Going Wrong (original 1990; edition 1991)

Guy Curran has loved Leonora Chisholm for as long as he’s known her. And once she loved him too. But as they’ve gotten older, Leonora becomes increasingly distant and more reluctant to spend any meaningful time with Guy.

To Guy, this just proves that her family and friends have far too much influence over her. Guy is now a legitimate (and wealthy) businessman but fears that his past as a successful drug dealer has come back to haunt him; and he wonders which of Leonora’s friends or family members has turned her against him – and therefore which one he should direct the hitman towards.

Going Wrong is Guy’s story, in all it’s obsessive, psychotic and delusional detail. I found this book a bit of a slog as we only get Guy’s twisted point of view. We can connect the dots to determine Leonora’s perspective, but I wanted it in more detail. And I wanted something to break up Guy’s self-deceptive, egotistical semi-rant that asserts that everyone is out to get him. This wears thin very quickly, but continues for close to 200 pages.

The final 50 pages were what (to some extent) saved Going Wrong for me. Matters finally come to a head, and some welcome depth is added to the characterisations of both Leonora and Guy. There are strong hints that Leonora is not quite the long-suffering darling she is previously portrayed as, and Guy meanwhile, finally has some moments of both sanity and clarity enabling him to reach some conclusions regarding his own life. But will his epiphany come too late? ( )

Going Wrong is a very good suspense novel by Ruth Rendell. It's the story of Guy Curran who is in love with Leonora Chisolm. Guy just happens to be psychotic and believes that various members of Leonora's family are conspiring against him. He slowly loses his grip on reality while consuming large quantities of alcohol while seeking a hitman to solve his problems. ( )