents. Planning to study for a degree, she is allowed to stay rent-free in the basement flat of one of her mother's relatives. Unfortunately, she... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful

Advantages: Interesting, well written, excellent plot
Disadvantages: Confusing number/names of characters

...Having never read Barbara Vine aka Ruth Rendall, I was a little unsure if I would enjoy this book. It’s a thriller that keeps you guessing at every chapter. I would recommend it to people who enjoyed reading an intelligent well-written story. The book starts with the diary entries of a woman called Asta who is an immigrant from Denmark in 1905. The story then switches to the modern day where we find Asta's granddaughter (Ann) has just attended the funeral of her Aunt Swanny (one of Asta’s daughters). The diaries of Asta are best sellers and have created a lot of public interest and as yet, there are still a few that are unpublished. Swanny had previously looked after them however she has passed them on to her Ann in her will. It is Ann’s task to complete and finalise the publishing of the last remaining diaries however it starts... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful