Customer Reviews

End in Tears (A Chief Inspector Wexford Mystery / Vintage Crime / Black Lizard)

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(12)
3 star:		(15)
2 star:		(6)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Ruth Rendell's "End in Tears" is her latest Chief Inspector Wexford novel. This time, Wexford is seeking the murderer of eighteen-year-old Amber Marshalson, who was bludgeoned to death on her way home from a late night out with friends. Along with Detective Sergeant Hannah Goldsmith and the rest of his team, Wexford interviews Amber's friends and family, and tries to find witnesses who may have spotted the attacker. When yet another young woman is found dead, the investigation quickly heats up.

This is a complex case, with many twists and turns that keep the detectives off balance. They find evidence that Amber and her friend Meg were engaged in a cruel money-making scam, but although the police suspect that the girls were dealing drugs, there are no facts to support this theory. Before the case is solved, Rendell explores the themes of family dysfunction, greed, racism, parenting, and aging with her usual expertise. The characters are well delineated and, as always, Rendell captures the English countryside perfectly with her superb descriptive writing.

There is also an entertaining subplot involving Detective Goldsmith's infatuation with Detective Constable Baljinder Bhattacharya. Although Hannah has no qualms about having casual physical encounters with men, Bal insists that he wants to be in a meaningful relationship before he becomes intimate with a woman. Hannah, who is an ardent feminist, cannot believe her ears and she is far from pleased by her colleague's apparent prudishness.

As the book passes the midway point, Rendell loses her way. She overcomplicates matters, introducing many extraneous characters and additional subplots that make the story a chore to follow. The solution to the crimes is completely out of left field, and if I didn't see Rendell's name on the cover, I would have difficulty believing that one of the great writers of crime fiction concocted such an absurd and unrealistic conclusion. This is too bad, since I adore Wexford, who is a kind, gentle, compassionate, and very intelligent man. Unfortunately, this time around, Rendell's fans will have to be to be satisfied with the well-written first half of "End in Tears."

As a devotee of the Rendell/Wexford series, it grieves me to say this one strikes out. I kept doggedly reading the thing, thinking, this surely can't be Rendell writing this. I can't remember any detective story with such a cast of extraneous characters, so many red herrings thrown out. The occasional insertion of Wexford's daughter Sylvia's predicament was refreshing, but the story itself bogged down quickly. Two girls dead, some unknown connection between the two of them, lots of suspects. Then comes the unlikelyl (absurd?) revelation of who the original ringleader was. Sadly, then, this reader admits disappointment over End in Tears.

The first half of the book is classic Ruth Rendell-- Wexford and Dora are their are at their best and most human. The teenaged victim has an unwanted child and a huge amount of cash. The set up is fascinating, and I was extremely happy that I bought the book.

But then, somewhere around the middle, Rendell seems to lose the plot. We follow increasingly complex series of red herrings down a garden path to an ending that is both irrational and unsatisfying. It honestly has the feel of an ending that the publisher demanded rather than the characters and plot required. It did not ruin the book for me, but it was a very close thing.

Fans of Rendell will still find a lot to like about End in Tears, but people new to her work should look back to her older material. This is not her strongest book.

I liked this novel at the beginning. The cast of characters was good. As comic relief I thought Hannah Goldsmith was great -- and, speaking euphemistically, the tension about progress, or lack thereof, in her love life was of considerable interest.

What killed the story for me was the coincidences: too many, too unlikely, too intrusive. We are supposed to believe that Chief Inspector Detective Wexford has a very similar situation in his home to the murders he is investigating. We have about every character and suspect in the novel being related to each other in one way or another. By about page 250 of a 320 page novel I had had enough. The author had blown her believability.

Ruth Rendell is, of course, one of the best known of English detective novelists and has many loyal fans. Perhaps she's written better books. I hope so. But don't choose this one to read unless you are really, really a fan.

Smallchief

There's just something different about British murder mysteries. They have a tone, a complexity that's just different from American stories. And Ms. Rendell's stories fit this mold perfectly.

The hero in this book is Chief Inspector Wexford, who if memory serves became Chief Inspector some time before 1964 when the first book in the series was written. But even after 42 years on the job, he's still not having to use a walker to get around. There does seem to be just a bit more emphasis on younger players such as Inspector Mike Burden and Detective Sergeant Hannah Goldsmith, but the heavy lifting is still done by Wexford.

The theme (how could it be otherwise) of the book is murder most foul. But it's murder in a modern situation with surrogate mothers, drugs, baby-smuggling, todays problems for the Chief Inspector to solve.

Is this book one of her best? Some reviewers didn't like the last half of the book. I did. After all we've been waiting for two years to get another Wexford. And I suspect it'll be two years until the next one.

Gosh, I was disappointed with this novel. It is amazing to me how sometimes a gifted writer, like Ms. Rendell, can sometimes produce such a lackluster piece of work. Some of my most enjoyable reading over the years has been Ms Rendell's, but this book was only memorable for how boring it became. The plot is actually good, and the characters are fairly well developed but, my goodness, it did drag on and on and on and on. As my old college professor once said "take that story and cut it in half and you'll have a good piece of writing." I would say the same here. Had it been shorter, more concise, cleaner, and to the point, I could have really appreciated the story. But after this, I don't think I'll read any more of her Inspector Wexford series. I will, however, read her other books, and eagerly look forward to the next one outside the Wexford series.

With my "I love Ruth Rendell" credentials intact, I have to say this one was a real disappointment. Wexford's charm didn't wane, but the plot was a far cry from her usual intricate puzzles. One of the great things about Rendell as a writer is that all the convoluted pieces fall into place and the reader is left with that satisfying "Ah!!" In order for that experience to happen, it has to make sense. This one didn't...

Hope the Water is Lovely is better!

The town of Kingsmarkham in Sussex is having one of the hottest days on record, the heat absolutely blistering as Chief Inspector in Wexford and his friend and colleague, Mike Burden are called to a shocking crime scene. Nineteen-year-old Amber Marshalson has been mutually murdered from a blow to the head, her body found in a corner lane not far from her home.

Amber's father George Marshalson is quite devastated; the spoilt Amber was apple of his eye. She now leaves behind a young son named Brand who is being raised by Diana, Amber's frostily aggrieved stepmother. It doesn't take long for Wexford and Burdon to figure out that the Marshalson's were somewhat dysfunctional, their lives mostly defined by petty grievances and jealousies.

Amber's teen pregnancy came as a terrible shock to both Diana and George, and the fact that she actually went ahead and had the baby and then broke up with her boyfriend was also cause for concern. Both had taken most care of Brand since he was born, with Amber hating Diana almost from the start, preferring to party at the local Bling-Bling club than take on the responsibilities of motherhood.

There are few clues to the murder, the tall handsome Ben Miller who dropped her off was the last person to see Amber alive, but he can offer no explanation for what happened. As the stultifying heat of summer wears on, Megan, a young acquaintance of Amber suddenly goes missing, her rotting body later found in a derelict house.

Are these two murders connected? And how could Amber and Megan - both girls from remarkably different social classes - have known each other? Amber came from a well-off if not rich background, where college was considered, whilst a mother generally called a single parent bought up the poor Megan in various dumps, and where she most likely left school at sixteen to become a shop assistant.

Through author Ruth Rendell's complex and multi-layered plot, these two girls are destined to clash, their destinies forever interlocked. Wexford and Burden are increasingly mystified when they discover white powder and bundles of cash in Amber's bedroom. And why did the two girls go on a sudden holiday to Frankfurt? Were they perhaps involved in drug smuggling?

Meanwhile, several months ago a man with a hood had been seen on Yorstone Bridge at the time of a fatal car crash, a crash that was perhaps meant to kill Amber. He'd also been seen among the trees by the lane where Amber was eventually killed. Various suspects begin to loiter in the shadows, the focus eventually tightening on twin brothers, interior decorators who were working on the Marshalson house at the time of Amber's murder.

As the menace builds and the alibis of the suspects become more unassailable, the gradual unveiling of the mystery reflects Wexford's own strained relationship with Silvia, his daughter. The father-daughter relationship remains tentative, as Wexford struggles to understand why Silvia has decided to become a surrogate mother and bear a child for her ex-husband and his infertile, self-obsessed girlfriend.

Literally peppered with a cast of thousands, End in Tears can at times be a dense read. Particularly notable is her inclusion of a sizeable subplot involving one of Wexford's colleagues, Detective Sergeant Hannah Goldsmith and her romance with Detective Constable Bal Bhattacharya. The old and new world's clash in a subtle lend of blend personalities and yearnings, as Bal attempts to approach their relationship with a type of old world sexual caution.

Many of Rendell's characters - even the police - are far from sympathetic, all struggling with their own petty insecurities and prejudices. In the end, the novel spirals into a complex web of events, as the real identity of the killer is finally made known. Despite it's convoluted plot, End in Tears is always taut and controlled and it's themes of class, family and even surrogacy are compellingly relevant.

As usual, Rendell excels in describing the somewhat insular world of Kingsmarkham and it's surrounds, it's still a community somewhat at odds with itself, continuing to struggle with issues of multiculturalism and the modern family in a rapidly changing world, where even "love doesn't excuse everything." Mike Leonard September 06.

Chief Inspector Wexford has trouble enough at home before the stress of trying to solve two murders adds to his problems. On the home front, His wife, Dora, normally a placid woman, has become bitter and almost vitriolic with her daughter, Sylvia, and the new situation in which she's placed her family. Her former partner and father of her two sons, has asked her to become a surrogate mother with himself as father, to a baby with his new partner, an occurrence which fills Dora with rage at the thought that her grandchild would be given away, out of her reach. While saddened by this, Wexford isn't quite as angry, but when the whole scene is exacerbated by the murder of two local girls who have been recruited as surrogate mothers by a criminal element, the reality of his own family's connection with the unborn child, comes to the fore. I'm not too thrilled by the pedantic notions of Wexford's assistant, Detective Sergeant Hannah Goldsmith, who would drive me screaming from any room with her rigid insistence on political correctness in all its forms or, for that matter, for her junior officer, DC Bhattacharya, who doesn't seem to be a normal young man when it comes to relationships with women, as his ideas of romance and courtship would not have been out of place in the 19th century. It was a good story but seemed to fizzle out a bit in the last chapters and just plod along till the finish, with the murders being secondary to the main characters.

With END IN TEARS the usually excellent Wexford series took a wrong turn. The story started out promising with the death of teenager Amber Marshalson after a previous bungled attempt on her life. The story was engaging, but I found it distracting to have numerous parallel stories going on. It's been quite a while since the last Wexford novel, and I really didn't remember the backstory to many of the characters. In addition to the numerous regular characters, more and more secondary characters became part of the story. It so confusing that what could have been a good plot became a jumble. Ruth Rendell is an fine writer, but I hope the next book has more story about less characters.

2.5 Stars