Product Description

The dark, good-looking Guy is from a council flat. Leonora has a mews house in Holland Park, and her mother doesn't care for Guy - or the way he makes his money. His obsession with Leonora increases, even after they have grown apart, until eventually it creates in him a murderous madness.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #947608 in Books
• Published on: 1991-08-01
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 250 pages

Customer Reviews

A TWISTED TALE OF OBSESSIVE LOVE...
British author, Ruth Rendell, is, undoubtedly, the doyenne of psychological suspense, painting subtle portraits of offbeat, quirky characters that are just a tad off the beaten path. Delving into their psyches, she draws the reader into the slightly skewed world that they inhabit. Their world then becomes that of the reader, as the author weaves a tapestry of a world that is just a bit awry, deftly letting the reader know that something is wrong, so very wrong.

The author does no less in this well-written novel, as she leads the reader into the mind and world of Guy Curran, a handsome, young man from the slums who has led a hard scrabble life, elevating himself from the bowels of poverty by dint of his own hard work and acquiring great wealth in the process. Unfortunately for him, that hard work included some less than reputable dealings in the drug trade, which provided the capital for his now legitimate businesses.

For years, Guy has been obsessively in love with Leonora Chisholm, an upper class miss who, after years of being his reluctant childhood sweetheart, has rejected him and all the trappings of wealth and comfort he has to offer her. She prefers to live in genteel poverty with her friends, while acquiring a new boyfriend whom her family and friends like. Guy is convinced some of his past, shady dealings have come to the attention of someone in Leonora's family or inner circle. He believes that that individual has persuaded Leonora to turn away from him.

Now, who would go and do such a thing? Read this well-written book and join Guy in the process of eliminating the likely suspect in this twisted tale of obsessive love.

My favorite Rendell novel
Rendell deserves all of the superlatives heaped upon her- I won't go into them here, just read any other review.

I enjoyed Going Wrong book even more than the other Rendell/Vine titles in my library. However, as much as I love delving into the worlds she created, I have to say they always leave me emotionally unsatisfied. One of the best rewards for spending time with good (or great) literature is, in my opinion, that moment of identification, where the author nails and names something that has always existed under the radar of the average person's consciousness, some feeling or experience that is common to the human condition.
For all of Rendell's clinically accurate descriptions of the asocial or otherwise unwell mind, there are no such revelatory moments in any of her works.

Furthermore, empathy seems to lie outside of the emotional spectrum available to most of Rendell's characters and, more importantly, to the narrator/author herself.

There is wit, there is accuracy and there is irony in the way Rendell presents her characters, but there is no warmth or compassion. I think Rendell considers showing the weaknesses and faults in one character (lets say Leonora) tantamount to showing compassion to another (here, Guy). I'd venture to say that the author does not like any of the characters she has created (with the possible exception of C.I. Wexford).

I think in future I'll indulge in Rendell/Vine books only when in the grips of severe misanthropy.