Guy (actually, though, his name) is an absolute cipher of a man, absolutely lacking in any moral character and seemingly incapable of bringing anything of worth to society. He's been in love with Leonora for far too long.

So, this is a book about obsessive love and stalking. Though (typical for Rendell) there isn't much in the way of "on-page" violence, it's still a deeply troubling read. You spend the majority of the ( )

This book seemed so linear! Rendell has a real knack for building characters, small details compounding into big ones like snowflakes gathering together to make a massive snowball. Guy, alcoholic, obsessed with his first love, is so graspable. Yet, we only see the world through his eyes and flickers show us that there is so much more. Who are his friends and enemies? Will he be able to control his temper? Until de very end the reader is in suspense wondering when and how the situation will be resolved.
It's a master psychological thriller with a wonderful twist at the end. This is Rendell at her finest. ( )

Los personajes de Rendell son tan psicopátas como puede serse y esta novela no es la excepción.

El desarrollo de la trama, sin embargo, me decepcionĂł un poco. ( )

Surprisingly unsubtle. After the first few chapters of all-out Guy monologues, I started looking for some from another POV. There weren’t any. It’s all obsession, all warped viewpoint, all delusion, all the time. And it is a pretty hard go in spots. How many times can you absorb how Guy thinks a proper woman should dress, behave or have interest in? How many times do we have to see him dismiss Leonora as a person, reducing her to an object that can be manipulated and controlled? How many times do we have to see him pick another person to blame for why Leonora won’t throw herself into his arms for the fade out? It’s really trying and I admit to skimming in the middle of the book – especially when it was all ruminations on clothing and booze in between desperate phone calls trying to find Leonora. If it was dialed down or diluted with other perspectives, I think it might have been more effective, but it was a fire hose effect and way over the top. In the end I had zero sympathy for the endlessly idiotic Leonora and I didn’t buy her sly manipulation that is revealed in the end. There’s absolutely nothing to telegraph that kind of savvy scheming on her part. That she might have been playing a game out of fear is plausible, but it was too oblique. If there had been some chapters from her perspective, there would have been a cat-and-mouse element that would have been fun, but instead she’s a cipher to be pitied although I didn’t; she was too dumb and got what she deserved. Plus there was the sword fight so how the hell can I take the drama seriously with something like that? Oy. ( )

No one writes about obsession and addiction better than Ruth Rendell. ( )