Dark Corners

Rendell, Ruth

 
9781628998191: Dark Corners

Revue de presse

"Her absence is keenly felt. But we do have this mesmeric book . . . It’s a felicitous last hurrah for Rendell" (Barry Forshaw Independent, Books of the Year)

"It enjoyably and honourably concludes Rendell's six decades of exploring the death force that, as her last book demonstrates, may be triggered in unexpected people and places. - Mark Lawson" (Guardian, Books of the Year)

"Dark Corners is written in a deceptively simple manner, and at times it reads like a twisted fairytale. It leaves an uneasiness behind like a dark stain on the consciousness . . . The violence of Dark Corners is the violence that stems from the mundane and the ordinary, and it is all the more frightening because of that." (Independent)

"Everything that makes Rendell's work so memorable - gothic but believable people and plots, simple yet vivid prose, peerlessly rendered settings, and fear and despair as the twin ‘parents’ of violence - is in evidence here." (Publishers Weekly)

"Another of Rendell’s penetrating studies of ordinary people trapped in extraordinary circumstances . . . her countless admirers will seize on it with delight." (Literary Review)

"Cunningly wrought . . . a triumph . . . the ending is perfect – a fitting full stop at the end of a great career." (Mail on Sunday)

"From the impressive variety of tones and styles to which she had access as a writer, Rendell chose for Dark Corners black comedy that echoes Muriel Spark . . . [Dark Corners] enjoyably and honourably concludes Rendell's six decades of exploring the death force that, as her last book demonstrates, may be triggered in unexpected people and places." (Guardian)

"The late Ruth Rendell put a permanent stamp on crime fiction with 65 novels of screw-twisting suspense, written under both her own name and the pseudonym Barbara Vine. The posthumously published DARK CORNERS is a worthy final entry in her body of work" (The Wall Street Journal)

"It’s a Rendell ‘stand-alone’ – a pitch-black thriller." (The Times)

"A gripping story . . . You will feel the authentic Rendell prickle of fear as you realise how easily a mis-step could plunge you into a situation like [the protagonist’s]." (Daily Telegraph)

Présentation de l'éditeur

“A spectacularly creepy and macabre tale” ( Entertainment Weekly) of blackmail, murders both accidental and opportunistic, and of one life’s fateful unraveling—from Ruth Rendell, “one of the most remarkable novelists of her generation” ( People), writing at her most mesmerizing. Rendell completed Dark Corners shortly before her death in 2015.

When his father dies, Carl Martin inherits a house in an increasingly rich and trendy London neighborhood. Cash poor, Carl rents the upstairs room and kitchen to the first person he interviews, Dermot McKinnon. That is mistake number one. Mistake number two is keeping the bizarre collection of homeopathic and alternative “cures” that his father left in the medicine cabinet, including a stash of controversial diet pills. Mistake number three is selling fifty of those diet pills to a friend, who is then found dead.

Dermot seizes a nefarious opportunity and begins to blackmail Carl, refusing to pay rent, and creepily invading Carl’s space. Ingeniously weaving together two storylines that finally merge in a shocking turn, Ruth Rendell describes one man’s spiral into darkness—and murder—as he falls victim to a diabolical foe he cannot escape.

This is brilliant psychological suspense that gets under your skin. As Stephen King says, “No one surpasses Ruth Rendell when it comes to stories of obsession, instability, and malignant coincidence.” Dark Corners, her last book, “ranks among her best” ( The Washington Post).

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