Ruth Rendell
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Subjects -> Mystery & Thrillers -> Authors, A-Z -> ( R ) -> Rendell, Ruth
Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 10
Average rating: 4.5 of 5
Sharp, focused mystery 5 out of 5 stars.
4 of 4 people found this review helpful.
Shake Hands For Ever - a novel which takes its title from a work by Michael Drayton - is very much a Wexford novel. There's not a lot of Burden here at all, instead Rendell turns her full attention to the character of Wexford, and his frustration when he comes upon a case which he feels he knows the answer to, but cannot prove. Until, one year after it occurs, new information starts turning up...Robert Hathall is bringing his overbearing, overcritical mother home to meet his second wife Angela, a woman whom Mrs Hathall clearly detests (mainly for the fact that she thinks she split up her son's first marriage). Angela was supposed to meet her husband and mother-in-law at the train station, but didn't turn up. Eventually, the two make their way home, and discover her dead body, strangled on the bed. Having cleaned the house immaculately for the impending visit, there is almost nothing to go on.
This is not really a whodunnit, as pretty early on Wexford decides he knows who did it. All he has to do is prove it, and the why, and the how. But it proves an impossible task, and when he is warned off the case by his superior, for "harassing" his chief suspect, Wexford undertakes some private investigations of his own...
Although I don't think Shake Hands for Ever is quite the one of the best Wexford novels - it is beautifully focused, yes, but as this is mainly a "Wexford must prove his theory" novel, there aren't a great range of characters, although those that are are as well-drawn and fascinating as ever - it is still very fine indeed. It boasts, of the Wexford books anyway, possibly Rendell's finest last-chapter shock of her career. It's an excellent crime/mystery novel, which even though we think we know what is going on, is far from predictable, and the story goes deeper than we at first think. The prose is sharp, and socially aware as ever. Ominous and dark, too, brilliantly balanced by some moments great humour. Rendell's almost vicious wit is often glossed over, not even noticed, by most reviewers, but it is another of those things which make her so special. Her latest book, The Rottweiler, was full of it, and it was marvellous!
To sum up, Shake Hands For Ever is, though not the very very best, a great Wexford novel from Ruth Rendell - one who all fans of hers must read.
Editorial Review:
The bed was neatly made, and the woman on top neatly strangled.
According to all accounts, Angela Hathall was deeply in love with her husband and far too paranoid to invite an unknown person into their home. So who managed to gain entry and strangle her without a struggle? That is the problem facing Inspector Wexford in Shake Hands Forever. Perhaps it was the mystery woman who left her fingerprints on the Hathall's bathtub? Perhaps it was Angela's husband who lied about a stolen library book? And why was the Hathall home, usually so unkempt, exqisitely clean the day of Angela's death? Then a neighbor--friendly, knowing, disarmingly beautiful--offers Wexford her assistance. And what begins as a rather tricky case turns into an obsession that threatens to destroy the Inspector's career--as well as his marriage.
Maddeningly addictive, smart and surprising, Shake Hands Forever showcases Ruth Rendell at the height of her storytelling powers.
