Rating: 
Summary: Spellbinding
Review: I was intrigued by the title because I knew what a crocodile bird is/was. I did not know how the term would be worked into a mystery story. I soon learned much to my enjoyment.I did not feel sorry for Lisa and the way she was over-protected by her mother. That was her life and the only one she knew. I thought that soon something would happen and she would be able to become a part of the real world. I thought the way the author handled the things that Lisa gradually found out about was done very well. Never going to school or having friends her age, etc. must have been difficult, but then she did not know anything else. I was pleased with the ending. You just know that Lisa went on and made a success of her life. Not the usual Rendell ending which usually is in chaos with the police car at the door.
Rating:
Summary: why don't more people read her?
Review: i will never understand why rendell doesn't have a bigger following in this country. her characters are so much better drawn than anything found in a john grisham novel, and she's no slouch with a plot, either. in this book, she creates one of the most compelling mother/daughter relationships i've ever read, and the character of liza has stayed with me since i first read the book in 1994. everyone out there reading grisham, turow and cornwell, please, please read one rendell book.....you won't believe the difference!'
Rating:
Summary: Let's be free, please
Review: Ruth Rendell is one the living stars of modern British detective fiction. But she is also, in other books, the direct continuator of Dickens with a social and highly psychological inspiration. In this book, the main heroin is completely trapped by life. At first by her mother. Then by the mansion her mother is in love with. Then by her first love-at-first-sight boyfriend. The book is the full story of this imprisonment and how she will manage to get free. The ending is absolutely unpredictable and it comes after the heroin has cajoled and caressed all other possible exits, either partial, total or just thE continuation of her mother's life and obsession. What is best in this book is the way the story is told. We are constantly shifting from the time when the story is told, to the past and even the distant past. The tortuous line enables us to enjoy every single chapter as a whole and then the book as an absolutely clever construction that does not reveal us the end before the last three pages. A must also for those who are interested in the psychology of women in our age of their liberation. It is very well done and very finely analyzed. Dr Jacques COULARDEAU
Rating:
Summary: An excellent read!
Review: This is a very entertaining book by Ruth Rendell. I simply love the way she writes! The feelings between the mother and daughter are very real. They may appear "evil" at first, but gradually becomes very "human". I started reading her "Barbara Vine" novels and after finishing those, I am rummaging for "Ruth Rendell" novels now! I'm addicted to her books and can't wait for her new ones to be published! I just don't understand why I can't seem to get the book" A Dark Adapted Eye"!
Rating:
Summary: Another great one from the 'new queen of crime'
Review: This is another great 'psychological thriller' from Ruth Rendell/Barbara Vine. She succeeds in creating an entirely creepy atmosphere in British mystery's standard setting: the country house. The ending of this book is completely unexpected. Fans of P.D. James would enjoy this.
Rating:
Summary: Among her very best.
Review: This is really among one of her very best. the claustrophobic nature of the story is brought across really well in the atmosphere, tone, and overall description. Ruth rendell's psychologically damaged characters are almost always really hard to read about, because they seem so normal right on the surface that they remind you of all the people you know in every day life, and you are not comfortable in your realisation that any of them coudl well be like the characters which populate her books. The plot here is a simple one, but it is told stunningly well. Rendell is the Dickens of modern times. (That is no exaggeration) the way the story is told by Lisa, the way it slowly unfolds on a parrallel with lisa's new life is truly masterful. Rendell adds many nice little twists, and really gets the psychology dead one. The ending, unlike some of her books, is reassuring in that it seems to shimmer with a real hope and the knowledge that sometimes, despite the wrongs people have done, and had done to them, things can turn out right in the end...
Rating: 
Summary: Into a strange mind and history
Review: Too many Ruth Rendell books in a row can be a little tiresome: too many dark secrets, too many intelligent and secretive women, tangled mother-daughter relationships until this reader is ready to give up the Rendell habit. "The Crocodile Bird" stands out because of its unique narrator, Liza. Liza has spent her entire life isolated from everyone but her mother, and much of the pleasure of this novel is in sharing her discovery of the modern world and her considered opinions on it, rather than simply revealing the past that she shared only with her possessive, obsessive mother. Liza's past and present are slowly unfolded and entwined. Rendell's gift has always been her characters, and her Scheherezade Liza shines.
Rating:
Summary: Read it in 2 days!
Review: Written through the eyes of a not so average teenage girl, this story was incredible! The plot alone was unique - and seeing it from an off-beat point of view kept me very interested. Once again, the ending was not as you'd expect it. Rendell's subtleties are amazing! I loved this book!
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