End in Tears

John Lee's great achievement in reading Ruth Rendell's twentieth novel about Chief Inspector Wexford is his ability to draw the reader into the story. Lee provides a fully voiced performance of the book, differentiating the characters effectively; furthermore, his use of silence, of pace, of even his ever precise diction manages always to make the story intriguing. Lee's accomplishment is all the more worthwhile since the novel, while as insightful about human nature as Rendell's other Wexford books, is a bit straightforward and unsurprising in its plotting. The mystery centers around the relationship between the murders of two teenaged girls, one a recent mother and the other recently pregnant. Lee sounds truly interested in the story, and in some indefinable way that compels the listener's attention, too. G.H. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award (c) AudioFile 2006, Portland, Maine

May 29, 2006
Bestseller Rendell's riveting new novel in her Chief Inspector Wexford series (The Babes in the Wood
, etc.) links two disparate worlds—a child-surrogacy ring and the construction trade. A teenage mother, Amber Marshalson, is found dead in the grass outside her home in Kingsmarkham, her skull crushed by a piece of brick. A short time later, Amber's pregnant friend, Megan Bartlow, turns up murdered in a seedy, about-to-be-rehabbed Victorian row house. Suspicions center on a tall man wearing a hooded fleece jacket. Against this sinister backdrop stands Wexford, who's in lion-in-winter mode. He's irked and perplexed by modern life, by the casual way young girls conceive babies, by the sprawl devouring the once-lush Sussex countryside, even by his own fractious family. But he never loses the anger and dedication that propel him to solve crimes and understand evil. While Rendell fans may find this not quite up to the level of her most recent non-Wexford, Thirteen Steps Down
(2005), they should be well satisfied.

April 1, 2007
Rendell continues her Chief Inspector Wexford mystery series with her latest work. Spoiled teenage mother Amber Marshalson is found dead in the woods after a night out, and Wexford discovers there had been an attempt on Amber's life months earlier. How Amber was killed is evident, but the complicated why and by whom are what Wexford and his partners seek to uncover. Subplots abound and touch upon a variety of topics, including surrogacy, teenage pregnancy, and other assorted and dramatic family and societal issues. The listener needs solid concentration to keep abreast of everything that happens here, particularly as reader John Lee's characterizations tend to be similar. However, Rendell provides numerous interesting and nuanced characters throughout.End in Tears is well done and consistently compelling as the listener learns more about the chief inspector. Recommended for mystery/suspense/thriller collections.Nicole A. Cooke, Montclair State Univ. Lib., NJ

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