End in Tears Free Audiobook

Ruth Rendell (Author)

Read by Nigel Anthony

Ruth Rendell’s quality work is both a blessing and a curse. With over 20 Wexford novels—and an even greater number outside the series and under her pseudonym Barbara Vine—reviewers have had ample opportunity to relish her characterizations and get wise to her narrative proclivities. Here they identify a case of the strengths of Rendell’s writing (characterization and the use of metaphor) playing second fiddle to the contrivances of a thriller. Plot twists abound for those into neck-snapping plots, but most critics agree that Rendell is at her best when she foregoes narrative theatrics and focuses on the metaphoric parallels between plot and theme. End in Tears is not bad, but isn’t great either—and for a writer of Rendell’s status, just good doesn’t seem to be good enough.