The Monster in the Box

It's always a pleasure to find an Inspector Wexford book I haven't yet read - they have a certain quality you can rely on. This, like some of Rendell's other books, wasn't so much a whodunnit as an already-knowing-whodunnit and just needing to prove it, but this is clear from the start and not a problem. Interwoven with the main storyline was the mystery of a local Muslim girl who has been taken out of school and spirited away to stay with relatives. What could we be looking at here: forced marriage? Honour killing? Ruth Rendell calmly works through all the knee-jerk reactions but you know that an author of her stature will not resort to stereotypes. Notably, one of the most intriguing characters was Mrs Qasi, the Muslim with a bottle show more of sherry on the sideboard for guests. ("I celebrate Christmas like any other British citizen whilst not believing in the faith behind it - again like most British citizens" - brilliant, brilliant).

It was enjoyable, too, to hear a little bit about Wexford's past, his early career and how he met his wife. A pleasant feeling of nostalgia at the end of this long running series. show less

Reg Wexford spots in the street the man he believes committed a murder and got away with it; the first murder he investigated as a junior officer some 40 years earlier. Not unnaturally seeing Eric Targo like this puts Wexford in a reflective mood and he reveals to his fellow officer Mike Burden the events that occurred during and after that first investigation. He also spends a fair amount of time in contemplation of his early personal life, including how he met his wife and other events that took place prior to the first novel in the series. When Targo is possibly involved in a new crime things become more critical. At the same time Mike’s wife Jenny, a teacher, and DS Hanna Goldsmith embroil Wexford in a case in which they believe a show more teenage girl in an Asian family is being prevented from attending school.

The part of the book that deals with Wexford’s obsession with Targo (and Targo’s with Wexford) is compellingly told. I got a really strong sense of why the man bothered Wexford so much and how galling it must be for a policeman to know someone is guilty of murder but not be able to prove that guilt. That such a thing would become an obsession seems perfectly natural in the context of both this story and Wexford’s longer one that has played out over the series. I didn’t think that Targo’s penchant for playing games with Wexford nor his hurriedly described motivations for his crimes rang as true though.

When we move to the ‘case’ of Tamima Kahn and her family I found the book less successful all together. Both Jenny Burden and Hanna Goldsmith are well-intentioned but utterly patronising in their attitudes to the Kahns (and any other Asians encountered) and I’m not convinced that Rendell acknowledging this within the story (by having one of the extended Kahn family tell the two women they are being rude) makes up for it. And even if it does, for me this thread remains far less interesting because of the tone and made the overall book drag a little in places.

The Monster in the Box is apparently to be Wexford’s last outing and in some senses this is fitting in that most people probably finish their careers with a slow whimper rather than a big bang. I can see how fans might think this an unfitting way for him to finish up his career because neither case requires much in the way of Wexford’s investigative skills to resolve and there is a generally unsatisfactory feel about the resolution to both threads. However as a non-fan I thought it one of the best, most believable portrayals of him that I’ve read, not only with respect to his obsession but also his desire to reflect on his own life and the social changes he’s seen in his time as a man and an officer. For that alone the book is worth reading.

What about the audio book?

Nigel Anthony has a quiet voice with a hint of an accent which seems to suit the gentle pace of this story. He doesn’t do a completely different voice for each person but seems to pull off the changes in character with very slight changes in tone or volume. This is my favourite kind of narration and I would definitely look for more audiobooks narrated by Nigel Anthony. show less

The Monster in the Box (2009) is the twenty-second book in Ruth Rendell’s twenty-four-book Inspector Wexford series. The Wexford books were published over an almost-fifty-year period (1964-2013), so there is a noticeable shift in style and character development in the Wexford books as they progress over the years. The earlier books have a bit of an old-fashioned feel to them today, and Wexford and his cohorts do not always feel particularly real. This is particularly noticeable to me, I suppose, because I have just read the fourth Wexford novel, The Best Man to Die (1969), and The Monster in the Box almost back-to-back.

As it turns out, The Monster in the Box is my favorite of the fifteen Wexford novels I have read so far. Not only show more does the plot involve two intriguing mysteries that need solving, one of the mysteries (because it involves a man Wexford has believed to be a murderer for decades) allows Rendell to show what kind of young policeman, and man, Wexford had been at the very beginning of his career. Much of the book involves Wexford contrasting, mainly to himself, all the cultural changes that he’s observed during his long career without, I think, realizing just how much he himself has changed over the years. And that limited self-awareness on Wexford’s part will serve as the perfect set-up for the little surprise that Rendell throws into the end of this one.

It was while investigating his very first murder case that Wexford first encountered the muscular little man wearing a scarf and walking his dog along the street outside the victim’s home. The man seemed intent on sending Wexford a message by staring so unflinchingly directly into Wexford’s eyes before he continued his walk past the home. When Wexford began running into the man so often, sometimes near the scenes of other murders, he began to feel that this Eric Targo was toying with him, almost daring him to prove Targo’s guilt if he could. And then the man disappeared.

Now, after all these years, Wexford spots Targo on the streets again, and even though he has never mentioned his suspicions to anyone before, he decides now to share his fears with his old partner, Mike Burden - who listens patiently, but just isn’t buying Wexford’s theory much at all. About the same time, Burden’s wife starts to worry that a local Pakistani family may be in the process of arranging the forced marriage of — if not even the honor killing — of Tamima, their teenaged daughter who has been seeing a boy they do not approve of. In what begins as simply a favor to his partner’s wife, Wexford assigns someone to look into what is happening in the Rahman family, but when it turns out that no one in Tamima’s extended family can account for the girl’s current whereabouts, the police start wondering if they are searching for a corpse instead of a girl who may have been forced into an unwanted marriage.

Bottom Line: The Monster in the Box ticks all the right boxes. Longtime fans of the Wexford novels are certain to enjoy such an extended look at Wexford’s early years as he reminisces about his first girlfriends and what he learned from those relationships. The two mysteries are interesting, and they come complete with all the twists and turns that mystery readers enjoy so much. Then, when the two plots begin more and more to intertwine (as they almost always do in mysteries), the climax that follows is a completely satisfying one — especially with that little surprise Rendell tosses her readers at the very end. Too, watching the Kingsmarkham police tiptoe around the Rahmans, a Muslim family, in an attempt not to offend them even while suspecting them of a possible murder, is a reminder of how difficult it is to walk the fine line of political correctness these days — and this novel was written a dozen years ago. In the end, the Rahman family was more offended by all the tiptoeing around than anything else. show less

Not QUITE the last of Inspector Wexford (huzzah!) even though the end is drawing inexorably closer (pshaw, pshaw). This next-to-latest in the series has its roots in the early days of Wexford's career, when he became convinced that Eric Targo was a murderer. For years, his life and Targo's have intersected, in large part -- Wexford believes -- because Targo is taunting him. Eventually, the novel moves from the past to the present; Targo reappears, and Wexford is able, at long last, to build a real case against him.

Along the way, we are given a delightful excursion into Wexford's personal past, revealing how he met and married Dora. And we are treated to the usual odd mix of characters, presented with Rendell's usual subtlety. We also show more have the usual socially-relevant subplot, again involving Asians and the hyper-politically-correct DC Goldsmith. I found the ending a little dissapointing (after all that buildup, I hoped for more of a ahocker) but all in all this is another great read. show less

Everything Ruth Rendell writes is magical, and her latest, The Monster in the Box, is no exception. We're back with Chief Detective Inspector Wexford again, but this time he's reminded of the deep past, back when he was a young police officer and a young woman was strangled in her own home. Wexford became convinced then, and remains convinced now, that a particular man was responsible, but he had no proof. Over the years, he lays several other murders at this man's door, but again can never prove anything. When the man shows up in Kingsmarkham again, after many years away, Wexford can only watch and wait, and hope that he can catch the man out before there's another death....Marvelous writing as always with Rendell, and some interesting show more musings on "culture clashes" in a multicultural society - recommended! show less

I have not read the Wexford mysteries in order, but just read them as I found them. This one seems different in some ways from the others I have read, and even seems like a winding down of the series. Which, in a way, it is. Only two more were written after this.

Wexford decides to tell his partner, Mike Burden, about his obsession with a man he has thought about for years. The man, Eric Targo, first grabbed Wexford's attention at the time of the murder of a young wife. She was strangled and her husband was suspected of the crime. Nevertheless, because of the way Targo had behaved around Wexler, he came to think Targo had actually killed her.

Targo appeared to be stalking Wexler. He showed up at odd times, not consistent with where he show more himself lived, with a dog on a leash. He would look into the window where Wexford was sitting and give him a stare that as much as said, "I did it and I will get away with it". Wexford could find no evidence connecting the man to the crime but he remained convinced that he was responsible.

Targo continued to haunt him, both in his mind and physically, except when he moved from the area. Over the years Wexford saw him at the times of different murders, always strangulations. It even seemed that Targo wanted Wexford to think he had committed some murders that he couldn't have.

This obsession with the "monster" that was Targo stayed with Wexler through his career, yet he told nobody. He knew there was no point without evidence. Yet finally he decides to tell Burden. Little by little, through the book, he reveals his thoughts, knowing Burden will likely not believe his conclusions. But that's okay.

While Wexler is trying to find ways to bring Targo to justice, Burden's wife raises a concern about one of her pupils, Tamima. The sixteen-year-old Muslim had earned high scores in school and was a prime candidate for higher schooling at a good university. But she now is saying she wants to stop. No school, just get a job. Jenny, Burden's wife, thinks there may be something going on at home that is keeping Tamima from going further with her education. Are her parents going to force her into a marriage? Are they keeping her from seeing her boyfriend?

Wexler assigns Hannah Goldsmith to the case, given her commitment to fair treatment for all, an anti-racist position that sometimes caused her to pull her hair out in trying to negotiate her beliefs about feminism with various culture mores. Hannah pursues the case with gusto while Wexler and Burden try to stay out of it.

There is more to the novel than the pursuit of a possible serial killer and the behavior of a sixteen-year-old. We learn much more about Wexler's early dating life and his meeting of his present wife. In fact, a great deal of the book fills in details of Wexler's earlier life and gives us more of him as a person.

As in other Rendell novels, this one excels in its details, both about events and about persons. Rendell gives us whole people and backstories, seems to revel in the side story at times. I found it a great pleasure to read. show less

When you read this book you realize that Ms. Rendell is coming to the end of her wonderful Inspector Wexford series. I for one am sad to see this, but look forward to reading her next book "The Vault" which is recently out. In this book the enigmatic Wexford is being haunted by a ghost from his past. A ghost that he first met when he was just a young copper and newly on the force. A ghost who Wexford is convinced is a serial killer, but one that was never brought to justice. And then lo and behold the ghost comes back into Wexford's life after many years absence and Wexford and Burden are dealing with a present-day murder. Again Wexford has no evidence or proof other than his own assurance that this man is a serial killer and is still show more in the business, so to speak. I enjoyed the book. The first part of the book was especially strong, but the ending is a bit disappointing even though we know that things don't always work out the way they should in real life. I love Wexford and have enjoyed reading him over the past many years. He's a copper's copper and one who has good instincts and an intelligence that have all helped him be very successful in his long and illustrious career. Fortunately for me, I have still got quite a few non-series books written by the remarkable Ms. Rendell, and I'm going to enjoy getting through this list. She is a remarkable writer. show less