After enjoying two early Inspector Wexford mysteries by Ruth Rendell, I read her final novel Dark Corners. Rendell passed away in 2015 at the age of 85. Her style may have changed over the years, or, this not being a police procedural, I found it very different - a quickly involving character study. A mystery based on motivation and psychology rather than events that take place.
Carl was happy to rent out his upstairs room to Dermot, a quiet churchgoing tenant. When Carl's friend Stacey dies of an overdose, Dermot decides Carl is to blame, and although he won't go to the police, he will stop paying his rent. What Carl should have done is go to the police and divulge how Stacey got the deadly pills - that he wasn't to blame. Instead, he frets about the loss of income and watches as Dermot's blackmail demands grow.
Lizzie was a friend of Stacey's as well, and thinks nothing of entering her flat and helping herself to what she wants. A thief and a liar, she hides this fantasy life from her parents to continue their financial support. However, flaunting Stacey's apartment and clothes will have dangerous consequences she cannot see.
When Dermot's demands include his girlfriend living rent free as well, Carl reaches his breaking point.
This was an intriguing study of how easily people are pushed into violent acts, and how people keep parts of their lives secret from their loved ones. Very well written and engaging. There were a few threads near the end that didn't end up to much, but a solid read on the whole from a continually pleasing writer. With her death in May, it's fitting the last words of the book are: "now it's all over".
Aside from the writing, the design of my book - a large trade paperback - was distracting. It is the current style to release a paperback in the size of a hardcover, but this edition had type so large it bordered on Large Print. Unnecessary and hard to read. Also, for a book with a massive print run to supply every Costco in North America, it's surprising to see an unmistakable spelling mistake in the middle of page 38.
2015 / Tradeback / 279 pages
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