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Title details for Dark Corners by Ruth Rendell - Available

Dark Corners

by Ruth Rendell
Ric Jerrom
Audiobook
1 of 1 copy available
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"A spectacularly creepy and macabre tale" (Entertainment Weekly) of blackmail, murders both accidental and opportunistic, and of one life's fateful unraveling—from Ruth Rendell, "one of the most remarkable novelists of her generation" (People), writing at her most mesmerizing. Rendell completed Dark Corners shortly before her death in 2015.
When his father dies, Carl Martin inherits a house in an increasingly rich and trendy London neighborhood. Cash poor, Carl rents the upstairs room and kitchen to the first person he interviews, Dermot McKinnon. That is mistake number one. Mistake number two is keeping the bizarre collection of homeopathic and alternative "cures" that his father left in the medicine cabinet, including a stash of controversial diet pills. Mistake number three is selling fifty of those diet pills to a friend, who is then found dead.

Dermot seizes a nefarious opportunity and begins to blackmail Carl, refusing to pay rent, and creepily invading Carl's space. Ingeniously weaving together two storylines that finally merge in a shocking turn, Ruth Rendell describes one man's spiral into darkness—and murder—as he falls victim to a diabolical foe he cannot escape.

This is brilliant psychological suspense that gets under your skin. As Stephen King says, "No one surpasses Ruth Rendell when it comes to stories of obsession, instability, and malignant coincidence." Dark Corners, her last book, "ranks among her best" (The Washington Post).

  • Creators

  • Publisher

  • Release date

    October 27, 2015

  • Formats

    • OverDrive Listen audiobook

      • ISBN: 9781442391352
      • File size: 206700 KB
      • Duration: 07:10:37

  • Languages

    • English

  • Reviews

    • Publisher's Weekly

      Starred review from October 26, 2015
      MWA Grand Master Rendell (1930â2015) often explored the lives of the luckless who are dogged by disastrous coincidence. In this, her final book, writer Carl Martin is one such hapless fellow. Carl inherits a choice townhouse in London's chic Maida Vale neighborhood. He's cash-poor while pounding out his second novel, so he rents the upper floor to a predatory tenant, Dermot McKinnon. A pious icicle, Dermot believes that Carl's stock of homeopathic medicines may have figured in the death of a friend of Carl's, 24-year-old TV actress Stacey Warren. Soon, Carl is fending off two blackmailers. As always in Rendell's work, the thoughtless and obtuse sow chaos for the careful and sensitive, and London shines as a strong presence. This is a beguiling, powerful novel, made poignant by the staggering realization that this is the last of a feast of characters and narratives. Everything that makes Rendell's work so memorableâgothic but believable people and plots, simple yet vivid prose, peerlessly rendered settings, and fear and despair as the twin "parents" of violenceâis in evidence here. Readers may sigh along with one of the characters, when, in the last sentence, he remarks, "And now, now it's all over." Agent: Peter Matson, Sterling Lord Literistic.

    • AudioFile Magazine
      Once again, Ruth Rendell lures us into the dark corners of London and the dark corners of the mind. Narrator Ric Jerrom disappears into the seemingly ordinary characters featured in several expertly tangled story threads, allowing listeners to peer into their obsessions, compulsions, and psychopathy. Carl owns a house in the posh part of town. He rents the upstairs flat to Dermot, an intrusive, disturbing man. Carl sells some of his late father's weight-loss pills to his overweight friend, Stacey. Stacey dies. Dermot knows Carl's secret and blackmails him. Jerrom adds color to Nicola, Carl's girlfriend; Stacey's friend, Lizzie; Lizzie's bus-riding dad, and two bungling kidnappers. As dark events intersect and spiral out of control, Jerrom keeps things splendidly sinister. S.J.H. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award © AudioFile 2015, Portland, Maine

Formats

  • OverDrive Listen audiobook

subjects

Languages

  • English

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