Imprint: Penguin
Published: 02/04/2009
ISBN: 9780141036212
Length: 288 Pages
Dimensions: 200mm x 19mm x 132mm
Weight: 204g
RRP: £12.99
The Birthday Present by Barbara Vine - a gripping, psychological thriller packed with menace
Intensely imagined, fearful and satisfying' Sunday Times
Tory MP Ivor Tesham has unconventional tastes. And in bored housewife Hebe Furnal he finds someone to share and enact his sexual fantasies. However, one day it all goes terribly wrong. Ivor plans a special liaison for Hebe's birthday - a daring sexual adventure. But dangerous games have unforeseen costs and consequences. And when there is an accidental death, scandal and ruin cannot be far behind . . .
How long can a secret stay a secret?
How long will friends protect a reputation?
And how long before guilt catches up with you?
'The pre-eminent genius of the psychological thriller' Herald
'Gripping, compelling' Mail on Sunday
'Vintage Vine' Literary Review
If you like P.D. James, Ian Rankin and Scott Turow, you will love The Bithday Present by Barbara Vine.
Barbara Vine is the pen-name of Ruth Rendell. She has written fifteen novels using this pseudonym, including A Fatal Inversion and King Solomon's Carpet which both won the Crime Writers' Association Gold Dagger Award. Her other books include: A Dark Adapted Eye; The House of Stairs; Gallowglass; Asta's Book; No Night Is Too Long; In the Time of His Prosperity; The Brimstone Wedding; The Chimney Sweeper's Boy; Grasshopper; The Blood Doctor; The Minotaur; The Birthday Present and The Child's Child.
Imprint: Penguin
Published: 02/04/2009
ISBN: 9780141036212
Length: 288 Pages
Dimensions: 200mm x 19mm x 132mm
Weight: 204g
RRP: £12.99
The Rendell/Vine partnership has for years been producing consistently better work than most Booker winners put together
Barbara Vine is Ruth Rendell letting rip
A superb and original writer
Slick
Again a great read from a master of the story-telling process
Packed with menace and the threat of exposure. One of Rendell's most complex plots.
Her Barbara Vine novels allow [Ruth Rendell] to retain her title as Britain's pre-eminent psychological thriller. A suspenseful and chilling tale
Characters are intensely imagined and far from the usual uncomplicated stereotypes of victims and perpetrators. An experience that is both fearful and satisfying
A strong creation
Riveting and only too plausible account of the downfall of a politician. Brilliant narrative voice. An unsurpassed portrait of a character suffering from low self-esteem, mild paranoia and gradual mental deterioration.