Dark Corners

Starred review from October 26, 2015
MWA Grand Master Rendell (1930â2015) often explored the lives of the luckless who are dogged by disastrous coincidence. In this, her final book, writer Carl Martin is one such hapless fellow. Carl inherits a choice townhouse in London's chic Maida Vale neighborhood. He's cash-poor while pounding out his second novel, so he rents the upper floor to a predatory tenant, Dermot McKinnon. A pious icicle, Dermot believes that Carl's stock of homeopathic medicines may have figured in the death of a friend of Carl's, 24-year-old TV actress Stacey Warren. Soon, Carl is fending off two blackmailers. As always in Rendell's work, the thoughtless and obtuse sow chaos for the careful and sensitive, and London shines as a strong presence. This is a beguiling, powerful novel, made poignant by the staggering realization that this is the last of a feast of characters and narratives. Everything that makes Rendell's work so memorableâgothic but believable people and plots, simple yet vivid prose, peerlessly rendered settings, and fear and despair as the twin "parents" of violenceâis in evidence here. Readers may sigh along with one of the characters, when, in the last sentence, he remarks, "And now, now it's all over." Agent: Peter Matson, Sterling Lord Literistic.

Once again, Ruth Rendell lures us into the dark corners of London and the dark corners of the mind. Narrator Ric Jerrom disappears into the seemingly ordinary characters featured in several expertly tangled story threads, allowing listeners to peer into their obsessions, compulsions, and psychopathy. Carl owns a house in the posh part of town. He rents the upstairs flat to Dermot, an intrusive, disturbing man. Carl sells some of his late father's weight-loss pills to his overweight friend, Stacey. Stacey dies. Dermot knows Carl's secret and blackmails him. Jerrom adds color to Nicola, Carl's girlfriend; Stacey's friend, Lizzie; Lizzie's bus-riding dad, and two bungling kidnappers. As dark events intersect and spiral out of control, Jerrom keeps things splendidly sinister. S.J.H. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award © AudioFile 2015, Portland, Maine