Veiled One [Mass Market Paperback]

Ruth Rendell (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 13, 1989

Who would garrote a middle-aged housewife and leave her body in the parking garage of a suburban shopping mall? Chief Inspector Wexford is no sooner on the case than a car bomb's explosion lands him in the hospital. It's now up to Mike Burden to step in and solve the case. He's got a suspect . . . but will he be able to make him talk?

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Elderly Gwen Robson is found murdered in a shopping-mall garage and Inspector Wexford and partner Mike Burden investigate. "Rendell's reputation for literary grace, ingenious plots and arresting characters is borne out again in her latest stunning mystery," enthused PW . "It's a spellbinder."
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review

“Ruth Rendell has created, in canny Wexford and naïve Burden, one of the genre’s most durable, complex, and affecting human misalliances.” —The New York Times Book Review

 “It’s a spellbinder.” —Publishers Weekly

--This text refers to the Kindle Edition edition.

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Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 320 pages
• Publisher: Fawcett (November 13, 1989)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0345359941
• ISBN-13: 978-0345359940
• Product Dimensions: 4.1 x 0.8 x 6.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #350,834 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

23 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars 14th fine Wexford novel, February 22, 2004

By 

RachelWalker "RachelW" (England) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Veiled One (Mass Market Paperback)

The Veiled One is Rendell's 14th Inspector Wexford mystery, and as excellent as all the rest. The continued quality of this series is remarkable. There have only been one or two slightly lacklustre books in it, and those were very early on in her career.

One November evening, Wexford drives him from Barringdean Shopping Centre, noticing nothing amiss. He is preoccupied with family matters. precisely, his daughter Sheila who, in protest, has damaged Ministry of Defence Property, the wire fence surrounding a nuclear weapons facility. An actress, her face is automatically splashed across the papers.

Later, at home, Burden phones through with the news: a garotted body has been founding in the Shopping Centre Car Park, hidden between two cars. She is identified as Gwen Robson, a home-help of late middle-age, who lives in Kingsmarkham with her arthritic husband. However, before Wexford himself cna do much investigating, he too faces death, in the form of a politically motiovated car-bomb inteded for his daughter Sheila. So, Mike Burden forges ahead on his own, quickly narrowing in on a suspect, the son of the woman who found the body. But are his intuitions right?

This is probably Rendell's most psychologically rich mystery. Some of the characters are quite odd, and she lays them psychologically bare, creating fascinating and rather unsettling psychological portraits. Indeed, the depth with which she examines her characters in this book is probably unequalled in any other Wexford novel.

Wexford is on excellent form again, and it's often easy to forget quite what a great lead character he is. An aging policeman, increasingly puzzled by the foibles of society - which Rendell highlights with a percision that emphaises the sharp social conscience of this novel - he should, perhaps, be a little dull. But no! For he's actually a interesting, funny, real human being. A relatively gentle policeman who gradually unravels the solutions to the puzzles which confront him. He has a home life which is realistic and entertaining, and he is quite simply very good company.

The Veiled One is not just a rich psychological mystery, but also an excellent puzzle. The investigation shifts and twists, and the solution is singularly surprising. It's an uneasy, disturbing, unusually gripping police-procedural that has distinct echoes of some of Rendell's psychological thrillers, although never strays quite into that territory. It's an excellent book in the series, but I would say that it's not the best Wexford novel for new readers to start with. To appreciate it fully, it helps if you already know the characters well. My advice is to read the very first Wexford mystery, From Doon With Death, and then simply look forward to this one.

17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars the first Ruth Rendell I did not enjoy, November 26, 2010

By 

mag - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Veiled One (Inspector Wexford) (Kindle Edition)

For many years I have enjoyed reading Ruth Rendell's books. This was the first book I bought in its kindle edition and I had trouble recognizing her style. Not only is the this edition peppered with uncharacteristic spelling errors, I also got the feeling that the story moved in leaps and bounds, giving an unfinished impression. Towards the end of the book I even came across two author's notes, which were placed in brackets, referring to things the author meant to look up at some point. I have reached the conclusion that this electronic edition must have been copied from some kind of draft manuscript. I did not appreciate reading this version and found it inferior to what I am used to from this author.

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A tangled web..., July 11, 2003

By 

DorParkr "Brighton Reader" (Brighton, MA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Veiled One (Mass Market Paperback)

The Veiled One was the first Ruth Rendell novel and I am delighted to report that I was thoroughly captivated and entertained. Rendell writes fluid prose with interesting characters and acute observations about human nature and behavior. I particularly liked the main character Wexford and his naturally dry and mostly sarcastic wit. The mystery is well plotted and wraps up neatly. To be honest, the ending did occur to me, but by the time I got to the end I was impressed enough by the whole effort that I didn't care about that at all. The ending is quite satisfying... the type that makes sense while still surprising enough. I look forward to many more enjoyable evenings with Ruth Rendell and Chief Inspector Wexford.