Book Review - Adam and Eve and Pinch me by Ruth Rendell

This is an older review which I have held back on putting on my blog as I’m still not fully happy with it. In my opinion the novel was not up to Rendell’s usual standard and it may have been better published under her pseudonym of Barbara Vine.

 

It has been a while since I have read a Ruth Rendell novel and this one has been on my bookshelf for some years now so thought for a bit of a change I’d read it. Now I have often found her novels slightly heavy going but this one was a much lighter read and it is a standalone novel and is not an inspector Wexford one.

 

Brief plot:

Two women have received a letter from a train company telling them the man in their lives has been killed in a rail disaster.

Minty Knox lost her fiancé and believed the letter as why would they lie to her?

Zillah Lech lost her husband but thinks that the letter is as about as genuine as a politician’s smile. After all shouldn’t it have been the police who told her and not the rail company?

Other women have also had a man come into their lives, spend their money, then simply vanish with no trace….

Minty and Zillah’s lives are turned upside down by the revilations but they know everything will work out and the truth will come out….won’t it?

The main characters:

Zillah and Minty (Araminta) are almost complete opposites. Zillah proclaims herself as a gypsy (although she isn’t) and is as tough as old boots. Zillah may not be the most intelligent of people but you get the feeling that you cross her at your peril as she is likely to get her revenge. Minty seems to be as timid as a mouse and suffers from OCD and everything has to be cleaned with disinfectant in her house. Minty is also written as if she is suffering from schizophrenia and her rather odd habits have not gone unnoticed by her neighbours Laf and Sonovia who try to look out for Minty and try to involve her in many of their social activities.

Fiona, a well off single woman, has a new man who, despite him having no job, she loves him and is happy to support him despite the fact he is obviously a no good bum. Her neighbours Michelle and Matthew are not fond of this new man in Fiona’s life and see him for what he is and they simply don’t trust him, should they be so worried?

 

What I thought of it.

Whilst this was an easier read than most of her books it was not the most enthralling, Despite it being generally well written one of the major plot points was obvious pretty much from the end of the fourth chapter (for some obvious from reading the blurb of the book) and although this was fully unveiled about half way through the book it did sort of, in a way, spoil things. The fact that the reader is able to work this bit out pretty quickly must have been Rendell’s plan all along as if not then it is (as the kids I teach put it) a major fail. When actual crimes are committed it is more of a Columbo style rather than Miss Marple so the reader knows who has done it but again this does fit with the way this novel has been written.

Rendell’s writing style is usually more complex than it is here and there are not that many twists to the plot but all the sort of mini plots do combine well together in order to produce the main plot. The lives of the characters are interwoven in a way which does produce the feeling that the novel is one which could be a documentary rather than a fiction novel. However, for me the mistery and plot twists not being there, for me, makes the novel a little flat.

Her characterisation is well done and even some of the more minor characters are believable and there are very few throw away characters even if there are one or two who are mentioned but not ‘seen’.   One thing which some may find a bit irritating is that even within chapters the novel does jump around between the character’s lives. Whilst this is mainly between Zillah and Minty other slightly more minor characters do pop up at regular intervals.

There is not so much of a climax to the novel as simply an ending to it which make the book peter out rather than end with a bang which less face it most real life crime end with a bit of a fizzle rather than a dramatic ending.

Conclusion:

As a novel it is fine but that is about it, this is not up to Rendell’s usual standard and I was disappointed in it. This is perhaps one of the few novels of hers that I would not recommend