Harm Done: A Chief Inspector Wexford Mystery - Softcover

Ruth Rendell

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0091793564 ISBN 13: 9780091793562

Publisher: Hutchinson, 1999

Synopsis

Rendell weaves a thrilling and emotional plot around battered women, a released paedophile and the murder of a policeman. The residents of an estate in Kingsmarkam are up in arms, even prepared to take the law into their own hands after the disappearance of two young girls around the time when the paedophile is back in the community.

About this title

Review

With Harm Done, Rendell has added a remarkable strand of acute social commentary to a book that still functions as an utterly compelling piece of detective fiction. With the controversial subject of paedophilia, she takes the mainstay of her work--problems of modern life--to a level of passion and commitment that gives the book a truly powerful underpinning.

Back in the familiar Sussex town of Kingsmarkham, Rendell's dogged sleuth Wexford is investigating the strange abductions of two young girls: Rachel, a bright middle-class student, and Lizzie, a mentally disabled 16-year-old living with her unsympathetic parents on a grim council estate. When both girls return home, apparently unharmed, Wexford is faced with a curious mystery: what really happened to them? As Wexford begins to uncover the disturbing truth, the dark psychological world that Rendell is so adroit at exploring suddenly comes into focus. And her gift for sharp but concise characterisation remains untouchable as in the case of a reluctant witness: " ''We don't talk about that sort of thing'. She very nearly but not quite tossed her head." --Barry Forshaw

Review

"Rendell's clear, shapely prose casts the mesmerizing spell of the confessional." --The New Yorker
"It's no use trying to read Ruth Rendell's mind. You can follow her logic, analyze her insights and puzzle out her plots. But she'll always astonish you, as she does in Harm Done, with the emotional depth of her psychological mysteries." --The New York Times Book Review
"True to form, Rendell invites readers to experience a real touch of evil in Harm Done. . . . The plotting is as intricate, the creepiness quotient as high, as ever." --The Washington Post Book World
"Most satisfying. With her characterisitc elegance, Rendell has written another winner."--The Kansas City Star

Edition details

• Publisher: Hutchinson
• Publication date: 1999
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0091793564
• ISBN 13: 9780091793562
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 394