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Road Rage (Inspector Wexford Book 17) by…
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Road Rage (Inspector Wexford Book 17) (original 1997; edition 2011)

by Ruth Rendell (Author)

Series: Inspector Wexford (17)

MembersReviewsPopularityAverage ratingMentions
9731221,321 (3.57)19
Fiction. Mystery. Suspense. Thriller. HTML:Winner of multiple Edgar and Gold Dagger awards including the most prestigious Edgar of them all, the Grand Master, Ruth Rendell returns with a novel that pits Chief Inspector Wexford against a quite personal foe: the environmental terrorists who kidnap and threaten the lives of five hostagesâ??including Wexford's own wife.

As Road Rage begins, Chief Inspector Wexford is walking through Framhurst Great Wood, just outside his beloved town of Kingsmarkham, for what he tells himself will be the last time. He can no longer bear to look at the natural beauty that will soon be despoiled by the construction of a new highway. Wexford rather despairs of the project; his more sanguine wife, Dora, is active on a committee to save the threatened land. Others are more desperate to achieve their end, and their means include the taking of hostages, including Dora, and the threat to begin murdering them.

How Wexford and his dedicated team of police officers race against time to learn the identity of the kidnappers and discover the whereabouts of the hostages will rivet readers who delight in following the intricate details of an intensive police investigation. But, as in every Ruth Rendell novel, the mortal drama raises political and moral questions that are not resolved with the closing of the case, and that apply far beyond the limits of Kingsmarkh
… (more)
Member:JosephKing6602
Title:Road Rage (Inspector Wexford Book 17)
Authors:Ruth Rendell (Author)
Info:Dell (2011), Edition: Reissue, 402 pages
Collections:Your library
Rating:***
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Road Rage by Ruth Rendell (1997)

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Dora Kidnapped (with no Wexford Law, but a Dora Axiom)
Review of the Audible Studios audiobook edition (May 4, 2009) narrated by Nigel Anthony, of the original hardcover from Hutchinson (UK) (December 12, 1997)

“I don’t want to remember it in a way because it’s so—well, isn’t it awful in our society, the way people with morals and high ideals and courage get labeled as subversive and terrorists? The way that happens and other people who never did a thing in their lives for peace or the environment or against cruelty, they’re the ones that are respected?”


There is a major road works planned in Kingsmarkham with a highway by-pass construction. The residents are organizing to protest the disruption and destruction of the area wildlife and nature along with the possible loss to area business. Dora and Reg Wexford are sympathetic to the cause. But then some activists kidnap several local people and threaten to kill them if the highway construction is not stopped. Among the kidnap victims is Dora Wexford.

With few clues to go on, Wexford and his associates seek answers in order to save the victims, but then the first body turns up. Can the other victims be saved and will the culprits be brought to justice? There is a subplot of an earlier murder which eventually ties into the main plot. The Wexford daughters' subplot this time is at least a joyous one, as actress daughter Sheila gives birth to a grandchild for the Wexfords.

See cover at https://www.covertocover.uk.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/76889_6673958o.jpg
The front cover of the original Hutchinson (UK) 1997 hardcover. Image sourced from Cover to Cover.

This was Wexford #17 in the series of 24 novels. I had previously skipped over #15 to #18 as they were proving difficult to source. No convenient Kindle eBooks exist and the Toronto Public Library online search & hold system was struck down in October 2023 (which is still ongoing, but the latest update is that they hope to restore online holds in February 2024) by a ransomware attack (rumoured to be Russian based) which prevents you from locating and placing books on hold throughout the system (short of physically going around Toronto to each branch personally and searching the shelves by hand). I've decided to complete my Wexford/Rendell binge by sourcing the audiobooks which are not ideal as I am also trying to spot Wexford's personal Laws and Rules along the way. Listening on audio might cause me to miss them.

I can’t properly rate this on the Berengaria Ease of Solving Scale® as I already knew the culprits ahead of time, having watched the TV adaptation. I do think it might be a difficult solve otherwise though.

The narration by Nigel Anthony was excellent in all voices in this edition. As with Christopher Ravenscroft in the previous novel’s audiobook, Anthony was excellent at mimicking the deep-voice gravitas and the West Country burr of actor George Baker (who played Chief Inspector Wexford in the TV series).

Wexford's Laws
There were no Wexford's Laws mentioned in this book. But there was a new category of Dora’s Axioms.
“Most of the things you have worried about,” he said to Dora on the evening of September 1, “have never happened.”
“I know,” she said, “I taught you that axiom,” and as she spoke the phone rang.

There was one observation by Wexford which was the type of thing which might be considered a Wexford Law, but it was not labelled as such:
And as if following a stage direction on the same script, each reached out and they closed together in an embrace, they fell into each other’s arms.
Men would never do that, he thought. So much of awkwardness, of embarrassment, had been left out of women.


Trivia and Links
Road Rage was adapted for television as part of the Ruth Rendell / Inspector Wexford Mysteries TV series (1987-2000) as Season 11 Episodes 4 to 5 in 1998 with actor George Baker as Chief Inspector Wexford. There is a very faulty copy of Episode 5 (i.e. Part 2) available on YouTube here. Episode 4 is not posted, but it is recapped at the start. Otherwise, here in Canada it is available on the Britbox streaming service. ( )
  alanteder | Feb 1, 2024 |
1st Inspector Wexford mystery I have read. Discovered his stories on satellite: Trio/Ruth Rendel Mysteries. Very good mystery about environmental activists who kidnap a group of people to stop a highway bypass from being built.
  derailer | Jan 25, 2024 |
Absorbing tale about the proposed construction of a bypass in a town and the range of types of persons opposed to it. Several different groups, ranging from law-abiding, peaceful citizens to radical tree-spikers descend on the town. Some of them have no regular jobs and make their homes in treetops.

Chief Inspector Wexford is on the side of the opponents but believes the bypass is inevitable. He doesn't plan to take any action, either personal or professional, about it. However, when his own wife goes missing, along with four other citizens, he soon sees a connection between the abduction and the "tree people".

There are many suspects and none. It is like hunting for the needle in the haystack to run down the perps. The investigation involves a local taxi company and its shifty manager as well.

As usual, it is the personal stories, the characters, that make the story sing. I was absorbed all the way through. ( )
  slojudy | Sep 8, 2020 |
The body of a missing hitchhiker is found in woodland which is about to be cut down to make way for a new by-pass. Eco-terrorists take hostages in a bid to get the by-pass project cancelled. Is there any connection?

Enjoyable quick read. I read it soon after it came out in the 1990s but retained almost no memory of it. Will I still remember it 15 or 20 years from now? Probably not. ( )
  Robertgreaves | Jun 22, 2018 |
Although it starts off with the unsolved murder of a German backpacker the book soon leaves this crime behind (until very near the end) and its subsequent events concern a proposed road bypass for Kingsmarkham which draws the ire of protesters. Opposition takes a variety of forms from fairly passive meetings to those who build temporary homes amidst the tree tops of threatened woods to over-the-top activism by a group calling itself Sacred Globe. This group kidnaps a seemingly random selection of local citizens with the aim of ransoming them in return for the cessation of the bypass construction.

I enjoy the fact that this is one of that rare breed of crime novels that is not primarily concerned with a murder investigation. Even for a fan of the genre it is nice not to be dealing with death all the time. I’m also impressed with the way Rendell makes this book personal to her main characters. It’s a bit of a spoiler but I can’t really talk about the book without mentioning that Reg’s wife Dora is one of the kidnap victims. I’m normally bored when the protagonist and/or their loved ones are targeted by criminals but Rendell does a great job here of making Dora’s involvement entirely believable. In addition she uses the case to really explore the personal life and thoughts of Wexford (a huge contrast from the first book of the series in which it appears as if Wexford and his offsider do not exist outside the police station). Reg’s reaction to Dora’s disappearance and the events which follow it are a terrific character study of the emotions of someone who is not overtly emotional.

The environmental component of the book is also well done, teasing out different aspects of England’s changing physical landscape and different people’s reaction to that. Even Wexford is sympathetic to the protesters, though of course it would be improper for him to let on to anyone but Dora. As is often the case with Rendell’s books the issue of class is inextricably woven into the story too. On re-reading the book nearly 20 years after its original publication I was struck by the way both of these elements still feel reasonably contemporary, even though actual protest might take a different form in the modern world of social media activism. Or perhaps I am just nostalgic for a period when taking a stand required more than changing one’s twitter icon.

I’m glad to find that I still enjoy ROAD RAGE and can happily still qualify it as one of my favourites. I think it could easily be read as a standalone novel, in case any of you haven’t dipped your toes into the Wexford list and are wondering if you should bother.
  bsquaredinoz | Apr 24, 2016 |
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To the Chief Constable and Officers of the Suffolk Constabulary
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Wexford was walking home in Framhurst Great Wood for the last time.
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Fiction. Mystery. Suspense. Thriller. HTML:Winner of multiple Edgar and Gold Dagger awards including the most prestigious Edgar of them all, the Grand Master, Ruth Rendell returns with a novel that pits Chief Inspector Wexford against a quite personal foe: the environmental terrorists who kidnap and threaten the lives of five hostagesâ??including Wexford's own wife.

As Road Rage begins, Chief Inspector Wexford is walking through Framhurst Great Wood, just outside his beloved town of Kingsmarkham, for what he tells himself will be the last time. He can no longer bear to look at the natural beauty that will soon be despoiled by the construction of a new highway. Wexford rather despairs of the project; his more sanguine wife, Dora, is active on a committee to save the threatened land. Others are more desperate to achieve their end, and their means include the taking of hostages, including Dora, and the threat to begin murdering them.

How Wexford and his dedicated team of police officers race against time to learn the identity of the kidnappers and discover the whereabouts of the hostages will rivet readers who delight in following the intricate details of an intensive police investigation. But, as in every Ruth Rendell novel, the mortal drama raises political and moral questions that are not resolved with the closing of the case, and that apply far beyond the limits of Kingsmarkh

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