An Unkindness of Ravens

I knew there had to be a link to A.R.R.I.A., the feminist group, but I never guessed that the instigator of the killing was as warped as she turned out to be. Nor as manipulative. I like Rendell’s subtle brand of terror. She builds a gradual unease until she strikes with some horrible thing from the closet. ( )

Another classic by Rendell. ( )

Meant to be one of her worst books but I actually found it a reasonable read with a good finish ( )

I found the end-of-chapter cliffhangers or foreshadows a little odd. But I enjoyed Inspector Wexford as a character as well as his sidekick Mike Burden, with all his personal problems. I was not too surprised by the eventual revelation of the murderer, although it was more dependent on a Miss Marple-ish psychological analysis than on any clues the author gave out as hints - those were few and far between. There is a mild surprise twist at the end which today we would dismiss as a clear case of blaming the victim, but if J.K. Rowling can say that Dumbledore is homosexual, surely Ruth Rendell must be given the same benefit of the doubt in knowing the circumstances of her characters. ( )

This is the first of Rendell's "Inspector Wexford" novels I've read so far, and this one wasn't quite as impressive as most of her other endeavors, in some ways. What I did enjoy was the secret society of man haters, or perhaps the uber-feminist group would be a better way of putting it. I found all that psychology fascinating and very compelling. I also had no idea who on earth was perpetrating these murders, so it's not like I had figured it out and was all annoyingly smug. Maybe it was the lack of enough appropriately psychotic characters, or the lack of insight into them throughout the book, as is the case with most of Rendell's other efforts. Still, Rendell on a bad day beats most other contemporary authors on a good one, so I'm not really complaining. Too much. ( )