The Girl Next Door

August 18, 2014
In this assured novel of psychological suspense from Diamond Dagger Award–winner Rendell (The St. Zita Society), a gruesome discovery jolts a group of friends and acquaintances who grew up outside London during WWII. Two people’s hands—severed and interred inside a cookie tin—are unearthed at a former construction site where they once hid and schemed. At the center of the now aged clique is the “girl next door,” Daphne Jones, ever envied and admired. John “Woody” Winwood, a man whose wife went missing with her lover during the turmoil of the blitzkrieg, is a malevolent presence, past and present, in the story. In contemporary Britain, Winwood’s son, Michael, must face his nonagenerian father, who abandoned him decades before and then married into money, inheriting a fortune from his subsequent wives. Rendell keeps the plot and the home fires burning, and the most memorable characters, Daphne and Woody, cast sufficient light to brighten their somewhat dull companions. Agent: Peter Matson, Sterling Lord Literistic.

Rendell's sociopath proves to be neither the centerpiece of this mystery nor of Ric Jerrom's narration. Nonetheless, Jerrom's portrayal of Rendell's narcissistic killer is indeed chilling, but the greater challenge--and his best portrait--is that of prim Rosemary, who stumbles from complacency into her own murderous state as the seemingly rock-solid footing of her life pitches unexpectedly. Ostensibly, the mystery is that of sixty-year-old double murder. But the greater questions are posed by senior citizens who wonder: "How did I come to this point in my life, and is this how it continues until the (no longer distant) end?" Jerrom's thoughtful narration gets us convincingly inside their minds. K.W. © AudioFile 2014, Portland, Maine