A Judgement in Stone (Ruth Rendell)

I have read everything Rendell has written and A Judgement In Stone is her best novel in my view. The book is flawlessly constructed. The characters are mesmerizing and their voices, mannerisms, habits and dialogue are amazingly unique. I literally would stop while reading to contemplate how the author was able to jump so completely into a character that was entirely different from the one in the previous chapter. Many reputable authors are capable of bringing their characters to life but, but when you read Rendell you realize she surpasses them completely. She is like the Meryl Streep or Philip Seymour Hoffman of literature. She's Sybil in a good way. She can get into anyone. She can be anyone. Her talent is absolutely staggering.

Ruth Rendall never disappoints. This police procedural, with wonderful, careful, exacting acing and the never-off key Adam Daiglish, is a page-turner, and predictably satisfying.

"Eunice Parchman killed the Coverdale family because she could not read or write." By now, I've read thousands of mystery/suspense/thriller novels, a love that began in my teen years. I'm fifty now; that'll give you an idea of how many that really is. Never have I read a novel whose very first sentence identifies the killer, the victim(s) and the motive. If this isn't uniquely Rendell, someone tell me so. When the author has given all these, what else is left to say? As it turns out, plenty, and said masterfully. With admirable economy, Ms. Rendell delivers cunning, malevolence, madness, and evil seamlessly, and you would swear, effortlessly. You, the reader, is a voyeur, horrified at what you're witnessing, but cannot avert your glance. It's a multi-car pileup on the highway. You know there are mangled vehicles and bodies and you mustn't look. But you do, terrified and stricken by the tragedy you see. Then you drive on, shaken, thinking "if not for the grace of someone... Read more

British author Ruth Rendell has created a truly unique crime novel. She starts at the end where the Coverdale family has been massacred on Valentine's Day by their housekeeper Eunice. In spare and unsentimental prose, she proceeds to weave a gripping story--tracing the events leading up to the crime. Rendell is particularly interested in the "why" of a crime and takes the readers ( as much as any "outside" observer can) into the minds of the eerily cold Eunice and her partner-in-crime Joan, the maniacal religious fanatic. Rendell has added depth to the narrative by creating interesting three dimensional and sympathetic victims. It turns out that Eunice is illiterate and desperately wants to hide this from the outside world. Rendell hints at many possible reasons for the crime--embarassment, isolation, fear, and environmental factors. Rendell also suggests that there is an added element of mystery...after all, how can we ever really get into the heart and mind of a person as detache... Read more

The greatest mystery writer of all time, Ruth Rendell does it again. The book is full of insights into human nature and questions about evil in the world. A great read.