Dark Corners - Softcover

Rendell, Ruth

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1501119435 ISBN 13: 9781501119439

Publisher: Scribner Book Company, 2016

Synopsis

"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).

About this title

Review:

"Ruth Rendell was one of the finest writers of the 20th century."--Jonathan Kellerman, New York Times Book Review

"Every aspect of Ruth Rendell's dark art is splendidly showcased in Dark Corners. One can't say she saved the best for last, because a great many books by Ms. Rendell and her alter ego Barbara Vine are so splendid, but it's among the best. You won't put it down. I loved it."--Stephen King

"A worthy addition to the canon... Rendell once again exhumes the depths of obsession and traces each step in a sympathetic character's downward spiral. It has both a mythic element--all the trouble starts with a box that shouldn't have been opened--and a Victorian bent, in that it features an inheritance that dooms the recipient... This is stunningly suspenseful and often downright creepy."--Booklist, starred review

"Ruth Rendell's final novel, DARK CORNERS, is a deliciously diabolical tale on a favorite theme: one person's devouring of a weaker person's identity...Carl may be sitting pretty, but he's just the sort of weak-willed milquetoast Rendell enjoys tearing into little bits."--Marilyn Stasio, The New York Times Book Review

"This is a beguiling, powerful novel, made poignant by the staggering realization that this is the last of a feast of characters and narratives. 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, STARRED review

"I'm so sad that there will never be another new Ruth Rendell mystery to look forward to, but I'm so glad she had this last one in the pipeline... Her Inspector Wexford novels, her books under the name Barbara Vine, and these standalones full of uneasy menace will all be missed."--Salem Macknee, The Charlotte Observer

"An undisputed master of crime fiction, Ruth Rendell's posthumously published last book is a calculated, slow burn...Only Rendell can show us how chillingly easy it is for ordinary people to slide into criminal behavior."--Dawn Raffel, Oprah.com

"A spectacularly creepy and macabre tale from Rendell."--Entertainment Weekly

"DARK CORNERS, Ruth Rendell's final mystery novel, ranks among her best... Including those she published as Barbara Vine, DARK CORNERS is Ruth Rendell's 66th novel -- and her last. Rendell, who was made a life peer as Baroness Rendell of Babergh in 1997, died in May of this year at the age of 85.Throughout her prolific output, she maintained high standards, winning three American Edgars and multiple British awards for best mystery novel. One of her Inspector Wexford novels, A Guilty Thing Surprised (1970), was long-listed for the Lost Man Booker Prize. As a longtime fan of Rendell's, I naturally wanted to give DARK CORNERS a positive review, and luckily it deserves one...Let me finish by saluting the late Baroness Rendell in the proper British fashion: Well done, my lady."--Dennis Drabelle, The Washington Post

"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."--Tom Nolan, The Wall Street Journal

Book Description:

A brilliantly dark and sinister novel of psychological suspense, and Ruth Rendell’s final book.

About this edition

• Publisher: Scribner Book Company
• Publication date: 2016
• ISBN 10: 1501119435
• ISBN 13: 9781501119439
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 240