another twisting turning thriller

excellently performed and a mystery until the end. ..at times fasted paced but overall a slower burning novel with race and discrimination at its heart

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Weird Wexford

Not one of her best. Wexford voice is strange. Story is laborious. So many murders in Kinds Markham!!

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Wonderful Wexford Story

The storyline is wonderful but the narration of Wexford’s voice was a fly in the ointment
Well worth a listen.

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Very enjoyable book.

I can’t understand all the griping about racism in the book. It depicts an accurate representation of the problem.
Why not worry about the unemployment that is portrayed as well.
Virtue signalling again from a very unique cohort.

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Huge cast and odd voicing of Wexford

I have listened to so many of these Ruth Rendell books revisiting them from reading them decades ago. This narrator is ok but his way of portraying Chief Inspector Wexford is very different from others. It as if he is holding his nose as he speaks as him and uses a strangulated accent of no recognisable derivation. Others give him depth and character, a kind of gruff yet friendly way that is appealing, reassuring. The story itself is so wide ranging I found it very hard to keep hold of it. Ruth Rendell loves to give her creations wildly unusual names that I have never heard before. The geography of Kingsmarkham is intricately plotted with scrupulously, meticulously thinking. It is the backbone of the Wexford books the hook on which all hangs. This one majors on racism intentionally or unintentionally meant. Unconscious bias, ingrained ways of thinking are examined and weighed in the balance. The eventual reveal exposes the way class, professional expertise can exist alongside uncontrollable urges that end in disaster. Glad to have got through this and looking forward to hearing Reg as I imagine him!

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Excellent

This is really topical given the difficult discussions around racism etc. One of the best Wexfords.

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Captivating

Inspector Wexford came across as I imagined he spoke.
I enjoy the series and look forward to the next audiobook.

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A gripping but sad story

I enjoyed this book more than some of the earlier Wexford novels. Ruth Rendell seems to have decided to address the issue of race and modern slavery, perhaps addressing her earlier sometimes unfavourable descriptions of ethic minorities in her stories.
I find there are often too many characters in the Wexford novels which makes it more difficult to grasp who’s who when listening to an audio book, but the narrator made a good attempt at all the different characters and accents.

Listening to the story now is fascinating, as Ruth Rendell describes the changing face of the UK through the eyes of a small town in Sussex.

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Another great Wexford mystery

Great twists and turns and a good narrator . I love this voice to go to sleep to

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That was surprising but good for thought

I had read loads of books by Ruth Rendell in the late 80s and 90s but never did read this one. I had watched some on TV which think was based on it but that did not get very far. I’m glad I read it now not only as it gives some insight how the author tried to bring into the story some changes of the time but also some which had not really started and now in hindsight we know that things got much worse than even expected. I remember my 70s and 80s years with all the well meant protests and the will to make the world all better than our parents did and looking back so much hasn’t changed. It seems the more we know the less we are able to turn the world around and make it a better place. The story was much longer than the usual ones but it deserved more time to get into it. I discovered now rereading the books this is not just memory or nostalgia it is bringing back a lot of the old will and energy to invest into other people, society and the world. Every little things help. I think the author was often underrated in her social engagement and criticised later for things she could not have known. And when I read the critics about certain language towards woman, minorities, disabled people, people just different to our vision of the norm we are used to I have to laugh. I can think of a lot of people around me and around society who speak like that or have the same views still. And often very young people so the books are not as old fashioned as we hope.

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