A Fatal Inversion
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4.3 • 7 Ratings
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- $15.99
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- $15.99
Publisher Description
A classic of the crime genre, A Fatal Inversion plunges you into the darker side of humanity with a plot that will keep you guessing throughout!
'An absolute winner . . . a gripping read from start to end' Daily Mail
'Brilliant. Vine has the kind of near-Victorian narrative drive' Sunday Times
'I defy anyone to guess the conclusion' Daily Telegraph
*****
In the long hot summer of 1976, a group of young adults camp in Wyvis Hall, a beautiful Suffolk country house, after one of them unexpectedly inherits it. Revelling in their self-indulgent, irresponsible paradise, they scavenge, steal and sell heirlooms - to entertain and simply exist.
Ten years later, when the current owner buries their beloved dog in the Hall's animal cemetery, the bodies of a woman and child are discovered. But which woman? And whose child? As the facts slowly emerge, their past begins to catch up with them . . .
Written under Ruth Rendell's pen name, Barbara Vine, if you enjoy the novels of P.D. James, Ian Rankin and Scott Turow, you will love this book.
*****
'One of the best Barbara Vine novels' Goodreads Review
'Not an ordinary mystery . . . it is compelling and certainly thought-provoking' Goodreads Review
'Vine is expert at the slow disclosure of facts and feelings' Goodreads Review
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
A Dark-Adapted Eyefirst novel under the pseudonym Barbara Vine by the British author Ruth Rendellwon the MBA Edgar. This is the second, a mystery like all her works, transcending the genre. Evoked in beautifully ambient writing, the setting is a rural estate, Wyvis Hall, which Adam Verne-Smith inherits at age 19. Inverting the word "someplace,'' Adam names his eden Ecalpemos where he revels through a summer with four companions. The months drift by until a horrible event scatters the lotus eaters, and Adam sells the property. For 10 years, the former friends live secure in the belief that they alone know their terrible secret. Then the present owners of Wyvis Hall dig a grave for their dog in the pet cemetery on the grounds and unearth human remains. Making headlines, the news stuns the Ecalpemos conspirators, long since established as proper London citizens. The author virtually defies one to pause between incidents in the exquisitely controlled developments that peak in a marvel of irony that no reader could foresee.
Customer Reviews
A Fatal Inversion
Brilliant. The late Ruth Rendell at her best!